Tuesday , 19 March 2024
enfrit
Over the recent weeks, public school teachers not yet contracted by the state, have been tackling a strike of their own. They require no less than their full integration into Civil Service. Talks were tackled on September 17th between the strikers, Permanent Bureau members from he National Assembly and the Minister of Education, yet, the public school teachers decided to keep on with their claim.

Education: The striking teachers not remotely intending to give ground

“The teachers’ strike is suspended,” said Paul Rabary, the Minister of Education, when exiting the talks which lasted a little longer than two hours at the National Assembly building.  Elidio Randrianjafy, the spokesman to the FRAM public school teachers, has it quite another way. “We have decided to keep striking since the State has failed to positively respond to our claim” he said at the conclusion of the same talks. The FRAM association which has been striking over the latest weeks is made of teachers in public primary schools, serving all over Madagascar, but paid exclusively by pupils’ parents. In short, they demand their integration within the Civil Service. The Ministry of National Education initially planned to integrate 10,000 of them, to the dismay of the other 65,000 others scattered across the entire territory. The FRAM teachers wanted to be integrated without an exception by September, but the ministry would prefer to proceed progressively over five years, to finally give all the FRAM teachers what is due to them. Negotiations prove complicated. “It is impossible for us to give in to the Ministry’s proposal as it is right away. After all, this was only the first round, was it not?” assumed Elidio Randrianjafy.