By Nelson Manneh
Students of the Gambia College have blamed Government particularly the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, MoBSE, for negligence of not paying their lecturers for months.
Ongoing exams for students pursuing Primary Teachers Certificate, PTC, have been halted because staff of the College have embarked on a sit-down strike since Tuesday August 7th 2018.
Visiting the school ground on yesterday, this reporter met some students who were astonished to hear about the strike.
The source told Foroyaa “As we speak, July salaries have not been paid and the accounts of the college is in red. There is no signal from accounts that they will pay soon,” a source told this medium.
Fatou Yaffa, President of the PTC Students Union, said they are surprised about the strike.
“We blame Government particularly the MoBSE, for not doing their work effectively. How can they expect lecturers to teach us without being paid?” she asked.
“We are not having our exams. Those who are in their final year, should receive their attestation. But now, the strike has made it impossible for them to receive it,” she said.
“We are calling on Government to immediately solve the issue so that we can continue with our exams. We should be given our accreditation so that we can qualify as teachers,” she said.
Some lecturers who were contacted said Government does not respect their rights as lecturers; that this is not the first time their salaries were delayed.
“We want our salaries or else we will continue on strike. We are responsible people in society with families to take care of,” they lamented.
This is the second time lecturers at the Gambia College have embarked on a sit down strike regarding the same issue in less than seven months.
Meanwhile the College Staff Association issued a press release demanding that July salaries be paid immediately and for the concerned authority to write a commitment to avoid such re-occurrence in the delay of their salaries in subsequent months and years.
