February 4, 2021
By: Abdul Banya Braima
It is a fact that all sectors of workers are very much important. This brings to mind the invaluable contributions of Soldiers, Nurses, Police officers, to name but a few.
For the purpose of this piece the focus is on the teachers and their importance has been encapsulated in the catchphrase: If you can read… ‘thank a teacher’.
I happen to have served as a teacher for years, close to fifteen years, before I finally said goodbye to the profession. I also hail from a background of teachers- my late dad taught for over twenty years; my mum served as a teacher all her working life till she retired in November 2019. She never left the teaching profession for any other job throughout her working life. My wife also happens to be a teacher, having taught for close to ten years.
Readers can read into this background to appreciate the fact I have a depth of understanding about the sector.
In my almost fifteen years as a teacher i have contributed to educating so many people, most of them are highly placed in society today. My former students range from lawyers, doctors, army, police officers, accountants and economists to mention but few. Unlike teachers the cited categories of workers start receiving salaries the end of the very first month they start work. For the pathetic case of teachers who endure the ordeal of going without salaries for months and years in employment, their principals mostly give them pittances to assuage their plight. Sometimes it is the paltry 50,000 or Le 100,000 from left overs of salaried colleagues.
On a sad note, I can recollect my Bo teaching experience when a colleague Joseph who taught for eight years striving to obtain a PIC CODE died after a brief illness. Many of such stories are told even today. My wife taught for eight years and finally got her PIN CODE; she was not paid the backlogs for all the wasted years, if you like. But as a family we were quite happy that the money has been of value in ensuring that we bought some tangible assets-land, motorbike and other things.
The point is the fact that backlog payment is now a thing of the past. The problem is compounded by the fact that now teachers receive PIN CODE yet goes without pay for months. A case in point involves a friend who visited my George street office. He has taught for nine years before he got the PIN CODE. One year four months since he received PIN CODE he has been going without pay. He had then just left NCRA to correct a date of birth mismatch issue to no avail. He had travelled from Bo and even slept at a security guard post of his brother to sort issue out for his salary to start running. He could not succeed; and he vented frustration to extent that he is resolved to abandon teaching to rely on potato gardening to cope with life.
I shared his pain, as it ruined my day. His situation is reminiscent of many others from Krubola, Yiffin, Sama Bendugu, Kailahun, Kabala, Batkanu, Makeni, Njala Komboya, to mention but few. What a pity!
The mind boggling question remains: Why do teachers teach for as long as nine years or more without Pin Codes? Why do they start to suffer fresh after finally receiving Pin Codes? Why can’t these anomalies be resolved at district levels in less than thirty minutes? Why do we make things so difficult for our fellow Sierra Leoneans?
Somebody must be reading to find answers and solutions to such questions and issues. The salary might not be enough; nobody’s salary is enough but please give to Joe what belongs to Joe. I am not talking politics here or blaming party “A” or party “B”, but just venting out a burning issue that has been eating up so many devoted and passionate individuals.
I believe the current administration will do all it takes to make the suffering of teachers a thing of the past especially when it comes to Pin Codes. The government has isolated education as the flagship project and teachers reward system must form a cardinal issue to be tackled so that they are motivated enough to support the Presidents vision on human resource investment through free quality education.
