Teachers in Central Equatoria State have refused to accept their salaries till the government reserves the category of the nature of work allowance, which they claim was excluded from the national government’s new wage structure.

Teachers say they will continue being on strike until the state government pays them their salary according to the new structure created by the national ministry of public service. This was revealed by George Sebit, the acting chairperson of the teachers’ union in Central Equatoria State.

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According to the resolution the teachers filed to the governor in December, they gave the government of Central Equatoria until December 23, 2021, to pay their salaries, but because of the Christmas season, they extended it until January 3.

He stated that the state minister of education told teachers in a meeting at the Spiri Training Centre about his efforts to fix the problem, but that the teachers refused to accept the offer.

 “The position of the teachers were very clear in that meaning. They told the minister that we respect you, but go and tell the governor that we will not receive this salary without that column of the general allowance for the nature of work which [is] omitted,” Sebit narrated.

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Meanwhile, Justine Walak, the secretary-general of the Central Equatoria Teachers Union, said the national ministry of public service had provided them with all essential documents relevant to the new salary structure, which includes a nature of work allowance.

 “We were really very much disturbed after learning that one of the main columns of the new salary structure, which is the nature of work, has been omitted without any proper explanation,” he lamented.

“It contradicts the statement of the president to increase salaries of civil servants by 100 per cent which was actually approved by the national council of ministers chaired by the president,” said Walak.

Walak said that they went to the State Ministry of Education in December to express their dissatisfaction, and were given the go-ahead to investigate the problem.

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“Our concern is that omitting the nature of work allowance, which is the main component of the new structure, is what we are battling with our government,” he stressed.