Millions of students missing school as DR Congo teachers go on strike

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) – Millions of students in DR Congo will miss classes starting Monday as primary school teachers announced an indefinite strike for higher wages and better working conditions.

Similar protests that caused disruptions in schools last October ended over a month later after the government pledged to review teachers’ salaries, bonus pay, retirement age and other issues.

“The government has failed to fulfill its promises,” Dismus Khulisho, coordinator for the National Union of Public Primary School Teachers of the DRC (SYNEEPP), told Anadolu Agency.

“We held consultations over the weekend in (the capital) Kinshasa and decided that a nationwide strike is the only way to make our voices heard.”

Ignace Mbala Keto, general secretary of SYNEEPP, said all teachers at public primary schools have joined the protest and will not return to classes until their salaries are increased.

According to Andrew Leku, inspector for schools in eastern DR Congo, the strike will impact more than 12 million students in public primary schools across the country.

He said the government is “making all possible efforts to address the teachers’ demands, including the issue of wages.”

The standoff last year went to a point where hundreds of schoolchildren stormed the DR Congo parliament on Oct. 21, urging the government to hike teachers’ salaries so that lessons suspended for weeks could resume.