Fatshimetrie: Teachers’ Unions Call for Regularization of Payments
During the extraordinary general assembly of the Intersyndicale of Teachers’ Unions of the Ministry of National Education, held in Kinshasa on Friday, November 22, an urgent appeal was made to the government to take urgent measures to regularize teachers’ payments. This meeting, which lasted more than three hours, made it possible to assess the situation of teachers’ pay for the fourth quarter of 2024.
The Intersyndicale pointed out the imminent risks of non-payment of 54 entities that should be paid via the Financial Institution for Development Works (IFOD), formerly CARITAS, for next December.
Faced with this thorny situation, the president of the organization, Godefroid Matondo, urged the government to act quickly in collaboration with IFOD, responsible for teachers’ payments in various regions of the country. He said: “The Intersyndicale asks the Government to take all measures, with IFOD, ex-CARITAS, to ensure that all teachers are paid by December 31, 2024. And to settle the remaining 50,000 Congolese francs, in accordance with the recent Bibwa resolutions.”
According to this union representative, the risks persist due to the use of a rotating payment system, which consists of using the funds of the current month to settle arrears and organize payments for the following month at a rate of 50%. This method jeopardizes the proper functioning of the Ministry of Education, because the beneficiaries of these rotating payments must wait an additional month before receiving their salary.
The Intersyndicale strongly criticized this practice, which not only continues without a lasting solution but could also cause social unrest in the 54 entities concerned. It is therefore essential that concrete and sustainable measures be taken to ensure the timely payment of teachers, thus guaranteeing the stability and proper functioning of the education sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo.