Sierra Leone schools 'in crisis'
27/08/2009
Schools in Sierra Leone are in crisis after the west African country's government refused to pay the salaries of thousands of teachers, it has been reported.
The administration and the national teachers' union have yet to reach an agreement regarding payment of almost 3,000 teachers who have not received their salaries in more than a year, regional news resource AllAfrica reports.
The government is refusing to pay the teachers as they were not approved by the country's ministry of education, youth and sports.
However, the union states that the staff performed their duties in schools that desperately needed help and as such, they deserve to be paid, the news provider notes.
"Our system is such that a teacher only gets paid when his or her name is on the voucher, meaning that he or she must have been approved by the ministry," AllAfrica quotes Minkailu Bah, the minister of education, youth and sports, as saying.
Written by Simon Bassett.
