The politics of education

“You have to organize,” the director of the school is saying. “There are more teachers like you than teachers that aren’t like you. You have to want change.”

I came to the school for my weekly English department meeting. I walked into what appeared to be a semi-rally of all the teachers of their power to change the governmental policies concerning their profession.

I had heard rumblings of problems with salaries since I returned from my training.

There are different levels of teachers in the Beninese school system.

Permanent teachers, meaning a teacher works at one and only one school, are few and far between in public schools in villages.

Since many villages close to each other have their own small schools, many of which don’t offer the more advanced classes, most teachers are vacateurs, meaning they teach classes of the same subject at more than one school. This allows them to book more classes than are available at the small schools, which means, consequently, that their paycheck is bigger.

For example, my school only has four classes of students (it only offers two of the seven grades you have to complete before taking your baccalaureate exam). Most of my colleagues also work at the larger school near me (which offers all seven grades and has a total of 37 classes) or at the other small schools at villages in the area in order to supplement their income. 

It seems that when vacateurs went most recently to receive their paychecks at our commune capital, there were issues over the number of hours taught and the number of schools where one is eligible to teach. As a result, some of my colleagues did not receive their salary for work they had already done this semester.

It’s too early to use the term “strike” but it is not unheard of here. In the last school year, the teachers were on strike for two months until the government threatened a pay cut unless they returned for the rest of school year. (If there is a strike, I am supposed to continue to teach as long as the school year stays in session.)

That is not to say that the Beninese teachers are not without their faults. They are notorious for starting classes late (sometimes due to traveling in between schools), not showing up at all, bailing on department meetings (which count as part of their paid salary), not completing the curriculum for the school year and leaving class early.

I am not informed enough to pick a side yet. But I can tell you that if the teachers are brought again to strike, the winners in the fight will not be the students. As a result of last year’s strike, only half of the required curriculum was covered in the English classes. I have students in their second year of English that still don’t know the names for the colors.

And aren’t the students the reason we do our jobs anyway?