Senegal’s decision-making teachers will finally see their status aligned with that of civil servants, putting an end to an injustice that has lasted decades. The State of Senegal materializes this measure and repairs what these teachers have long considered to be inequality.
The national secretary of the Free Teachers’ Union of Senegal (SELS) Hamidou Diédhiou, welcomes this “major progress” and hopes for additional adjustments, in particular the raising of the retirement age by five years to compensate for the damage suffered and a salary increase . The political will of the new authorities made it possible to take this important step. Nearly 7,000 education decision-makers said they were victims of injustice, and had been demanding for several years to be returned to the civil service.
An inequality repaired
The SELS emphasizes that there is no difference between a civil servant and a decision-maker in terms of recruitment, training, workload or professional rigor. However, decision-makers have until now been excluded from the advantages linked to civil servant status, an inequity in their career plan.
This situation reveals the collective, finds its roots in laws and decrees dating back to the advent of the late President Léopold Sédar Senghor. Two categories of teachers were then created: tenure-track teachers and decision-makers. The latter suffered a difference in treatment which even extended to retirement, where their pensions were lower.
A decree presented to the President of the Republic will soon make it possible to reclassify decision-makers as civil servants. However, the collective of decision-making teachers insists on the need for retroactivity to include those still in activity and to review the pensions of retirees. They advocate for the repeal of obsolete laws and circulars to ensure full equality.
Cheikh Gora DIOP
