Teachers unhappy with IMF conditionality

The President of the Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union, (SLTU) Abdulai Brima Koroma has said the IMF wage bill ceiling prevents teachers from being employed by Governments.
The SLTU President made this remark recently while, celebrating world teachers’ day.
He said the IMF and World Bank policies have caused teachers from the universities and teacher training colleges to be out of job.
 “The wage bill ceilings prevent government from employing teachers who are trained and qualified, instead, schools, especially in the rural areas are forced to hire untrained and unqualified teachers. This situation contributes to the large pool of untrained and unqualified teachers in schools which impacts on the falling standards in education” he said.He also said “with this ugly scenario and since the IMF exercises considerable influence in setting the annual ceilings in the budget and consequently on the wage bill, the disadvantages of this policy has negatively impacted on the educational sector”
He said the teachers union shall lobby the new government for a change of policy stating “Quality education for all cannot become a reality without removing barriers to schooling and education financing. User fees should be fully abolished as education is a fundamental human right and also the IMF should no longer impose conditions restricting wage ceilings”