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The Africanist Press has revealed government payroll document which shows how Assistants at the Electoral Commission earn twice the monthly salaries of principals and teachers with a masters degree.
Africanist Press claim they further discovered that teachers in Sierra Leone are among the poorly paid public sector workers in the country. Government payroll records show that 90% of teachers are still paid monthly salaries that are below Le1.5 million despite the government’s announcement of a reported 30% increase in the monthly salaries of teachers. We found that even teachers with various Bachelor’s degrees and Higher Teaching Certificates are still earning between Le1.3 million and Le1.7 million monthly.
The following table shows an example of the huge salary disparities between teachers and most employees in the civil/public service in Sierra Leone.
Africanist Press alleged that they found that senior teachers, who hold Master’s degrees and post-graduate diplomas, are also earning monthly gross salaries that are below Le2.1 million; two times less than the monthly salaries of administrative assistants without Bachelor’s degrees at the Sierra Leone Electoral Commission who are paid more than Le5.3 million monthly.
They further cdiscovered that even the highest paid school principals and head teachers earn around Le3.7 million; a monthly salary that is almost twice lower than the monthly pay of an administrative assistant at the Electoral Commission without a bachelor’s degree.
Thus, Africanist Press further note that even where a 100% increase in the current monthly pay of teachers were to be implemented, more than 90% of teachers will still earn salaries that are lower than the current monthly pay of an administrative assistant at the Electoral Commission without a bachelor’s degree.*
This is why the Teachers Solidarity Movement(TSM)’s demand for a “living wage” and better employment conditions for all teachers across Sierra Leone is the most rational call to solving the deplorable salaries and other working conditions for teachers.
The table provided tshows salary disparities between teachers and administrative assistants at the Electoral Commission to demonstrate the evidence upon which this analysis is based.
