Minister Nalova Exposes Colleagues Ministers, lauds teachers’ protest

Secondary Education Minister, Prof Pauline Nalova Lyonga is pictured to have used a presser which Biya ordered Thursday March 10 to expose her colleagues ministers who have not been doing their job.

In a series of declarations during the presser at the Ministry of Communication Thursday night, the Secondary Education boss expressed her support for teachers demanding to be paid. The teachers’ demands, she stated, are just and important.

Present at the press conference were the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, Joseph Le, the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga and her counterpart of Basic Education, Prof Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa.

Talking about delay in processing documents and paying teachers, Minister Nalova Lyonga took many by surprise when she played Pontius Pilate, throwing some of her fellow colleague ministers under the bus.

“We only use their services… They are trained in the Ministry of Higher Education and sent to us and we only deploy them. We don’t even classify them,” she said of teachers.

The ministries of secondary and basic education, Minister Nalova said, “… cannot use people in those services when they are unhappy because their performances will not be optimal”.

The Ministers’ remarks come as a surprise to many, and are in sharp contrast with those of some of her peers who described protesting teachers as unpatriotic.

Communication Minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi was of the same opinion. The protesting teachers, he said, were civil and did not break anything.

Partial payment was to help teachers
One of the worries of protesting teachers is the payment of just part of their salaries. Some teachers have been receiving as low as half of their salaries.

“When 50% [salary payment] came in,” Minister Nalova said last night, “it was to help the teachers… It was a good idea to help teachers start off well when sent to far off areas”

The ministries in charge however, she said, “have forgotten that the teachers’ balance is waiting to be paid and this has not been paid. I don’t know why…The teachers have a just reason and the Ministers of education have a just reason to tell them to wait” she remarked.

To her, digitalization would go a long way to cut out the many processes required. “There is a lot of waste of time. The circuit is really long whereas teachers can have their salaries in a month or two” she told reporters.

The press conference was the second in a row. It followed instructions from President Paul Biya for the Minister’s concerned to pursue dialogue with protesting teachers.

Despite the ongoing sessions and pleas from the Minister’s, teachers have stood their grounds, with some promising to return to the classrooms only when money owed them is paid.