Unions in Niger are fighting to end the practice of fixed-term contracts and ensure decent working conditions for teachers

Unions in Niger are fighting to end the practice of fixed-term contracts and ensure decent working conditions for teachers

A teacher at a primary school in Zinder, Niger’s second largest city, in November 2021.

(Saidou Arji)
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In a major decision in the area of education, Niger’s new government has agreed to put an end to the practice of contractualisation, whereby teachers are engaged on the basis of fixed-term contracts rather than civil servant positions. The decision was made following a meeting with leaders of the Nigerien education system and was reaffirmed on 27 October 2021 during a meeting between President Mohamed Bazoum, who took office in April, and the country’s teachers unions.

Fixed-term contract employment for teachers is an issue of concern for both the government and the teachers unions. In 2017, out of a total of 76,184 primary school teachers, 59,870, or 81.3 per cent, were contract teachers. Women account for 70 to 80 per cent of contract teachers.

After previously introducing voluntary work in education in 1998, in 2001, Niger began using contract teachers to make up for teacher shortages, particularly in primary schools in rural areas. Intended as a temporary solution, the practice has become permanent.

In addition to speeding up the process of teacher recruitment, contractualisation allows the government to reduce spending in the sector, as contract teachers receive lower salaries than their civil servant counterparts. The widespread use of contract teachers in the education sector reflects an approach favoured by international financial institutions, notably the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, aimed at increasing school enrolment rates in countries with limited resources. It is the teachers, however, who bear the brunt of this practice, which prioritises enrolment figures over quality of education.

Same work, different pay

The unequal treatment of contract teachers compared with their civil servant colleagues is reflected in both the amount and the official definition of their remuneration: civil servant teachers begin their careers as assistant teachers with a net monthly salary of 151,000 CFA francs (around €230), while contract teachers receive an ‘allowance’ of 75,000 CFA francs (around €114). While both do the same job, contract workers do not receive their pay at a fixed date. In fact, as several teachers told Equal Times, they are always paid late: as of 15 February 2022, contract teachers have yet to receive their pay for the month of January.

Furthermore, the conditions of their payment often prevent them from working properly. For the past six years, the payment of contract teachers’ salaries has been entrusted to the post office, which doesn’t have an office in some localities and sometimes has no cash on hand. As a result, contract teachers in remote areas are often forced to abandon their classes for several days in order to collect their salaries. The post office also publishes the payment schedule for teachers in each locality. The public availability of this information creates additional insecurity for contract teachers, who have been subject to attacks and extortion by bandits, especially in the increasingly insecure border area between Niger and Burkina Faso.

Contract teachers also face discrimination in their professional lives. While civil servant teachers benefit from a career plan provided for in the civil service statute, their contract colleagues do not enjoy similar prospects. Their only hope for greater stability is to be reinstated into civil service or to be admitted to its recruitment tests.

Unfortunately, relatively few are able to successfully make this transition. Halima Kangay is one of the contract teachers still hoping to be integrated into the civil service. “I’ve been a contract teacher for eight years and I’ll be 45 soon, which is the age limit for entering civil service. It’s true that the unions are negotiating a waiver on the age limit, but I’m losing hope by the day,” she confides.

Mounkaila Halidou is a long-time advocate for educational professionals and secretary general of the teacher’s union Syndicat National des Agents Contractuels de l’Éducation de Base (SYNACEB) since its creation. The union is affiliated with the Confédération Nigérienne du Travail (CNT), which Halidou has also led since November 2021. According to Halidou, “a contract teacher who spends a certain number of years in the profession should be transferred into civil service and enjoy civil servant status. But their seniority is not respected at all. It’s no surprise that contract teachers leave the teaching profession as soon as they get the slightest opportunity elsewhere,” he says.

The many dimensions of precariousness

SYNACEB maintains that the rules in place have never been applied in their entirety. Part of what makes the status of contract teachers so precarious is the ease with which they can be disciplined and even dismissed without any respect for established procedures. In the case of dismissals, the same procedure theoretically applies to both civil servants and contract teachers, including the right to have their cases heard before a disciplinary board. Unfortunately, this procedure is not applied when contract teachers are involved. “Contract teachers are at the mercy of the primary school inspectors. All an inspector has to do is write to the regional education director to say they are relieving a teacher of his or her duties for such and such a fault and the contract is terminated. We even have localities where the mayors themselves terminate the contracts,” laments Halidou.

Such practices fly in the face of the requirements for decent work. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), decent work implies adequate remuneration, social protection for workers and their families, safety at work, as well as “better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men”.

To those who maintain that contract teachers are responsible for a decline in the quality of education, Halidou replies that the psychological and material conditions to which these teachers are subjected are decisive: “How can someone who earns a salary of 75,000 francs, which doesn’t even equal compensation pay for some civil servants, be expected to carry out their vocation?”

In 2020, as part of its measures aimed at improving the education system, the Ministry of Education introduced a competitive examination for contract teachers with four years of experience with the aim of recruiting 500 primary school teachers.

The failure of this initiative is the backdrop against which the government announced an end to contractualisation. At the same time, it announced the introduction of a national civic service intended to improve the quality of education. Applicants for this service must hold a higher education degree and undergo 45 days of pedagogical training.

Halidou of SYNACEB is skeptical of this approach: “You can’t train a good teacher in 45 days, no matter what diploma he or she has. This is not a solution for improving the quality of education.”

Mobilisation and social dialogue

SYNACEB, with the support of the CNT, is calling for several measures including improved pay, respect for timelines for transfer to civil service, and a career plan for contract teachers. As the union argues, solutions require a global and intentional approach rather than a series of episodic announcements.

“We’re in discussions with the government to define the modalities for integrating contract teachers into the civil service, but the status of the civil service is currently under review,” Halidou tells Equal Times.

When dialogue with the authorities hits an impasse, the unions turn to organising strikes in the schools. “The government doesn’t want to admit the difficult truth that contract teachers are greater in number and are able to effectively exert pressure, because every time they go on strike, all the schools close,” says a primary education inspector who requested anonymity. This was the case when SYNACEB organised a strike on 13 and 14 February 2020, which saw high levels of participation throughout the country.

The union also organises marches and sit-ins to demand the payment of back-logged salaries, as well as better pay and career prospects.

In addition to organising strikes, SYNACEB’s strategy includes advocating with authorities and organising awareness-raising campaigns among union members to encourage commitment and unified action on behalf of their collective interests.

SYNACEB also works to support individual members who find themselves in difficulty, especially when they are victims of abuse by education officials. According to Halidou, his organisation is always ready to protect and support members whose rights are violated, provided that they expressly refer the matter to the SYNACEB officials in their region. The problems that teachers face can even be dealt with at national level when regional education officials repeatedly persecute them, explains Halidou. “The union occasionally provides financial support to members facing serious problems, but our resources are limited,” he says.

His union’s most urgent concern remains the inclusion of contract workers in the planned reform of the civil service to ensure that they have decent work: “The principle has been accepted but it has yet to be implemented.” As part of the government’s push to decentralise public services, the reform provides for the recruitment and payment of contract teachers by the municipalities. This makes the matter all the more urgent, as many local authorities are experiencing financial difficulties, particularly due to failure to pay taxes. The union is fighting to obtain guarantees as soon as possible in order to avoid payment problems for teachers.

This article has been translated from French by Brandon Johnson

This article was produced with the support of the Belgian trade union ACV-CSC and the Directorate-General for Belgian Development Cooperation.