Private Catholic education: More than 1,613 teachers threatened with dismissal

The state’s decision to suspend subsidies for private Catholic education from December 2024, under a framework agreement linking the state to private Catholic education, will lead to the closure of Catholic schools next year and the layoffs of an estimated more than 1,613 teaching staff. The church paid 80% of teachers’ salaries in the first place.

There has been a bond between the Church and the State since 1972. In this agreement, the State undertakes to pay 80% of the teachers’ salaries. However, in recent times, from 2021 to date, Catholic education is going through a crisis, as this wage subsidy that must be paid to educational institutions to pay teachers’ salaries has not been paid at all.

This money is not paid by the state. This is why the Catholic Church has difficulty paying teachers’ salaries today. Ibrahim Diarra, one of the leaders of the BN-Syntec trade union committee, said that the state and the church met several times to review or reread the church-state covenant. It was after these meetings, he said, that the state director of private Catholic education informed the state of the decision to suspend the general assembly from December 2024.

In response, the bishops’ extraordinary meeting also decided that if the country withdraws from the conference, Catholic schools will be closed next year 2024-2025 and teaching staff will be laid off. That is, 1,613 teachers at all levels of education.

According to a second source at BN-Syntec, no teacher has received salary since May. Today is August and the pain of a rented householder who has not received salary since May can be imagined. Mr. Diarra will say that the crisis has really shaken their employers and is also the reason why the rights of some teachers and family allowances have been completely terminated in many parishes.

Syntec, with the aim of protecting the rights of workers, contacted the employer, who informed it that the State has not paid the subsidies correctly since May. “In May and June, the State did not even pay the teachers, which exacerbated the crisis and today we are already gasping for breath”, lamented the Deputy Secretary-General, Ibrahim Diarra.

The church has several basic schools, general secondary schools, vocational schools and higher schools. However, New Generation said it had no idea about the reasons given by the government. In fact, according to the national director, the state said it withdrew under pressure from certain groups. “We cannot understand this,” said Mr. Diarra.

Regarding the steps to be taken, he will explain that the office has consulted and contacted trade union partners and the central trade union. Syntec intends to make representations to the political authorities so that the government changes its decision. BN-Syntec will use all possible ways and means to make its voice heard. What does the head of a family who has served for 10, even 20, 30 years do when he is dismissed? Where do the students go after school, he wonders? Remember that Catholic schools cover the national territory.

The Deputy Secretary General denied those who claimed that the subsidy given to Catholic education was only to finance Church activities. Think again! Deputy Siegel replied that the subsidy was only used to supplement the teachers’ salaries and nothing else.

Finally, he will call on their employers, the Malian authorities, to do everything to tune up their violins in order to find a satisfactory outcome to this situation. It is shocking that more than 1,613 teachers are on the streets in one day. We assure the activists that they will do everything possible to find a compromise in this crisis, he concluded.

Ibrahima Ndiaye