Teachers Have Always Been Essential!!!

The public workers strike in Botswana has just been paused, for a while they say. We are made to understand that this is done to give the unions a little time to digest and ingest what had been going on in the past eight weeks of the strike. Perhaps they can come up with a better and more effective strategy. Again, the strike had recently turned violent as protesters got fed up with the system and the fact that the government was totally giving them a blind eye and a rather cold shoulder. In an attempt to force attention from the officials, the protestors embarked on a radical revolution. Tires burned in streets, building got broken and the entire country smoked up. It was evidently a mark on the history pages of a country reputed to be the most peaceful in Africa.

Despite the turn of events, the government still remained resolute and did not move an inch. They stuck by their story of ‘there is no money and the country is in deficit’. The workers initially sought 16% increment, which was later cut down to 12%. All the government could offer was 3%. It is not surprising, at least to me, that whist negotiations were on, the IMF went behind the scenes and advised the country not to adjust the workers’ salaries. The IMF, an international illuminati organisation, cares a lot about a country’s financial and economic status. Yes, they do…  so long as all goes along with their ill intent and benefit them in the long run. It’s never about the troubled country. It’s always about them. 

So here we stand, frustrated from the eight weeks of strike. Striking teachers reported back to duty last week and since the employer has activated the ‘no work no pay,’ striking civil servants were not paid for the entire strike period. For the teachers, it has shown that it was not a wise move for the government at all. Teachers are not willing to cover the syllabi material that was supposed to have been done during the strike. Learners are way behind in their projects/syllabus and course work for final year students is adversely affected. A reflex response from students across the country is showing the authorities that students will not sit back and watch their future being messed around with. There’s pandemonium in senior schools as students burn vegetation, break windows and vandalise government property. What they want is simple; pay our teachers and let us be taught. It is also surprising that after the government has assured the general public that all is under control in schools, that temporary teachers have been engaged to cover up for striking ones, learners are still lagging behind. Nothing was ever in control and there were no temporary teachers. Propaganda has been the only tool by which the government misinformed the nation. Luckily, the ground situation got too big to be swept under the carpet. In every action there is a reaction and right now chickens are coming back home to roost.  

In a hurriedly thought move, the government just declared the teaching profession an essential service, without consultation with other stakeholders, of course. This will automatically prevent teachers from future strikes. The employer has come to painfully realise that when teachers are on strike, the repercussions are always heavily felt as it always boils down to the student. In this new chess move, the government has just launched war on public unions. They know that if they cripple the teachers, they would have wounded any strike to come to come in the future. The teaching service has a large percentage of public workers.

Let truth be known. When one talks of essential services, really, teachers have always been in that category – just that they were never acknowledged and appreciated for that. The teacher, basically, is the most essential of all workers. Even more than the nurse and the doctor. Why? Without a teacher, there isn’t any other profession- period.