The collective of secondary school teachers united under the On a Trop Supporté (OTS) movement has decided to renew the strike that began on September 4. The strike is set to continue until September 22, as announced in a press release issued yesterday, September 17. Supported by the Cameroon Teachers' Union for Africa (SECA), OTS wants to extend the strike, as "teachers in both rural and urban areas have responded en masse (and) urban schools are gradually joining the movement.”  If the strike continues, it's also because the government has failed to respond, OTS says.  

In its release, the collective denounced some teachers yet to join the strike. "It's also because of the non-strikers that the strike is going to extend over time. Had everyone joined in, we would have been done,” the signatories of the release complained.  

The collective also tackled administrative authorities who were trying to break the strike by threatening striking teachers. "The acts of those local authorities mean nothing because only the central government, based in Yaounde, can resolve this issue,” the OTS says. 

As a reminder, since September 4, teachers launched OTS II, a strike movement that follows on from that of February 2022. The demands for this strike are the same as the ones of the OTS I. It is the payment of XAF184 billion of arrears representing salary and various unpaid bonuses. Over the past year, the government has taken steps to pay off that debt but, the teachers find this is not being done as quickly as they want it. 

L.A.