The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) Friday met partner ministries and district schools inspectors in Kigali to discuss teachers’ salary arrears. According to the Permanent Secretary in Mineduc, Dr. Mathias Harebamungu, the discussion was going to help in getting solutions to the never ending problems related to teachers’ salaries. The partner ministries which were involved in these discussions included the Ministry of Labour and public service (MIFOTRA), the Ministry of Finance (MINECOFIN) and the Ministry of local government (MINALOC). “The problem in the delays of teachers’ salarioes has been present for so long but I believe the time has come to do away with it because by the time we finish the discussions, we will have got a permanent solution to this problem,” said Harebamungu. Lack of personnel in districts directly charged with the salaries while giving priority to other workers was sighted as the root cause of this problem. “The number of teachers in the district is always big to the extent that one worker at the district is not sufficient to complete the salary report for all the workers in the district,” said Silvestre Mutabaruka, the Nyagatare district schools’ inspector. “So, I think that if every district had a worker directly charged with teachers’ salaries, the problem would end.”. On increasing teachers’ salaries, Harebamungu said that plans to discuss the issue on the national level were in the pipeline. “The plans are in the offing and we are doing all possible with support from the president to make sure that the conditions of the teachers are improved,” he said. “The president wants the children of Rwanda to have a good and quality education so he is doing all possible together with the ministry to improve the living conditions of the teachers and this is being discussed at all levels.” A primary school teacher with the secondary school level A2 gets a basic salary of Rwf27,012. The one with level A1 is paid Rwf89,000 while a degree holder with education training A0 gets Rwf 113,000. Ends
