Parents condemn protracted strike at unity schools

The protracted strike by teachers in some federal government colleges may have started to give parents some anxiety and they have condemned it in its entirety.

The two months old industrial action was called by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) to protest alleged disparity in their salaries and allowances.

The association is asking for the payment of their outstanding November and December 2016 salaries and allowances, as well as that of May 2017.

It is also demanding the backlog of the first 28 days and promotion arrears, which were part of the contentious issues.

However, Director of Information at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Priscilla Chinenye Ihuoma, had assured that the issue would be resolved within a few days as government was already addressing the matter.

When contacted on the telephone on the matter, she simply said: “We are almost at the end of the tunnel and teachers should be patient with government.”

But parents of students at the schools have condemned Federal Government’s inability to resolve the crisis until now as affected students have lost eight weeks of academic activities to the strike.

Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Sagamu, Ogun State, Deacon James Oyesola who spoke with The Guardian yesterday decried the prolonged strike.

He expressed disappointment at the lingering crisis, wondering why the parties concerned were delaying the resolution of the crisis.

He hinted that that the PTA would soon embark on a peaceful protest to tell the world that their children have been idle for two months adding however, that the PTA has been trying to see that the crisis was resolved peacefully but regretted it was yet to achieve positive results.

“We have discussed with the striking teachers and the ministry. The union explained that if only government is sincere about the issue, they would have resumed.

“The Ministry of Education claimed that they have compiled the total amount and sent to Ministry of Finance for approval and payment but has not received a response. We do not know the fate of our children, and parents are seriously upset with the situation.

As things stand, we do not have any other option than to carry placards and cry out to the whole world,” he said.