Classes failed to resume on Monday, November 25, 2013, in spite of the Prime Minister’s directive.

The industrial action embarked on by Gabonese public teachers last month over demands for a pay increase and the payment of backlog of allowances is continuing after classes failed to reopen on Monday, November 25, 2013.

Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima had ordered the resumption of classes, but the few students who turned up met empty classrooms, Radio France Internationale, RFI, reported. Instead, the teachers voted to pursue the strike, calling for the dismissal of the Minister of National Education, Séraphin Moundounga. A demand which PM Ndong Sima promptly rejected. The teachers’ union accused him of being an obstacle to talks, saying he was arrogant and incompetent. They attributed the failure to resolve the crisis to him, Gabon Review website said.

While most parents hesitated in sending their children to school on Monday, the striking teachers already had a clear idea in their heads. “We will not return to class if the government does not respond to all our demands,” warned Simon Ndong Edzo, spokesman for the National Convention of Education Trade Unions, CONANYSED, after their meeting in Libreville, the Gaboneco.com website reported.

Simon Ndong Edzo added that the union will no longer accept simple promises from government. He said they thought the meeting with the Prime Minister will result in concrete action like the announcement of the allocation of money and specific dates for payment, RFI said. On its part, the government said it was diligently implementing earlier agreements reached with the trade union. The Director of Communication in the Prime Minister’s office, Alex Lewobi Lendidzi, said some of the demands were already met, while the backlog of allowances will be paid by December 31, 2013.

During a press briefing on November 21, 2013, PM Raymond Ndong Sima announced the setting up of two committees to look into the teachers’ demands, promising to pay the backlog of allowances before the end of 2013. In response, CONASYSED called a general assembly on Saturday, November 23, 2013, where union members reiterated their demand that classes will only restart if government implemented the terms of last February’s talks. The recommendations of the talks included the construction of more classrooms and the payment of allowances for the past four years.