Joint Government-Union Bench Committee: Tony Mwaba reassures himself that the work is proceeding smoothly

The meeting of the Joint Government-Union Committee for Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST) is continuing at Village Venus in Bibwa, in the municipality of Nsele. On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi visited the site to check on the progress of the work and review the preliminary report, which focuses on identifying the resources allocated to the sub-sector and defining the priority actions to be taken in order to positively address teachers’ demands during the 2023–2024 school year.

Before the two parties gathered in plenary session, the Secretary General of the EPST, Christine Nepa Nepa Kabala, presented to the minister in charge the progress of the work in the subcommittees, discussions that have already lasted nearly two weeks.

Speaking on behalf of the head of the EPST administration, union representative Bruno Jibikilayi, the rapporteur for the proceedings, highlighted the seven priority actions that have already been identified: a salary increase; adjustment of the free education allowance for public elementary school teachers; payment of transferred grades; payment of NP teachers for secondary schools and administrative offices; scheduled retirement of teachers; automation of the payroll management allowance; payment of the special duty allowance for inspectors and the specific duty allowance for support staff.

Taking the floor in turn, Professor Tony Mwaba noted that this internal work must highlight the budgetary resources allocated to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (EPST) for fiscal year 2024, in order to identify what needs to be done, jointly decide on the actions to be taken, and address the various challenges facing the sub-sector within a partnership framework.

“All union members—I mean, the union bench—have truly been involved in a spirit of transparency. You know that in our sectoral strategy, beyond partnership, we also have transparent governance as part of our governance pillar. This is a requirement for us,” he said. 

The head of the EPST also invited the union representatives to engage in sincere dialogue, free from blackmail and political manipulation. His remarks were met with applause from the audience.

The union delegation welcomed the approach taken by the minister in charge, which involves involving them early on in the management of funds allocated to the subsector—a major first, especially since the Ministry of EPST could have handled this work alone.

The union representatives also thanked the Government of the Republic, through Professor Tony Mwaba, for all the significant progress made by the Tshisekedi administration in the sub-sector.

They nevertheless expressed the hope that the head of state would grace the teachers’ conference with his presence at least once, as he does for other sectors.

Christian BELLA