The Ministry of Higher Education and the National Union of Higher Education Teachers, SYNES have agreed to work together in order to find a common solution to problems in the higher education sector.
They reached the agreement on Friday, February 5 during a meeting between representatives of SYNES, headed by its Secretary General, Blaise Mtopi and the Minister of State, Minister f Higher Education, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo.
The meeting came on the heels of a partially observed strike in all eight state universities between January 25-30. The lecturers said they were deploring some of their working conditions and had said the second phase of the strike action was scheduled to resume today before last weekend’s meeting was summoned to look into their grievances.
During the meeting, SYNES deplored the fact that out of 5,000 state university lecturers, around 2,000 have still not received their research grants for the fourth quarter of 2020, and remain in suspense. Among them, there are 315 in Douala, 210 in Ngaoundéré and 195 in Maroua, representatives of SYNES said.
Other grievances were equally raised including the non-payment of certain services owed to teachers, such as costs generated by overtime hours, supervision of theses or intervention in defense panels.
After the consultation, the two sides agreed to gradually resolve the issues. On the payment of the research bonus, it was noted that the payments has been in progress since January 22 and the process will continue. Likewise, the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education promised a rigorous follow-up of the files relating to the improvement of the working conditions of the grieving teachers.
On the payment of academic services carried out by some of these lecturers, the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education said, is gradually being paid as per the financial status of each university.
As concerns the permanent concertation framework between lecturers and the Ministry of Higher Education, SYNES was informed that recommendations are gradually being implemented at the various state universities as well as at the Ministry, in strict respect of laws of the Republic.
With regards to the second phase of the recruitment exercise of teachers into the state universities, SYNES was reassured that the process is gradually going on smoothly and diligently at all levels in strict respect of scientific and university norms as well as academic excellence.
JDC TV, Video news 
