English, Umwarimu|October 21, 2012 9:22 am

Rwanda : Technical school teachers complain of low salaries

Teachers in government vocational training schools are complaining about low salaries when other teachers in different schools are paid fairly.

Vocational Training Centers (VTC) were established to help children who complete 9 years basic education but get no chance to further studies to higher levels.

Mentors have said their salaries are small compared to teachers in primary and secondary schools, when they have the same level of education.

Jean Damascene Nkurunziza, a teacher at VTC Mugusa located in Southern province, asserts that they are paid Rwf27000 while teachers in other schools get over Rwf40000.

“This is not fair since we do the same job and have same education level,” he laments.

All teachers who started before 2009 when Workforce Development Authority (WDA) was established reveal that they have a problem of delayed salaries for months which have never been paid.

This comes after WDA started paying the salaries of teachers who started work after its establishment.

Jerome Gasana, Director of WDA says they are aware of the problem and devising means to solve it because it’s against the law to deny teachers their money.

“We set up projects to help vocational schools and their staff financially in a near future,” he explains.

Gasana adds that when teachers are settled and the centers have resources, teachers will want to get employed in VTC instead of running away to other schools.