A national campaign to fight the phenomenon kicked off in Yaounde last Thursday.

Primary school teachers who have deserted classrooms for long, unjustified reasons have been urged to return as government has undertaken a series of measures to ensure that their work is made easier.

The Minister of Basic Education, Youssouf Hadidja Alim, made the call last Thursday July 19 in Yaounde while launching the nationwide awareness campaign on motivating and keeping primary school teachers at work. The Minister disclosed that absenteeism was high especially among teachers recruited on contract (TRCs) who, she said, advance accommodation problems and the time spent in following up documents in Yaounde as reasons for their absence.

According to information contained in the flier produced for the campaign, the average absenteeism rate is 20 per cent among the 37,000 TRCs on whom the government spends FCFA 12 billion in salaries a year. Other causes of absenteeism include ill health, lack of access to health facilities as well as abandonment of duty by some teachers after receiving their salary arrears to invest in lucrative activities. Some teachers also complain of being posted far from their families.

In this regard, Youssouf Hadidja Alim announced that measures intended to reverse the trend will not only include administrative sanctions, but prior sensitisation. According to the consultant hired by the ministry, Isaac Njifakwe, the awareness campaign that is funded by the World Bank, will involve the distribution of fliers to education stakeholders, pasting of posters, use of various spots, advertorials and talk shows, among others to be carried by public and private media in official and local languages. The fliers, posters and other campaign material were handed to all ten Regional Delegates of Basic Education present or represented at the event, for a wider distribution.

Meanwhile, the Basic Education Minister announced an ongoing programme to construct 240 houses at the cost of FCFA three billion. Ten buildings to house 20 teachers will be constructed in the Bakassi Peninsula while the construction of 51 other houses is underway with funding from the Islamic Development Bank. Furthermore, the decentralization of the treatment of staff career files is underway while the automatic treatment of teachers' advancements is effective and teacher paid in nearby treasuries.