Teachers’ strike shuts schools

Most schools closed in Niger’s capital, Niamey, yesterday (Monday) as two teachers’ unions began a three-day strike for payment of salary arrears, AFP reported, quoting a union official. The agency said two in three secondary and nearly all primary schools and colleges were closed. The National Union of Teachers in Niger and the National Union of Basic Teachers want their September and October salaries paid. AFP said that 15,000 teachers and other civil servants were owed between seven and eight months in salaries arrears. The current strike follows protests in March, and others last year, when 40,000 civil servants demonstrated, demanding up to seven months of unpaid salaries.