A Gambian lawmaker has asked the government to look into the deplorable conditions of teachers and pave lasting solutions to addressing their plights.

Teachers, especially those at public schools, are among the least paid civil servants in the country, forcing scores of them to look for better paying jobs in other sectors. 

President Adama Barrow has outlined dozens of developments achieved in the education sector, but failed to outline plans to address challenges faced by teachers.

However, the national assembly member for Niani, Omar Jobe, expressed concern about the appalling conditions of teachers during debate on the president’s state of the nation address.

“If you look into education, the lives and livelihoods of the teachers must be looked at. It is disheartening sometimes in certain areas. If you go there and look at the lives and conditions of the teachers it’s very hard. And other teachers also are very far from reaching areas in which I think we need to give due consideration,” he said.

Meanwhile, he also urged the government to come up with a pragmatic salary restructure that would benefit people rather than increasing salaries that would burden tax payers. 

“We don’t need a salary increment, what we need is salary restructuring. As long as we don’t look into the salary restructuring, we will keep increasing salaries and tax will keep increasing,” he added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba