The three teachers unions LTTU, LAT and LESPA, said they hope that teachers in Lesotho will ever be set free, from the shackles that bind them to a state of confusion, distress and pain that frustrate them in the teaching fraternity.

The unions said this in Maseru yesterday when expressing their opinions, on the responses of the Ministry of Education to their grievances they tabled before it.

They said among the many grievances they tabled before the Ministry of Education, they included the arrears of teachers’ salaries, which the ministry promised to settle since 2011.

They said the factors which contributed to the said arrears include the first appointment arrears, in which when a teacher is employed for the first time, he would be paid his salary after five to six months, and when he is paid he would not be given a full salary.

They said before June 2016 the salaries of teachers who acquired new qualifications were increased, but again in that case the Ministry of Education would increase the salary of the said teacher, after about two to three months, though it has been made aware of the new qualification of the teacher.

The unions went on to say other arrears include the salaries of substitute teachers, and salaries of temporary and acting principals.