MONROVIA, Montserrado – Catholic school teachers have returned to classes after their protest over not receiving their salary arrears. The teachers returned on Tuesday, March 17 after an agreement between the teachers’ association and management.

The Catholic Teachers Association and  the Catholic Education Secretariat reached the memorandum of understanding on Monday. The Liberian Council of Churches, Liberian National Students Union, Parents and Teachers Association, Catholic Youth Organization and the Ministry of Education were the various parties involved in negotiating Monday’s agreement.

Catholic teachers dropped their chalks for over two weeks and demonstrated in Monrovia and other localities, wanting five months of back pay from the Catholic Education Secretariat. The aggrieved teachers wrote a letter to the Ministry of Labor seeking the ministry’s intervention with the matter.

Students also partook in demonstrations and stormed the headquarters of the Catholic Archdiocesan Secretariat, demanding that the teachers receive their salaries so that they can return to class.

According to the MOU, as part of the new agreement with the teachers, they will receive two-month salaries rather than the five months owed them and agreed to return to their positions. Gregory Chea, the press and public relations officer of the Catholic Teachers Association, confirmed this agreement between teachers and the CES. He also said that the teachers will withdraw the complaint filed with the Ministry of Labor.

Featured image courtesy of Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World