By Militant Côte d’Ivoire 7 March 2025
“School is not a priority for the Ouattara government”. We have been repeating this since October. It became undeniable this Wednesday morning with the arrest of 33 teachers and the repression of their General Assembly in Abidjan.
In October 2024, primary and secondary school teachers in Côte d’Ivoire observed three days of work stoppages to demand a quarterly bonus, in order to improve their living conditions amid the rising costs of living.
At the time, the government claimed that this strike did not originate from the teachers themselves. It was, they said, called by a group of “dishonest” union leaders.
Later, on the first day of the strike, the government declared it illegal. They argued that it had not followed the procedure requiring government approval before any strike action—one of the absurd laws dating back to the 1990s.
Government justifications
To justify these two arguments, government spokespersons argued that the strike was not widely followed.
Old images of teachers in classrooms were circulated on social media. Those very teachers, who later refuted the claims by explaining the context of the images, were arrested and later released.
Seeing that the strike was actually gaining traction by the second day, the government ordered regional education offices to submit lists of striking teachers. These teachers saw salary deductions, while the union leaders’ wages were outright suspended.
In this context, betrayals happened—some union leaders sided with the government, urging their members to stay out of the strike. However, this backfired, leading to internal splits and the emergence of new, more independent organizations.
Only after these three days of well-supported strikes did the government finally agree to talks. The teachers knew this was a delaying tactic, but they were prepared for a battle of endurance.
At the start of the discussions, the Ministry of Education pretended to be unaware of the teachers’ main demand—the quarterly bonus—and requested time to examine it.
A “committee of experts” was then formed to study the demand, and propose solutions while considering the country’s economic context, where the school year’s budget had already been set.
A meeting was scheduled for March 27, 2025, when the said committee is expected to present its conclusions.
Aware of the government’s stalling tactics, union leaders kept their members on alert and scheduled a General Assembly on March 5, 2025, to evaluate the situation and the experts’ proposals.
Meanwhile, they did not remain idle. Starting in mid-February, they launched a mobilization tour to prepare for the March assembly.
Government panics
Panicked, the government resorted to the stick again, requiring all union meetings in schools to receive prior approval from school principals. Teachers countered that no such requirement existed in the law.
Then, on Monday, March 3, the government abruptly announced – through a short and dismissive statement – that the experts committee’s meeting had been postponed indefinitely.
For the teachers, this announcement came as nothing less than an insult. “Enough was enough!” The government’s contemptuous attitude radicalized even the last remaining moderates among the teachers.
This crisis unfolds against a backdrop of national uncertainty, with a presidential election on the horizon, and as major land disputes between wealthy elites and dispossessed poor communities dominate the public debate.
Teachers know better than anyone that the academic year is nearing its end, and that they have no choice but to leverage their current position of strength to secure their bonus.
Following the announcement of the police repression against the General Assembly, and the arrest of 33 teachers, classes and even practical and oral exam sessions were suspended in several regions.
Since then, those arrested have been released, but the situation remains highly volatile. Teachers everywhere are now more eager than ever to step up their actions.
Key takeaways from this unprecedented situation
1: Democracy in the workers’ movement is taking shape: the strike decision in 2024 was made collectively in a general assembly.
Likewise, the decision to temporarily suspend the strike when the government announced the formation of the experts committee was made after decentralized assemblies across the regions.
Now, once again, it is through a general assembly that teachers will decide how to respond to the government. These methods of organisation mark a turning point in the Ivorian labor movement, and are likely to inspire other workers’ struggles.
2: The financial appeal that has been launched in solidarity with the teachers who have faced salary suspension or cuts was met with widespread support.
Donor lists were regularly published in union groups, and the distribution of funds was openly discussed.
This transparency has also prevented the union leaders from making decisions behind closed doors without consulting the rank and file.
3: Teachers took the time to communicate regularly and widely about their demands, their actions and the government’s responses.
This has helped build public trust in their commitment to students and strengthened support for their primary demand—the quarterly bonus. It even swayed many teachers who were members of the ruling party to back the strike.
As one teacher put it in a discussion: “My uncle is a deputy, a minister, a senator—but he’s not the one paying my rent or giving me a quarterly bonus!”