A Dangerous Precedence

It comes as no surprise to me that Maldivian Parliament Members vigorously opposed the teachers' idea of striking. This is because, if the strikes do happen it will set a dangerous precedence for the rest of our society and encourage public to take more direct action to let themselves be heard and to demand their rights. It comes at a time when public sentiment towards their MP's is at an all time low, especially after their salaries were increased to more than 60,000 Rufiya per month.

In today's emergency session most MP's promised, rather vaguely and without much specifics, that they will fight for teachers' rights. A familiar rhetoric, isn't it? However, these MP's vigorously opposed the strike, citing that it will only hurt students. Fail they did in pointing out that students are hurt on a daily basis when disgruntled, underpaid teachers stand in front of a class and the most important thing in their minds is the day's after-school tuition classes. For a vast majority of teachers this is probably their main source of income, which will pay for their rents, food, water, electricity and medical bills, etc.

Gayyoom's brother-in-law Abbas Ibrahim described the situatioin as mere political drama. He rightly predicts that the teachers' actions could potentially lead parents to protest against bad teachers, but then he's definitely wrong to suggest that it is a bad thing. There is no doubt in my mind that he's more used to hearing praise and unchallenged Yes Sir (i.e. Aadhe, Aadhe) in his long carrier as a politician.

LH atoll MP Ahmed Mohamed proposed reducing top end government salaries by 10%, but I don't see how this will help any teacher.

One of the most ridiculous statements was made by one Jaufar E Adam who was clearly out of his mind when he observed that teachers were also at much fault,  which is evident in the state of the toilets in our school.

Ibrahim Ismail of Male' spoke in favor of the strike noting that the teachers opted to strike as a last resort only, after years of trying to bring the issue to the notice of the relevant authorities and also to Gayyoom himself. Addu MP Aslam highlighted the tough working and living conditions faced by most teachers.

For the first time in our nation's history, an important public workers' body threatens to bring the country to a standstill, with strike action. If the teachers do go ahead with their plans it will change a lot for our exploited, underpaid workforce. It will change things for the country's politicians, who are also the country's top employers, both in the private and public sectors. It will change our society forever!