Margaret Aihunu, a teacher at Vura Community High school who spent 38 years in the teaching profession, said what they are doing was for the good of teachers in future.
She said currently there are qualified teachers in the teaching service who got very low salaries because the Government did not address the re-leveling exercise.
“Some teachers got $400 a fortnight while untrained teachers got $200 per month,” she said.
“This is very low to survive on in today’s world.
“The Government needs to allocate the teachers in their right level according to their qualifications rather than continuing on the current trend,” she said.
Principal of Gela Ilau Primary school in Central Islands province, Augustine Famaelia, who taught for 35 years, said beside low salary cap, teachers do not have good housing.
“Some us are living in broken and leaked houses,” he said.
“Government needs to address this as well,” he said.
Victor Ninipua from Makina Primary school in Marau who got 43 years of experience under his belt, said teachers have suffered for a long time now.
He said their strike was not only for salary increase but for Government to fulfil some of its promises.
Mr Ninipua said teachers have seen injustice in the system which needs to be rectified for the good of teachers in the future.
The Government said that they would urgently call all education authorities around the country to Honiara to make their submissions for re-leveling to the teaching service department.
From there, the teaching service department will then advise the teaching service commission who will then make the appointments.
The Government in the statement said this would then enable the entitlements to be determined and paid.
“This is the process set out in the Education Act and the Constitution of Solomon Islands,” the statement said.
“It will be the starting point to properly address these issues.”
The statement said the process should start this week.
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