AYV News, October 6, 2026
The Chairman of the Conference of Principals in Sierra Leone, Peter Sandi, has called on President Julius Maada Bio to declare World Teachers’ Day a public holiday, arguing that teachers deserve a day to celebrate and rest away from their classrooms.
Speaking on the welfare of teachers, Sandi questioned why other commemorative days are observed as public holidays while Teachers’ Day is not.
“When it’s Armed Forces Day, it’s a holiday; Women’s Day is a holiday, and when it’s Teachers’ Day, it’s not a holiday. What’s the difference between teachers and other bodies that are granted holidays?” he asked.
Sandi also raised concerns over what he described as poor salaries and conditions of service for teachers in Sierra Leone.
According to him, some teachers receive as little as Le800, while others earn about Le1,200, which he said is inadequate to meet their basic needs.
“Teachers are paid about Le1,200 and some are even paid Le800, and the conditions of service are not good. We are human beings and we too need to live,” he said.
He called for an increase in teachers’ salaries and improvements in their conditions of service, stressing that teachers are civil servants and should benefit from facilities and opportunities provided by the State to other public-sector workers.
“We are civil servants and we deserve similar facilities that others enjoy from the State,” Sandi said.
