Union protests World Bank claim they are paid too much

Senegal's higher education union SAES has written a letter of protest to the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, after the bank's country director claimed salaries of Senegalese lecturers were five times higher than those of academics in the United States, and called for them to be reduced.

Vera Songwe, the World Bank's country director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania, expressed concern at the high salaries paid by the Senegalese government, reported Seneplus Education.

"Senegalese university teachers earn five times more than university teachers in the United States," she told the bank's director-general Bertrand Badre.

Badre was on a working visit for the Emerging Senegal Plan, to which the World Bank is contributing FCFA250 billion (US$524 million) to support 21 national and regional projects, reported Groupe Futurs Medias, or GFM.

Badre found the situation ridiculous, reported Seneplus Education, and at a press conference he questioned whether, when resources were rare, it made sense to allocate so much to such a narrow section of the population.

Songwe noted that lecturers' basic salaries were not very high, and she and Badre blamed the bonuses and allowances they received for leading to inequalities, reported GFM. Songwe believed the state should lower the payments, and as soon as possible.

She said the country had succeeded in increasing access to schooling and in 10 to 15 years there would be a high university population requiring an increased number of lecturers. "At this rate the state budget could never support such high salaries," she said.

The comments by the bank's two representatives angered the Syndicat Autonome de l'Enseignement Superieur, or SAES, whose Secretary General Seydi Ababacar Ndiaye sent a letter of complaint to Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.

Ndiaye protested against "the absurdity and inaccuracy of such assertions" and said "these unfortunate words can only spread doubt and suspicion", reported Agence de Presse Senegalaise.

Ndiaye accused Badre and Songwe of "violating our sovereignty when they go so far as to demand our authorities to lower our pay!", reported Sud Quotidien.

SAES questioned why, if the allegations were true, so many Senegalese colleagues had opted to work in the United States.

The union said the comments contradicted those of Makhtar Diop, the World Bank's vice-president for the African region, made in February, reported Le Soleil.

Diop had said: "Human capital has been the principal resource in Senegal for a long time. This human capital must remain the bedrock on which to build growth, in addition to strengthening institutions to make them strong and established for a long time.

"We must therefore congratulate ourselves on the efforts that Senegal has made for its educational system.

"For years, the World Bank and other partners have supported the government of Senegal to reinforce its educational system. In addition, the World Bank Group has performed a revival in the higher education sector; indeed, performance in the secondary and the primary requires a higher education of quality."

SAES registered its 'indignation' to the World Bank, and demanded clarification on the issue of the remuneration of Senegalese academics, reported Le Soleil.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.