The ministry of education in Burkina Faso agreed to meet some of the demands of striking teachers after thousands of high school pupils demonstrated, some violently, in the capital Ougadougou in support of their teachers.
The student demonstrations are the latest in a series of disparate protests that have been racking the country in a manner suggesting a sub-Saharan extension of the Arab Spring. After meeting student activists on Tuesday, the ministry agreed to a salary increase for teachers if the students dispersed. The teachers went on strike last week, demanding higher salaries and smaller classes.
Even with the apparent resolution of the teachers’ demands, other demonstrations have been raging for months throughout the nation. Protesters are calling attention to a number of issues, including the salaries and benefits of soldiers, the living and working conditions of university students and democracy in the small West African country that has been ruled by President Blaise Compaoré for the past 24 years.
Although some learners say this is a signal that the revolutionary sentiments of the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East are spreading south, Saidou Karim of the Centre for Democratic Governance in Ouagadougou said that there were similarities but revolution was unlikely.
“The root causes are the same,” said Karim, referring to rising food prices and the authoritarian nature of Compaoré’s government, which is largely controlled by the military, the public administration, traditional rules and the business community. “It is the kind of regime that you have in the Maghreb, which is authoritarian, a façade democracy, and that is why you have all of these people demonstrating-soldiers and students. Everybody is complaining about the system.”
But, he said, the opposition parties lacked the strength to foster revolution — hey held only a few seats in the National Assembly and a demonstration organised by them last month was attended by only a few hundred people. He said that, although there was a desire for democracy and social change in Burkina Faso, its citizens had little faith in the nation’s leaders.
“The issue is that people are not convinced that these people can do better than Blaise Compaoré.”
Instead of a popular revolution, Karim said, there were fears that the military, who had also been rioting in recent months and looting shops in Ougadougou, could stage a coup if Compaoré failed to fulfil his agreement to improve their salaries and living conditions.
Karim said the demonstrations pointed to the increasingly fragile state of the Compaoré government, particularly since the recent military mutinies.
“The government is vulnerable and is under threat because different groups are using violence and violence is no longer the monopoly of the state that it once was,” said Karim. But the military was unlikely to offer an alternative to the government. “The main problem with this is that the military have no vision; they are just demonstrating for their own private interests.”
The students marched this week in front of the ministry of education building in downtown Ougadougou, calling on the government to meet the demands of their teachers. The students were concerned that if the teachers continued to strike, they would not be able to sit their final examinations, which would have to be postponed to next year.
Many demonstrators watched quietly from the sidelines when the protest became violent. Groups began throwing rocks through the windows of the ministry, set fire to tyres and furniture in the street and looted passing vehicles. No security forces were visible at the scene.
A protester completing her final year of high school watched as students threw rocks at the building. She said she had come to the demonstration to support the teachers but “I don’t agree with the violence. It is good to protest peacefully,” she said.
Another student protester standing on the sidelines said that teachers had been striking for the past year.
“If we don’t come here to support our teachers, we will not be able to sit our exams under good conditions,” he said. “The education system is bad here. Everything is bad here. Even the military, they [the government officials] don’t pay them.
“The price of the food is high and if you go to university the quality of life is not good. Life is hard in Burkina Faso. Our government is not good and we need change.” —