Benin president formalizes teacher contracts after years of advocacy
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In Benin, President Romuald Wadagni met with teacher candidates, known as AME, and agreed to formally hire them as contract agents within local governments.
The decision follows long-standing requests from the teachers for job security. The government will integrate the teachers in phases, beginning with the 2019 cohort, which comprises over half of all candidates.
To qualify, teachers must meet age requirements aligned with Benin’s general civil service statute, 35 for categories C and D, and 40 for A and B, to ensure they can accrue the 15 years of contributions needed for a full pension. The government chose to assess candidates based on their existing experience rather than require a new evaluation.
These teachers will become public contract agents of decentralized local authorities, which maintains their social security benefits and shares career management between the education ministries and local governments. Representatives from key government ministries, including the Ministers of Budget and Education, and leaders from Benin’s major trade unions attended the meeting and praised the agreement as ending years of job insecurity for thousands of educators.
