The president of TTU, Mr Gratian Mukoba, said this on Thursday at a press conference held in Dar es Salaam. 

"We know the government sees that a strike at the end of this year will be ineffective because most schools have completed their exams and are closing for the holiday. 

"But when schools open in January next year, teachers will continue on holiday until when the government meets our demands," said the union's president. 

Mr Mukoba told reporters that TTU had in the past taken the matter to the government demanding to have their arrears paid from June, this year but nothing was done about it.

"We have had several meetings with the government and they pledged to pay what they owe us from November to December, this year but they have failed to fulfill that. 

"Because November has already passed and there is still no pay or any sort of communication from the government concerning our arrears, we see no need to wait any longer," observed Mukoba. 

He said that teachers shall continue to be on holiday until the government deals with issues such as lack of promotions and being paid salaries not according to their levels of education. 

"The government has to solve the problem of generalizing teachers' salaries and start paying them according to their grades and levels of education. 

"I ask teachers all over the country to unite. TTU also calls on parents and guardians to support us so that their children get better education," urged Mukoba. 

Mr Mukoba complained about the unnecessary deductions made from teachers' salaries such as fees for strengthening their union and the Uhuru torch as well as special contributions. 

"These cuts from teachers' salaries are completely useless because we do not see who benefits, considering the fact that a teacher in this country gets a salary of less than 200,000/-," complained Mukoba. 

He said because of such meagre payments, most pupils even those of standard seven cannot read and write properly because of lack of enough teachers in schools and dedication of teachers due to financial difficulties. 

"Schools do not have enough teaching facilities such as books, laboratories, desks and libraries - this makes teaching difficult and inefficient," added Mukoba. 

When reached for comments, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa said that Mukoba's claims were unfounded. 

"We discussed the matter with TTU and the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government (Tamisemi) and he knows the decision of the meeting. 

"We cannot ignore teachers, we appreciate their contributions in our country, but the task (of paying them) is very difficult because we must verify the claims before processing the payments," he explained. 

The minister, however, declined to state the decision of the joint meeting and whether verification of the claims had been done.