Meeting on July 28, 2026, the National Executive Bureau of SYNES denounced the persistence of unpaid dues and the silence of Minister of State Jacques Fame Ndongo. The union demands the payment of research allowances and calls on higher education teachers to mobilize for five days in front of the ministry, from Monday, August 3 to Friday, August 7, 2026.
The standoff resumes between the government and higher education teachers. At the end of an extraordinary session held by videoconference on July 28, 2026, the National Executive Bureau of SYNES made a harsh assessment of the situation in state universities.
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At the heart of the grievances: the persistent non-payment of the special allowance for research modernization. The union denounces the absence of payment for the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first two quarters of 2026. For the BEN-SYNES, this situation “constitutes an unacceptable precariousness of the higher education teacher in Cameroon.”
The statement signed by the General Secretary, Professor Wogaing Fotso J., also points to academic debt, the accumulation of unpaid dues in some institutions, and the absence of state subsidies to the grandes écoles. The union also mentions the insecure conditions in which colleagues in the North-West and South-West work, as well as the difficulties related to the implementation of new programs in the Écoles Normales Supérieures.
The BEN-SYNES particularly deplores “the persistent silence of the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education,” which it describes as a failure in social dialogue and university governance.
In response, the union takes action. It again demands full payment of arrears and invites all teachers to a massive sit-in in front of the Ministry of Higher Education in Yaoundé, from Monday, August 3 to Friday, August 7, 2026.
The BEN-SYNES states that it is nevertheless available for “a sincere, constructive social dialogue oriented towards concrete solutions,” while reaffirming its commitment to defend the rights and dignity of higher education teachers.
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