The Ministry Of Inner Cities and Zongo Development says that the unpaid allowances for Arabic teachers will be paid by close of this week.
It says the Ministry of Finance has handed over funds to the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) for onward payment.
This follows a threat from some Arabic instructors in the Northern Region to demonstrate over the non-payment of their allowances.
The over 900 instructors say they have not received their monthly stipend for some eight months.
The group had blamed the Zongo Development Ministry for the delays.
They subsequently gave the ministry up to Monday, July 1, 2019, to settle the arrears.
Speaking to Citi News, Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Dr. Mustapha Hamid says government prioritizes the teaching and learning of the Arabic language hence, the steps being taken to settle the arrears.
The minister also stressed why he thought the teaching of Arabic was important.
“This week, all of that wahala will come to an end and then YEA will have the money with which to begin to clear the backlog of arrears that we owe the Arabic teachers.”
“If we are learning and writing French in our country, I think there is more justification to learn Arabic than French because there are more speakers of Arabic in our country than there are speakers of French.”