Benin: AME Teachers Demand Integration Before the 2025-2026 School Year

Just weeks ahead of the 2025-2026 school reopening, the Aspirants to the Teaching Profession (AME) made their voices heard at the Labour Exchange in Cotonou.

Gathered under the banner of the Action Front for the Integration of AME (FARAME-Benin), they are demanding immediate and unconditional integration into the civil service.

Introduced in 2019 as a transitional measure, the aspirancy program was meant to serve as a bridge toward a stable status. Six years later, AME members denounce unfulfilled promises and ongoing precariousness.

“We believed in the aspirancy program. Today, we are worn out, precarious, and made invisible,” declared Odilon Djossou, national coordinator of FARAME-Benin.

Despite some gains—12-month salary payments, maternity leave, exemptions, and health insurance—protesters argue that the essential demand remains unmet: the official recognition of their status.

The movement has received backing from major union confederations, including COSI-Benin and CSTB, which are also calling for immediate integration.