6000 yet to be paid

By PHOEBE GWANGILO
AROUND 6000 teachers are still waiting to be paid since the auto-suspense system kicked in last month, according to Teaching Service Commission chairman Baran Sori.
He told The National that on pay eight (paid on April 25), 10,000 of the 57,000 teachers around the country were put off the Education Department payroll system for various reasons. It was mostly to do with their failure to submit their resumption of duty summary sheets, or for not complying with the commission’s directives.
But on pay 11 (paid on May 23), he said the number had gone down to 6007. He clarified that some of the 6007 teachers may have either resigned, retired or had not resumed duties.
“Those teaching but went off pay following the auto-suspense didn’t comply with the commission’s directive,” he said.
Of the more than 700 teachers from East Sepik, Sori said the commission was still waiting for their resumption of duty summary sheets.
“Those teachers have not complied with the directives of the commission. We advised East Sepik teachers to remain in their teaching positions from last year. But they choose to follow the appointments by the provincial boards,” he said.
Sori said they hoped the number would decrease further in the coming weeks.
He commended provinces which had submitting the resumption of duty sheets of their teachers.
“Manus have done well. After Pay 11, only 15 teachers were still off pay. (But) not all of them are currently teaching,” he said.
The commission has also advised the payroll division to restore all teachers in Hela and Southern Highlands on the payroll because they were affected by the earthquake.
“The teachers will help to rebuild the school,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mongniol Primary School head teacher Clement Walama said officers from the East Sepik education division were supposed to travel to Port Moresby to deliver the teachers’ sheets.
“The teachers have been without pay for some weeks now. There is no guarantee when they will be put back on pay,” he said.
“They were put off pay on Pay 8 and the provincial administration assured them that by Pay 11 or 12, they would be back on. But last week was Pay 11, and those teachers were still not paid because the salary staff are still in the province with the sheets. We are now at a crucial time in the academic year which term one assessment winding down.”
Walama said there were 11 teachers at his school who had not been paid.
“I have urge them to hang in there. They are teaching in urban school and they need money to keep them and their families going. I can’t force them to continue to work,” he said.