8,855 teachers to go off payroll

By DULCIE OREKE
MORE than 8,800 teachers will not be paid this month because of their failure to notify the Education Department that they have resumed duties.
The department expected teachers at the start of the school year to fill their resumption duty sheets and submit them to the provincial education offices.
The 8,855 teachers had not done that, according to Education secretary Musawe Sinebare. He said 2,129 of them were from Southern Highlands, 579 from Morobe and 577 from Western Highlands.
Sinebare said the suspension of pay would be implemented on pay number 7 on April 5.
Out of the 46,191 teachers on the payroll, 37,336 (80.8%) have submitted their resumption of duty sheets. Their forms have been processed.
Sinebare had advised provincial education authorities and teachers who had resumed duties but had not formally notified the department to do so immediately if they wanted to be paid.
Copies of their resumption of duties sheet should be sent to the department’s payroll service in Waigani.  This could be done through the provincial education offices.
He said of the 2,145 new graduates coming out of the teachers’ colleges, the department had only 643 names on its payroll.
Provinces who had recruited new graduates had been urged to assist the new teachers in submitting their forms through their respective provincial education offices.
Sinebare said the graduates would not be paid until their relevant documents were received.