Central teachers sorted out

THE long wait of Central teachers ended yesterday with the provincial education adviser Titus Hatagen keeping to his word by paying off the outstanding leave fares from 2003 to last year.
The National reported last week that teachers in the province had no choice but to spend their Christmas and New Year in Port Moresby after their leave fares were delayed.
They confirmed yesterday that their problems had been resolved by Mr Hatagen.
PNG teachers association official Joe Kua expressed gratitude that they could now return home to visit their families and relatives before resuming work on Jan 25.
“We would like to thank Mr Hatagen and those who had worked to get our travel fares.
“We have worked hard for these and it is really rewarding.
“Teachers must be recognised for their efforts as they spend most of their time with students and in the night preparing for the next day’s lessons” he said.
Mr Kua confirmed that most of the teachers, who had been turning up at the provincial office the past four weeks, had had their problems resolved.
“We feared classes would be disrupted if the provincial administration did not come good,” he said.
Central provincial administrator Raphael Yipmaramba confirmed that all teachers had been paid their leave fares as promised.
“Like I said earlier, the problem was due to the absence of proper records. We have only hard copies of data,” he said.