Have we learnt anything?

 This is the second part of a series by Dr Musawe Sinebare on the problems teachers face in getting their Teachers Leave Funds. Yesterday, Sinebare said the debacle is a time bomb waiting to explode. Today he says none of the annually repeated problems are insurmountable

There are at least five problems we can identify from the brief analysis.  The five problems are: Diversion of TLF funds, corrupt practices by officers, under-funding by government, incompetence of officers, and incorrect information.  

None of the problems identified are difficult or impossible.  

They are simply management problems that any competent manager or chief executive officer can tackle.  

One is amazed at how teachers are dealt a raw deal every year.  

This simply confirms incompetence of the officers concerned.

TLF-related problems have been a recurring issue that surfaces towards the end of every school year.  

At least one provincial administrator acknowledges the problem of under-funding by the government in its annual budgetary appropriations (Goma, 2008a), while another blames it on the ignorance of the system that includes; Department of Education, Teaching Service Commission, Department of Finance and Department of Treasury (The National, 2007, 31 Dec, p.3).  

Another provincial administrator abused his position by diverting TLF funds as highlighted earlier to fund his legal bill.  

He was not held accountable for his misdeeds and so it is probably accepted as a ‘norm’ in other provinces’ management of TLF funds.

Once you are in blaming mode, you pass the buck. Passing the buck means, you wash your hands clean and pretend the problem does not exist.  

Even if it exists we assume that it’s the other people’s responsibility.  

Teachers have faithfully served in the provinces and especially where no public servants dared to go, you are sure to see a smiling teacher happily blending in with the local community and braving the hostile elements, including high cost of living in the remotest parts of Papua New Guinea and sacrificing the comforts of living and working in urban centres.  

Is that fair to give teachers a cruel treatment for faithfully serving PNG and shaping a future for PNG?  

The PNG Vision 2050 envisions creating a fair society in 35 years’ time but our actions now are in stark contrast to our collective vision.  

TLF is their legal entitlement.  Provincial administrations have a duty to ensure that TLF is managed and administered effectively for the teachers.  

They have no excuse to divert funds, blame others, deny teachers their right to TLF or even allow incompetence and corrupt practices to deny the teachers their right to annual leave fare. 

How could the TLF funds be effectively managed?

Intertwined with the five problems identified earlier, lies management and administration responsibilities.  

The provincial administrators and provincial education advisors have a duty and responsibility to manage the TLF funds and effectively administer it.  

There are many such officers in the provinces who attend to their duties well and they deserve our commendation.  

The TLF administrators are educated enough to administer the TLF funds effectively within the established guidelines. 

We suggest the following steps be taken if we were to learn anything from the TLF debacle and improve the management and administration of the TLF funds so that the TLF issue will be dealt with once and for all.  

After all we are supposed to be working smarter and provincial administrators and provincial education advisors are supposed to be smarter, and hopefully being taught by a smarter teacher in the past.  

How could they give teachers a raw deal every year when they have been educated at various levels by teachers?  Teachers are not requesting TLF as a charity, it’s their legal entitlement.

Diversion of funds

A provincial administrator does not have any power to divert a national grant allocated to the province annually for TLF unless proper approvals are sought from the Treasury Department.  

The TLF fund is part of that grant. TLF is a national government responsibility decentralised to the provinces for convenience.  

It is the legal entitlement of a teacher that must never be compromised or curtailed in any way, shape or form.

The majority of teachers have faithfully served in the provinces over many years.  

Teachers played an important role to educate the students in the province, thus helping to improve literacy rates and quality of life in general for the people in the province.  

Provincial administrators or CEOs who divert TLF should be disciplined accordingly.  

Teachers know that a provincial administrator cannot divert such a fund. How could a provincial administrator think that teachers are not entitled to their leave fare? 

Corrupt practices

Corrupt practices by officers responsible for administering teachers leave fare have been reported as a common problem in the provinces.  

Such allegations must be thoroughly investigated by the provincial authorities and perpetrators be terminated on the spot if found guilty.  

Teachers have voiced this concern (The National, 2007, 19 Dec, p. 3).  These officers do not have any idea how much suffering and anxiety they have inflicted on the teachers who have made unknown sacrifices to teach in some of the most deplorable living conditions.  

The TLF must be promptly paid to those who are due for leave without subjecting the teachers into unnecessary anxiety and stress.  

We highlight stress here because it has been reported that a teacher died waiting for some of her entitlements and her outstanding entitlements were later paid to relatives at her funeral (Kaiok, 2007).  

How sad and how miserable is it that a system established to recognise teachers for their contribution to nation-building could be treated that way?  

It is disrespectful, unfair and deplorable to deny a teacher her leave entitlements and only to make the payment after she has died, rendering the payment useless for a dead teacher.

It is known in several provinces that teachers who were not entitled to leave fare obtained leave fare through falsified documentation.  

There was no way in which their documentation would be cross-checked and verified because the Division of Education’s own records are either in disarray or none existent. Some teachers deliberately falsified their documents because they knew that nobody has any official record to verify.  

I have personally refused signing for a teacher I knew very well who claimed that his spouse was from a province different from his own.  

I am sure there were many more that we do not know personally but who would have submitted false information and obtained a leave fare to a destination other than their province of origin.  

In another case I knew several teachers who got their leave fares to Gulf, West Sepik, East New Britain, Manus and New Ireland and the next few weeks you see them at the betting shops over the holiday period.  

I am told by reliable sources that these teachers collaborated with certain officers and shared the spoils from their schemes to defraud the state. In yet another case, certain teachers were given leave fare annually, while others obtained leave fares to different provinces every time their leave is approved.  

These are nothing less than deliberate fraud.  In the absence of an effective and efficient teachers’ record management system in the provinces, TLF funds will continue to be subjected to further fraud.

I may have been fooled into signing for TLF requisitions as a Section 32 Officer for those teachers and officers who collaborated to defraud the state with false documentation.  

At least I scrutinised the documents from teachers I knew well but there are a good number that I was not able to apply the same level of scrutiny. The same is probably true for many provinces that have poor records for its teachers.

Incompetence

Incompetence by officers administering TLF funds basically means they do not know how to manage and administer the funds effectively and correctly.  

They either do not know how to manage the TLF funds (they are incompetent) based on correct information held or the Division of Education does not have a competent database system to effectively administer TLF. If the officers are incompetent they should be removed or replaced promptly.  

We cannot rely on their outdated knowledge as they have not resolved the TLF issue over the years.  

Their continued employment is a guarantee for disaster in TLF administration.  

I once heard a very top public servant saying that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’.  

‘Old dogs’ have no place in modern PNG where use of technology in the workplace is inevitable.  

Without any question, ‘old dogs’ have to be replaced with new ones with relevant skills and knowledge using information technology systems to improve performance in their management of TLF funds. 

If the system is incompetent or an impediment to effective administration of TLF then, we have no choice but to use our intelligence to implement a new system with new staff with expertise in the system or technology.  

The 21st century is no excuse to be complacent about the roles technology can play to assist management, but those in management must be technologically-competent (or techno-competent) in the roles technology and technical system play and contribute towards improving management’s misery.