Link enables Manus to check on teachers

WITH the education division in Manus now hooked up online to the National Education Department, it will be able to monitor its 760 teachers when they are absent from work.
Principal education adviser Leonard Jombie said the education division was connected with the department in Port Moresby since last week.
“The most important features in it are that the salary section in the province will now be able to work closely with the department,” he said.
“At the click of my fingers, I can put teachers absent from work off the payroll. This is the best way to make them toe the line.”
Jombie said the education division constantly reminded teachers verbally and wrote letters to them not to be absent from their duties but that had often been ignored.
He said this was timely for the province as the efficient updating of data would now see  benefits.
The island province has 127 elementary schools, 87 primary, four secondary, one vocational and one special education school.
It has a total of 767 teachers.
He said gender issue was a not problem in the province with the ratio of female teachers to male teachers being 46:53.
Jombie was confident there were enough schools to cater for the population in the next 15 years.