Office closure affects teachers

Main Stories, National
Source:

The National, Tuesday 18th September, 2012

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE Mamose regional office of the PNG Teachers’ Association has been closed for over three months, affecting thousands of teachers in Morobe, Madang, East and West Sepik.
Some member primary and secondary teachers allege that the association’s provincial offices are defunct as a flow-on effect of the closure of the regional office in Lae, Morobe.
The association facilitates and addresses grievances and issues on postings and wages for its 47,000 registered members nationwide.
Aggrieved teachers from East and West Sepik, and Madang travelled to Lae where they joined the Morobe-based teachers to seek answers to their problems but found the regional office closed.
A primary school head teacher from East Sepik said he spent two weeks in Lae but his efforts to get answers to queries by his teachers were in vain. There was no-one to consult with as the association regional office in Chayter House, in Eriku, was closed.
A senior secondary school teacher, who was on a borrowed position between two secondary schools in Morobe, said he could not get the association to fix his wages, which had been suspended.
He expressed frustration, saying he was incurring debts that he would not otherwise have had.
Association regional secretary Andrick Yagro, who was recently appointed by the head office in Port Moresby to be in-charge of the Lae regional office, still cannot access and operate in the office. He claimed K25,000 was misused by some of the Lae officers.
“The office was closed because of non-payment of rentals and arrears, as far as the headquarters is concerned this is not an issue because money has been sent, in fact additional payment was made to cushion the rental arrears for the month of May and June and was paid directly to the regional office account,” he said.
“This is corruption, evidence of corruption will not be tolerated, officers involved have no place in the PNGTA, information has been relayed to the national management committee and PNGTA administration hierarchy and it’s their prerogative to conduct internal investigations to clear this,” Yagro said.
He said actions by officers at the regional office had a negative effect on hard working teachers, especially those serving in remote locations.
It is understood the other regional offices for Highlands and New Guinea Islands are operating well.