Pay cuts drive teachers to debt

ALLOW me to express dissatisfaction on behalf of teachers affected by the recent pay-cuts.
For some teachers, more than a third of their pay has been cut and no reasonable explanation has been offered as to why.
Education Minister Nick Kuman has not offered any convincing explanation to justify the pay-cuts.
There are unconfirmed rumors circulating everywhere that the good minister attributes this to a possible hacking into the system by unknown cyber-criminals. How convenient.
Yet the Government sees fit to buy 40 Italian-made luxury Maserati cars at the cost of about K40 million, just to impress world leaders.
And if I may add to that, the users of these vehicles will roll around in the luxury cars like Hollywood superstars, only for the two-day Apec summit (November 17 and 18), while the poor teachers will be left to survive for the next two weeks or more on the cut salary of K300 to K500 net pay.
In response to the public anger over this outrageous purchase, MP Justin Tkatchenko reckons it’s a wise investment as the vehicles will be acquired by the private sector after the summit, and that this had been pre-arranged.
He fails to specify which companies, and to what extent the sales would benefit the economy.
Prices and costs of goods and services are already sky-rocketing.
Even life in the villages demands money to meet every-day needs and wants as I experienced recently during my six-month stint as a villager.
The affected teachers will most likely end up borrowing from local loan sharks who have unrealisticly high interest rates of 30% – 50% a fortnight.
Some teachers are already in debt, and these pay cuts will plunge them further into more headache.
You can imagine how stressful this has been for the poor teacher who commits 90 per cent of the day preparing, marking test papers, correcting exercises, teaching, conducting, assisting, supervising pupils during school activities, and then spending only 10 per cent of his or her time to rest and do personal things.
This is the perfect recipe for a nervous breakdown, depression, or any mental disorder related to stress.
Being born, bred and raised in a teaching family, I feel for all the teachers of Southern Highlands and the rest of Papua New Guinea.
Let’s get this pay issue sorted.

Charles Kaitolo Warisi