PNGTA’s issues with dept settled

By YVONNE KAMBIBEL
THE Papua New Guinea Teachers Association (PNGTA) has resolved its outstanding issues and its members will be back on various boards in the education system nationwide, general secretary David Numbaming says.
“We have been working tirelessly since 2019 to have our members on the boards after being rejected jointly by the Education Department and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).
“We are all ready to settle the matters out of court following a court order by the National Court in Waigani last week,” he added.
Numbaming said too many concerns had been raised by teachers nationwide in the past two years but the PNGTA could not do much and so they summoned both Dr Uke Kombra and chairman Samson Wangihomie to court to clarify why they had rejected the nominees.
“Finally, our members can continue to represent teachers on the various boards and address issues that are affecting them,” he said.
Wangihomie said both the department and TSC did not have issues with PNGTA.
He said the nominations were rejected due to internal issues.
“We did not give much priority to this matter as we were busy with other matters but decided to revisit the problem recently and to avoid unnecessary costs,” he said.
The court had ordered that PNGTA shall accept and allow all nominees by PNGTA to attend to and represent the interests of teachers in the teaching council, the selection panel, the teaching service appeals committee, the various provincial and national education board disciplinary committees and the TSC disciplinary dommittee.