Sori blames payroll div for teachers’ pay fiasco

By Glenda Awikiak
TEACHING Service Commission chairman Baran Sori, pictured, has blamed staff of the Education Department payroll division for failing to include new graduates into the system.
He was responding to reports that some teachers in East Sepik, who graduated in 2017 and taught in schools the whole of last year, were yet to be paid. Sori told The National that the commission was not responsible for the payroll system but officers in the department.
He said the commission only wrote recommendation letters for the teachers and sent them to the payroll division that were actually responsible for the inclusion of teachers on the payroll.
“We have been writing so many letters querying and requesting the payroll division to put a certain number of our teachers, including the new graduates on the payroll,” Sori said.
“We don’t know what is wrong and what is delaying the payroll division in effecting the teachers’ pay.
“We make the decision and recommendation to get the teachers registered with the commission and placed on payroll. Those are the teachers who have met the standards and requirements of the TSC.
“Teaching for a year, or a number of years, without being paid is a concern for the TSC. We raise (the problem) with the department but we don’t know what is wrong in the payroll division (which has been) causing all the delays for our teachers.”