Teachers leave fares process to be reviewed

THE Morobe provincial administration will immediately review the payment process for teachers leave fares in Morobe province, provincial administrator Kemas Tomala said.
The move by the administration came about after a meeting between the teachers’ representatives and the provincial administrator last Friday.
Mr Tomala, who is also the provincial education board (PEB) chairman, said the ongoing issue about teachers leave entitlements for the last three years had caused the administration to look into it.
He said the meeting had resulted in the two parties agreeing to two solutions.
“The short-term solution will be to look at ways and means on how we can all find a solution into the issue facing leave entitlements for this year,” Mr Tomala said.
“The administration will immediately review the payment process for the leave fares and this means getting the facts and statistics right before we make a decision,” he said.
The second was a long-term solution which the provincial administration would draw up a policy to look at the possibility of paying teachers leave entitlements directly into their salaries.
Mr Tomala said he “firmly believes that they should reach an understanding between the teachers, the Teaching Services Commission and the National Government.”
However, he said due to financial problems “we cannot please everyone” and he appealed to the teachers to take into account the financial limitations that they had in perusing their case.
All these came about after angry teachers fronted up at the provincial administration office asking Mr Tomala to intervene on the issue.