Teachers treated unfairly

WHILE the National Executive Council secretary has announced the closure of the government accounts, teachers are still queuing the corridors of Fincorp Haus at Waigani, waiting for their claims to be processed.
There are three main reasons why this is happening.
lThere is no query forms issued to teachers to write down their query and the name of payroll officer they are there to see;
lthe officers working in the payroll office refuse to speak to teachers at any time when approached outside their office; and,
lThe payroll office is being treated like a bank where huge amount of money is being handled every day, and is being guarded by security guards who are bound to man handle teachers when they force their way in.
This was evident last Thursday, when a teacher was forcefully removed when he tried to access the office.
All the other offices at the Fincorp Haus have client days and query forms made available to teachers or individuals with queries to see them.
But not the payroll section.
For a teacher to be attended to quickly, the teacher has to make available lunch money or pay upfront commission.
By doing this the teacher would be allowed in or is given a phone number either to call or text to check on the progress of his or her claim.
If a teacher’s claim is K1,000 or more, he/she pays a commission of a least K100 for someone to handle the query.
If the claim is more than K1,500 the teacher will be expected to pay a commission of about K500.
Once this is done the teacher’s query would be sorted out without further delays.
Those teachers without lunch or commission money to give will have to wait and queue outside the payroll office, every day in the hope of being attended to.
I understand that payroll functions have been decentralised to some provinces, however, when teachers’ queries are not handled promptly and effectively at their respective provinces, most opt to travel to Fincorp Haus, Waigani being the headquarters to get their queries sorted out.
To all hard working teachers around the country, be prepared to come with additional lunch or commission money so your queries can be attended to.
I am calling on the relevant authorities or the education secretary to conduct an investigation into this corrupt practice by these officers and have them sacked.

Frustrated Classroom Teacher,
Waigani