Teachers want response to petition

About 500 teachers in East Sepik have given the local administration until today to respond their petition.
One of the items was the leave entitlements, according to East Sepik Teachers Association president Andrew Kopta.
One was for 2018 which cost around K1 million and the other for 2010-17 that amounted to K9.9 million.
“If we do not get a favourable response for our two demands, we will not provide our services (be in class),” Kopta said.
The teachers are expected to turn up at the East Sepik provincial assembly this morning to get a response from the administrations.
PNG Teachers’ Association general-secretary Ugwalubu Mowana has expressed his disappointment on the delay in honouring the payment since 2016 due to the Government’s reasoning of low cash flow in the country.
He said the association fully supported the teachers’ demand for outstanding leave fares in provincial centres as they were rightfully theirs.
Mowana has since called on the provincial administrations to address teachers’ issues promptly, indicating that the association would not hesitate to back up their proposed industrial actions.
“This is their entitlement. The national government gave that money for teachers to be paid and why aren’t they paid?” Mowana said.
“The teachers have every right over their leave fares and if they go on strike, why should I or the union stop them from fighting for what rightfully belongs to them?”
Mowana said that the union was frustrated with the provincial authorities for continually diverting the teachers’ leave fairs to other activities and failing to pay the teachers on time.
“This should stop,” he said.
“Don’t cover up your misdeeds by diverting funds from other sources to what you have already used, it only leads to further misappropriation.”