Teachers hit by pay delays

UNPROFESSIONAL conduct in administration offices, red tape and insensitivity towards the situation of teachers, especially in rural areas, are the main complaints teachers of Government schools raised at a Parliamentary Standing Committee this week.

Representatives of two teachers’ unions were invited to discuss salary problems and retirement gratuity payments after the Auditor General highlighted the issue for the period 1999 to 2002 in a report released almost a year ago. “The situation has not improved much over the past five years either,” Basilius Haingura, Secretary General of Nantu, told Committee Chairman Johan de Waal on Tuesday.”Especially newly appointed teachers must often wait five to six months to receive their first salary.”Nantu blamed a huge amount of paperwork and waiting for written approval and signatures, as well as reference to education and personnel offices between regions and the head offices of the Education and Finance Ministries, for the delays.”Often the wrong deductions are made and corrections take very long,” Haingura said.Rural teachers suffered most as they were far away from banks and had difficulties paying in cheques or withdrawing money from their accounts, once they were finally paid in.Often teachers had to cash their cheques at local supermarkets and shops, he said.”In many instances Government officials had to physically travel to some schools and deliver the cheques.”The DTA’s De Waal, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee, said that in general it might be a good idea for all civil servants, including teachers, to open bank accounts, as the delivery of cheques was a costly affair.But Haingura was quick to point out that the business hours of banks were limited.”If a teacher must travel from a village to Rundu or Katima Mulilo on a Friday afternoon, he can hardly make it by 15h30 when banks close, to pay in his cheque or withdraw cash from an ATM, because they are often out of order or have run out of cash.”The Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN) echoed the complaints of the other union.”If you go yourself to the administration offices to find out what happened to your salary, you are either made to wait a long time or repeatedly told to come back another time,” TUN President Gert Jansen said.TUN Co-ordinator Mohongora Kavihua said politics also played a large role in the education sector.”Get politics out of education so that educators can do their work,” Kavihua said.Both Jansen and Kavihua said that administrative processes were efficient in the Hardap and Karas regions, from where TUN received very few complaints.De Waal said his Committee only dealt with financial issues, but that the meeting with the teacher organisations had shown that the salary delays were still a “serious matter”.”The situation has not improved much over the past five years either,” Basilius Haingura, Secretary General of Nantu, told Committee Chairman Johan de Waal on Tuesday.”Especially newly appointed teachers must often wait five to six months to receive their first salary.”Nantu blamed a huge amount of paperwork and waiting for written approval and signatures, as well as reference to education and personnel offices between regions and the head offices of the Education and Finance Ministries, for the delays.”Often the wrong deductions are made and corrections take very long,” Haingura said.Rural teachers suffered most as they were far away from banks and had difficulties paying in cheques or withdrawing money from their accounts, once they were finally paid in. Often teachers had to cash their cheques at local supermarkets and shops, he said.”In many instances Government officials had to physically travel to some schools and deliver the cheques.”The DTA’s De Waal, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee, said that in general it might be a good idea for all civil servants, including teachers, to open bank accounts, as the delivery of cheques was a costly affair.But Haingura was quick to point out that the business hours of banks were limited.”If a teacher must travel from a village to Rundu or Katima Mulilo on a Friday afternoon, he can hardly make it by 15h30 when banks close, to pay in his cheque or withdraw cash from an ATM, because they are often out of order or have run out of cash.”The Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN) echoed the complaints of the other union.”If you go yourself to the administration offices to find out what happened to your salary, you are either made to wait a long time or repeatedly told to come back another time,” TUN President Gert Jansen said.TUN Co-ordinator Mohongora Kavihua said politics also played a large role in the education sector.”Get politics out of education so that educators can do their work,” Kavihua said.Both Jansen and Kavihua said that administrative processes were efficient in the Hardap and Karas regions, from where TUN received very few complaints.De Waal said his Committee only dealt with financial issues, but that the meeting with the teacher organisations had shown that the salary delays were still a “serious matter”.