Teachers’ salary deal signed today

OVER 12 000 teachers will today learn how much they will earn from the end of this financial year, with Government and the Namibia National Teachers’ Union (Nantu) set to sign a new deal today.

The two parties agreed on a new salary structure late last year and Cabinet subsequently approved it. The Namibian has it on good authority that the grading of teachers has been changed under the new structure and that those joining the profession with a recognised three-year qualification will be at T3A level with a starting salary of at least N$60 660 a year instead of N$56 262 as proposed in the Wages and Salary Commission report a few years ago.Their salaries will be increased over a 10-year period to reach N$86 124.Teachers with a recognised four-year qualification will start from N$89 046 (T3B) and will reach N$120 036 within 10 years.The idea behind phasing in the increase over 10 years is, according to sources, to keep teachers in the profession.Earlier, Labour Commissioner Bro-Matthew Shinguadja said the agreement would improve the teaching profession as a whole and encourage more people to become teachers.Nantu, backed by the Teachers’ Union of Namibia, staged a mass demonstration in October to demand the implementation of previously agreed salary increases.But a few hours later, Nantu backed down and compromised with Government on scrapping the salary agreement.Government had argued that the previous agreement would cost the State close to N$500 million to improve the salaries and benefits of only around 6 000 teachers.Education Permanent Secretary Vitalis Ankama said under the old agreement, which Nantu was pushing to be implemented, a new teacher with a Basic Education Teaching Diploma (BETD) and no experience would have earned N$110 000 a year since January 2004 while their counterparts who joined until a month earlier were earning N$56 000 a year.In other cases, the salaries would even have tripled, according to Ankama.The Ministry of Education was given the task of coming up with a new proposal that had to be accepted by Nantu before it was approved by Cabinet.This compromise averted threats of a national strike, as Government promised to improve the salaries of 12 200 teachers in the bargaining unit.The remaining teachers – about 6 300 – are either at management level, under-qualified or vocational teachers not covered by the talks.Discussions between Nantu and the Government negotiation team also touched on the standard of education in Namibia and acknowledged that the quality of teaching had to improve.Money is likely to reach the teachers only after the National Budget, to be tabled this week, is approved by Parliament in April.The Namibian has it on good authority that the grading of teachers has been changed under the new structure and that those joining the profession with a recognised three-year qualification will be at T3A level with a starting salary of at least N$60 660 a year instead of N$56 262 as proposed in the Wages and Salary Commission report a few years ago.Their salaries will be increased over a 10-year period to reach N$86 124. Teachers with a recognised four-year qualification will start from N$89 046 (T3B) and will reach N$120 036 within 10 years.The idea behind phasing in the increase over 10 years is, according to sources, to keep teachers in the profession.Earlier, Labour Commissioner Bro-Matthew Shinguadja said the agreement would improve the teaching profession as a whole and encourage more people to become teachers.Nantu, backed by the Teachers’ Union of Namibia, staged a mass demonstration in October to demand the implementation of previously agreed salary increases.But a few hours later, Nantu backed down and compromised with Government on scrapping the salary agreement.Government had argued that the previous agreement would cost the State close to N$500 million to improve the salaries and benefits of only around 6 000 teachers.Education Permanent Secretary Vitalis Ankama said under the old agreement, which Nantu was pushing to be implemented, a new teacher with a Basic Education Teaching Diploma (BETD) and no experience would have earned N$110 000 a year since January 2004 while their counterparts who joined until a month earlier were earning N$56 000 a year.In other cases, the salaries would even have tripled, according to Ankama.The Ministry of Education was given the task of coming up with a new proposal that had to be accepted by Nantu before it was approved by Cabinet.This compromise averted threats of a national strike, as Government promised to improve the salaries of 12 200 teachers in the bargaining unit.The remaining teachers – about 6 300 – are either at management level, under-qualified or vocational teachers not covered by the talks.Discussions between Nantu and the Government negotiation team also touched on the standard of education in Namibia and acknowledged that the quality of teaching had to improve.Money is likely to reach the teachers only after the National Budget, to be tabled this week, is approved by Parliament in April.