Financial Gazette
By Staff reporter
29th May 2014
AFTER introducing some sweeping changes in the education sector that won him friends and foes alike, Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Lazarus Dokora, this week moved to calm the nerves following rumours that teachers will, starting August, go unpaid during school holiday months.
Dokora told the Financial Gazette that government had no plans to stop paying teachers during school holiday months. He said: “I have heard the rumours but government has not sat down to make such a policy.†Teachers, who earn about US$500 monthly, have been seething with anger following indications that their employer was planning to scrap the payment of full salaries during April, August and December holidays. This would have seen teachers losing about US$1 500 annually.
What had given credence to the rumours is that Dokora has been making sweeping changes to the education sector since taking over from David Coltart last year. He has scrapped teachers’ incentives and outlawed the holding of holiday and extra lessons in all primary and secondary schools. Dokora said there was no justification for holding holiday or extra lessons, pointing out that most schools and teachers were using the initiative to fleece parents.
Teachers’ incentives were introduced in 2009 to motivate the poorly-paid teachers to work. They, however, became a divisive element as they worked mainly in urban areas where parents could afford them while teachers in rural areas never received the incentives. ― Staff Reporter
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