Investigations launched by the Education Department and the Teaching Service Commission found that 400 out of the 56,000 teachers nationwide were affected by the alleged pay cut issue.
The Teaching Service Commission and Education Department denied these allegations saying the decrease in their pay packets is not pay cut, rather it is their normal net pay following the cessation of the outstanding 3 percent pay increment dating back to 2017.
Chairman of Teaching Service Commission Baran Sori said the Government approved the 3 percent pay increment for teachers dating back to 2017.
He said teachers across the country were paid their outstanding dues which accumulated from 1st January 2017.
This back payment commenced in Pay 13 on June 20, 2018, to Pay 19 on September 12, 2018.
All the teachers returned to their normal salary on Pay 20 on September 26th.
“So teachers went back to their normal pay minus the back payment….now many teachers misunderstood that thinking what they received will continue,” explained Sori.
He said they have been notified of some teachers receiving as low as K7 and investigations conducted revealed that these teachers had loan deductions apart from the compulsory tax deductions.
“What is more interesting and also of concern to the commission is that during that period of the 2017 outstanding salaries, there is an increase in the number of loans some teachers obtained and loan deductions were huge that took all the net salary,” Baran stated.
However, some teachers reported that they had no bank loans but noticed unexplained deductions.
Whether this was a matter of human error or a technical glitch in the ALESCO payroll system is yet to be determined.
“This is something that we are looking at. It is subject for thorough investigation so I can’t tell you anything now until the Ministry has completed the investigation,” said Sori.
Meantime, the Department of Education is advising all teachers that there is no official direction for any cut to teachers’ salaries.
The department said teachers are their priority and they will do anything within their capacity to investigate every single claim.
The Education Department is advising all teachers affected by the unauthorised deductions to contact the following numbers to register their complaints:
- 7598 4619
- 7598 4616
- 7598 4617
- 7598 4619
(Filepic)