Teachers in Morobe collect leave fares

Over 900 teachers in Morobe Province will be collecting their leave entitlements this week at the Morobe provincial education office.

This year, the arrangement for teachers to receive their leave entitlements was different; fives names from each region were now being called out.

This meant that teachers no longer have to push and shove to get to the front of the queue.

Provincial Program Advisor for education, Keith Tangui, said this year, the name list containing at least 2,000 applications was closely scrutinised, including teachers’ file numbers, place of origin, marital status and number of dependents.

Over K7 million will be paid out to 908 teachers, with Tangui saying after working hard in Morobe, teachers are allowed to take their leave after two years.

“Many of them are happy that we are paying them out quickly,” he stated. “Before we used to delay the payment because of funding shortage.

“Some of them were not happy. We put the names of those who were rejected and we said, ‘You have not put in this information’ or ‘you’re not from that place but you’re putting this destination. We will not allow you to get leave fares this year but you can correct yourself and resubmit for leave fares’.

“That’s the good thing about our teachers. They’re not jumping up and down or calling out. Now you can see them, they’re happy.

“They will get their leave fares, go over to the service provider and decide whether they want the ticket or they want money.”

The applicants were scrutinised by the teaching service advisor, the PNG Teachers Association, church institution secretaries, school inspectors and district education managers.

Tangui further encouraged the teachers to use the fares for the benefit of their families.

Author: 
Carmella Gware