No substitute for timely pay

THE EDITOR: I vow never to take another appointment as a substitute teacher!

When the programme first began, I jumped at the opportunity and filled out the necessary documents. The first call I got, I took warily because I did not know the school’s dynamics.

I, however, should not have been wary of the school, but rather the Ministry of Education.

I worked during the first term of the academic year of 2017-2018. It took me approximately seven months (from September month end to March month end) before I got a salary for part of one month’s work.

That payment, or rather stipend, was received on April 11, 2018, and I have not received a single cent since.

An article was brought to my attention regarding the expiration of a note sent to Cabinet for the disbursement of salaries to substitute teachers in the system.

This note, which was granted for a three-year period, had expired.

I am amazed at the utter disrespect and disregard that is being meted out to substitute teachers.

Simple human resource management practices state that managers employ human beings, who have other responsibilities outside of the work environment.

Yet these managers at the ministry (including those in the HR department) are not functioning effectively and efficiently to ensure that their employees can rest assured that their salaries would be in their pockets in a timely manner.

We substitute teachers are fully qualified; we are not sub-par teachers, nor are we robots. Au contraire, we substitutes teachers are people: we have families, we have commitments and most importantly, we must live. “Do not exploit…..the daily wage-earner…..pay him daily before the sun goes down because…..he depends on his earnings.” Deuteronomy 24: 14-15.

While those who work in the new Ministry of Education building are receiving their monthly salaries on time, substitute teachers are treated as insignificant; consequently, there seems to be no urgency to pay us for the work done.

On my last visit to the ministry, I was told that I would receive outstanding stipends by the end of May, 2018.

We are at the end of June, 2018, and I still have not received anything more.

Being a teacher is belonging to a profession where one cannot just teach some and ignore the rest, we teach all, we handle all the problems of teaching the nation’s children. Some are of the silly opinion that teaching is a walk in the park, but this job is considered to be our vocation and duty.

The least you can do, Mr Minister of Education, is to pay us.

Coryse Noel

Siparia

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"No substitute for timely pay"

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