School boards ask Gadsby-Dolly: Pay our cleaners

Denominational boards of education are calling on Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly to show some goodwill and pay hundreds of school cleaners their just due.

Just a few weeks before Christmas, the boards are asking the ministry to release funds to pay their cleaners' salaries.

In a release, the Presbyterian Primary Schools’ Board of Education said it and the other denominational boards are yet to receive the cleaners' grant, which was due for payment since October.

“The failure of the MOE to pay has resulted in hundreds of cleaners not receiving salaries for November 2020. With these harsh economic times this is causing undue hardship on this vulnerable group in our society," it explained. “Denominational boards of education have sourced, and in some cases, borrowed over $1 million to pay cleaners in October 2020. For November 2020, some boards have been able to do the same while others have not, resulting in the unfortunate situation of many cleaners not being paid.”

In the season of goodwill, the boards called on Gadsby-Dolly to act swiftly to ease the suffering of these workers and ensure they receive their just due.

Catholic Education Board of Management CEO Sharon Mangroo also confirmed her board is yet to receive the cleaners' grant which was due on October 1.

“The smaller boards always run into trouble because they have to borrow money, which means they have to pay interest on money they borrow in order to pay the cleaners.

“According to the Education Act," she said, "it is the MOE that has the responsibility for educating the children of the nation. Not the boards, not the religious bodies. They (government) provide certain grants to the schools because they are using the property of the boards.

"The grant given to the cleaners goes straight to the cleaners. But we haven’t seen it as yet.”

Mangroo said no reason had been given for the delay in payment.

“They never discuss that with us. They don’t talk to us. Again, it is part of a kind of general disrespect, they don’t communicate.

“They just don’t give us, and that is part of the problem with this relationship. They call us partners, but they treat as the outside person. “

Mangroo said having been “inside the ministry,” she is aware sometimes releases are not received on time.

“But they need to tell us they have not received the releases requested and (that they) expect to get it in so many days. That would be very much appreciated – rather than leaving us hanging and waiting and sitting down outside the gate, waiting.”

A ministry official said given the financial situation and how the money is released and then disbursed, “there is always a general backlog with those payments.”

He could not say for certain what was the problem this time.