PAY SALARY AREAS TO NEWLY RECRUITED TEACHERS

THE United Party for National Development government should pay salary arrears to some of the newly recruited teachers notably those posted to rural areas.

It is sad that some newly recruited teachers have gone three months without receiving salaries. This means that the teachers are being owed salaries for three months.

This is unacceptable because the affected teachers are entitled to a salary for their labour service.

However, the nonpayment of salaries for three months to the affected teachers has caused untold misery as they cannot make ends meet.

Some affected teachers survive through borrowing money and they have become indebted to the money lenders.

Some affected teachers at one of the schools in rural areas spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation and dismissal expressed their disappointment with the Ministry of Education.

The ministry is reluctant to attend to the plight of the teachers.

The affected teachers have reported their problem of nonpayment of salaries to the ministry but to no avail.

It is one thing to recruit teachers and another to take care of their welfare, including paying them salaries.

The new dawn administration recently recruited 30, 000 teachers across the country. The unfortunate part is that some newly recruited teachers are being owed three month’s salary areas.

The Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Musokotwane assured the nation that money for teachers’ salaries was there.

The question begging for an answer is, “was Dr. Musokotwane’s assurance to the nation over the teachers’ salaries authentic?” The answer is no.

The government through the Ministry of Finance should expeditiously release money to clear the backlog of salary areas for some teachers. This is the right thing to do because the affected teachers are failing to make ends meet and they have become heavily indebted because of borrowing.