Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema has directed school authorities to submit names of teachers who have not been reporting for duty this term as the government moves to enforce the “no work, no pay” principle.
Some trade unions representing teachers have advised their members to report for work once per week and coincidentally, the number of teachers reporting for duty has dwindled as they cite incapacitation.
Speaking in Parliament during a question-and-answer session, Minister Mathema also claimed that he has not received any representation from teachers’ unions pertaining to their grievances. He said:
I have heard that there are some schools where teachers are not going to work. What we are saying is that no work, no pay to those teachers who are not at work.
We are working with school heads to have registers so that I pass on that information to the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
We cannot have a situation where teachers just decide not to go to work. As the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, I have not received any representation from any of the teachers’ unions in the country. So, no work, no pay.
The government offered a 25 per cent salary increment to civil servants from this month while a further 50 per cent would be effected in June.
However, teachers want the restoration of their pre-October 2018 salaries of between US$500 and US$550 or the equivalent in RTGS dollars.