Education Ministry denies claims it can't pay teachers
Published:Tuesday | July 25, 2017 | 10:11 AMJerome Reynolds
The Ministry of Education is denying reports that it is short on funds to pay teachers or non-academic employees.
The ministry says a total of $1.5 billion is to be paid to bursar paid institutions to cover salaries for July.
It says all temporary teachers and other staff members will also be paid based on their contractual arrangements.
Additionally, the education ministry says $526 million has been approved in the budget for Temporary Teachers, Literacy and Numeracy Specialists, Special Education Teachers, Student Support Coaches and also other employees to assist in administration.
The Ministry notes that it takes at least two months for the processing of new teachers in the system but at this time of the year no new set of teachers would have been engaged.
It says it is in the process of collecting locum tennen information for bursar-paid schools so these can be processed.
Schools are also encouraged to submit any issues or concerns they may have regarding salaries to their Regional Directors so these can be addressed.
The education ministry says it will provide approval by the end of July for schools to employ replacement teachers and also temporary arrangements where there is a need for Principals.