P.S.C. rejects teacher claims

The Chairman of the Public Service Commission (P.S.C.), Tuu'u Dr. Ieti Taulealo, has rejected claims that the Ministry of Education is short-staffed, and that teachers of retirement age need to be kept on.

Tuu’u spoke on behalf of P.S.C. to the media yesterday about those issues and pay demands raised by teachers and the ministry over the past few weeks.

“The issue with the teachers and their pay is not a new topic,” said Tuu’u. “It is an issue that has been discussed how many times now?”

According to Tuu’u, the issue was brought into P.S.C. in September 2012 by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (M.E.SC.) with the support of the teacher’s society, requesting a pay rise.

“Fourteen percent was requested at that time then,” he said. “We tried to look at an outcome for this issue because it has been discussed so many times.

“First because there are a lot of teachers and secondly, it will affect the standard of education for students.

“If the teachers are well equipped then the students’ performance will not be a problem.”

With the performance of teachers being the focus, Tuu’u says that P.S.C. and M.E.S.C. had undertaken a review of the teachers, their pay and the work that they do.

“There are two sections on the issue which is the policy carried out by P.S.C. and the financial side concerning teachers pay which the Cabinet deals with”, he said.

Tuu’u also confirmed that the Minister of Education, Magele Mauiliu Magele, at the beginning of this month has already made an official request to Cabinet concerning teachers demand for a pay rise.

“We also carried out a survey together with M.E.S.C. to see the standard of teachers here in the country and what they think about their work as a teacher.”

According to Tuu’u, their findings were from a survey of about 1,703 teachers at the beginning of last year. They recorded that the ratio at high school was one teacher to 20 students while primary school level students ratio was at one teacher to 30 students.

“The Commission does not accept the statement that there are not enough teachers,” said Tuu’u.

“At the moment there are enough teachers to teach the students”. He said that the survey also found out that 88 per cent of teachers do not have qualifications or passes from Universities.

“Passing also doesn’t mean that you can become a teacher straight away,” said Tuu’u.

“You may get a BA or Bcom but that doesn’t mean that you are qualified to be a teacher.” According Tuu’u, it is a must to pass a degree in teaching in order to get a career in teaching and it is important that teachers must be well equipped and upgraded to another level so they can get a better pay.

“For the time being, $22,000 tala is the pay for teachers with a degree and the others below that get less. That means their pay would remain like that if they do not do anything about it,” he said.

“No wonder why some teachers have been working for years and still get the same pay, it’s because they did not pass their degree.”

That is why Tuu’u says P.S.C. is looking at ways to try and send teachers back to study.

“In this way, teachers will be well equipped to teach the students and it will also be a faster way to raise their pay”.

Tuu’u says P.S.C. has also looked at the impact of teachers improving their qualifications.

“It’s very hard because there are a lot of teachers with teaching degrees competing for positions and there is also a need for teachers to be upgraded.

“It is like the work that teachers are doing is not really recognized, however they are the ones nurturing the students in their educational life and also their future which is a point that is proved to be true.”

Another matter Tuu’u said needed to be made clear was that if there is a need to mainstream teachers’ retirement to be equal with the others, then they should mainstream the other areas as well. Current status “with government is that they have laid out the retirement age at 55.”

A retiree “can request to extend their retirement age from 56 up to 60”. Yet this could hold up progress of younger teachers, he indicated. “People competing below cannot go up because these people who are supposed to be retired are not retired yet,” said Tuu’u.

“This is something we look at when the teachers say that the retirement age should be extended. The standard and quality of teachers must be high.

If something goes wrong with the teacher, so will it also be with the students.” Tuu’u said the education sector must be competitive with other sectors to attract students to take up teaching as their career.