M.O.E Says Delayed Teachers Pay Will Be Disbursed on Friday

The Ministry of Education issued a late afternoon response to the Belize National Teachers Union’s concerns. The release starts by saying that the ministry recognizes and share the concern for ensuring that our teachers are paid in a timely and efficient manner. The release went on to say that the Ministry has submitted the names of one-hundred and twenty-two teachers for an off-cycle payment run to address the delayed salaries.  It notes that the Treasury Department has confirmed that these salaries should be deposited into the respective teachers’ bank accounts by the evening of October fourth. According to the release, the B.N.T.U. provided a list of ninety-nine teachers to the Ministry which it claimed had not been paid. M.O.E says that upon review of the list they found that twelve names were duplicates, leaving eighty-seven cases to resolve. Of these, forty-four teachers are already included in the off-cycle payment, meaning their payments are expected this week. The release went on to say that the remaining forty-three teachers were investigated further. Nine teachers were found to have already received their September salaries, and three were secondary or tertiary-level teachers, who are processed through a different system. An additional four are being finalized for salary processing for the next payment cycle. Based on the ministry’s numbers, this would leave twenty-seven teachers from the B.N.T.U. list requiring additional attention. The Ministry says it is committed to working with school managements to sort these through posthaste so that these salaries can be processed later this month. The ministry also acknowledged that the current salary processing system is antiquated and prone to delays, especially where paperwork is incomplete or submitted late. M.O.E says it understand the frustration that these delays have caused for the affected teachers, and that they are committed to working closely with the B.N.T.U. and all stakeholders to address these challenges swiftly.

 

The United Democratic Party has also issued a release condemning the delay in payment. The release refers to the delay as an attack on teachers and the B.N.T.U. by the “Briceño-Fonseca administration”, unquote. The U.D.P. says it stands in solidarity with the teachers, adding “the recent occurrence has painfully reminded us that this uncaring government has no good intention for teachers and public officers”.  The ends saying “The United Democratic party calls 0on the Minister of Education and the many senior officials on all expense paid tax payers’ funded luxury vacation to return home and immediately resolve this crisis”.