Pay us first, teachers demand

Western Highlands teachers demand payment.

PNG teachers demand that the Government pay them money owed.

WESTERN Highlands teachers who have resigned together with about 10,000 others in the Highlands regions, have demanded that the Government pay them their dues before their return to class.
At a lunch-hour meeting Western Highlands PNG Teachers Association branch president Andrew Kalang said Highlands teachers who resigned are not going to reconsider their decision.

PNGTA regional secretary Arnold Kondil told the gathering at Independence Hill that there is only one way the teachers could go back to teaching, and that is for the National Government to pay them their 50.52 per cent pay adjustments, accumulated over the past few years.

Mt Hagen Technical College principal Patrol Maino urged the union representatives to inform teachers, parents and students when the teachers are going to be paid their dues, if at all, and what action to take if the Government continues to defy their calls.

At least two community leaders who spoke in support of the teachers called on the Western Highlands provincial government to step in and pressure the National Government.

Others even called for the closure of the Western Highlands provincial headquarters and the Highlands highway in order to pressure the Government to give in.

Mr Kalang met with branch presidents from the other four highlands provinces on Saturday and resolved that the 10,000 teachers who tendered their resignations on July 17 are not to return to teaching until the Government met their demands.

Schools in the region did not resume with the rest in the country last Monday.

At the start of the second week yesterday, many parents were already angry that their children were not attending classes.

In Chimbu, parents and students have grouped together to address the matter.

They said the delay by the Government to respond to the teachers' demands is costing students and their parents dearly.

They also feared for students in Grades 8, 10 and 12 who are sitting for national examinations later this year.

Meanwhile, Mamose teachers' representatives were to have met yesterday with a Highlands PNGTA executive, according to Mr Kalang.

Mr Kalang said teachers from the Mamose region were to be briefed on what the Highlands teachers are doing.

At least one sub-branch of the Mamose bloc of the PNGTA has resolved at a weekend meeting to resign over the Government's delay in paying them their dues and improving their conditions.

Teachers on Karkar island in Madang province agreed to tender their resignations next week, according to a teacher there.

Sourced from: The National