Sunday, November 3, 2024

BNTU reports teachers going unpaid; MoECST works to resolve the problem

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On Wednesday, October 2nd, the Belize National Teachers Union (BNTU) issued a press release reporting that more than 130 teachers had not received their salaries for September. This non-payment led to significant discontent among the affected teachers, who anticipated their hard-earned compensation to be fully disbursed by the end of the month. In a quick response, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology (MoECST) addressed the recent concern. They recognize and share the problem of ensuring that teachers are paid promptly and efficiently and providing the public with clarifications.
According to MoECST, the Ministry has submitted the names of 122 teachers for an off-cycle payment run to address the delayed salaries. The Treasury Department has confirmed that these salaries should be deposited into the respective teachers’ bank accounts by the evening of October 4th. “The BNTU provided a list of 99 teachers to the Ministry, which it claimed had not been paid. Upon review, it was found that 12 names were duplicates of 87 cases that needed to be resolved. Of these, 44 teachers are already included in the off-cycle payment, meaning their payments are expected this week. The remaining 43 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. This leaves twenty-seven teachers from the BNTU list requiring additional attention. The Ministry is committed to working with School Managements to sort these through posthaste so that these salaries can be processed later this month,” reiterated MoECST. This commitment from the Ministry should give hope to the affected teachers that their issues will be resolved soon.
BNTU emphasized the recurring nature of this issue despite the Union’s proactive efforts to raise concerns well in advance. They highlighted that some affected teachers had not received payment for periods ranging from four to five months, and these cases were brought to the attention of Chief Education Officer Yolanda Gongora in July of 2024.
They further acknowledged that the current salary processing system is antiquated and prone to delays, especially when paperwork is incomplete or submitted late. “We understand the frustration that these delays have caused for the affected teachers, and we are committed to working closely with the BNTU and all stakeholders to address these challenges swiftly.”
The San Pedro Sun spoke with several primary school principals and San Pedro High School Principal Emil Vasquez, who indicated that, fortunately, no island teachers are affected by this issue. Principal Vasquez revealed that the school had not encountered any problems with teacher payments due to completing all requirements for renewing teachers’ licenses at SPHS. He stated, “This issue has not affected us at our school. I believe that those who encountered payment problems may not have fulfilled the license renewal requirements, which should be completed every five years. Some teachers may not have put effort into taking the workshop to earn credit hours to meet deadlines. It is a challenging requirement that all teachers must meet, and everyone is aware of it.”
However, the Principal emphasized the importance of teachers receiving their salaries on time if they have completed their teaching hours, stating, “Though some did not fulfill requirements, I believe they should still be disbursed punctually if they have completed their working schedule, teaching students. Even if it means that any outstanding fees should be deducted from school fees if necessary so that teachers can receive their payments. Other schools on the island shared the same sentiments and confirmed that they have not experienced any payment issues as all requirements have been fulfilled in San Pedro. However, this has not been the case for teachers in other parts of the country.
The BNTU and MoECST are urgently working to address this matter and ensure that all teachers receive their overdue payments soon.

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