Grenada: Ministry of Education to pay long-awaited salaries to Teachers

Grenada: The Ministry of Education officially announced the payment of unpaid salaries to some of the teachers on Friday. The acting minister of education Andy Williams along with other ministry officials recently held a meeting in Karaku and stated the cause for the delay in payments. 

The authorities stated that with the commencement of the new school year, 392 temporary teachers were appointed by the federation. They added that the appointment process began as early as in June, but was not completed on time resulting in delayed payments. 

The Ministers highlighted that they are rectifying the issue and stated that the teachers will be paid soon. 

“We will sit down and put together some, policies and, mechanisms that will ensure that teachers do not have to go through this that this event that they are going through here now because we understand the plight,” Minister Andy Williams said.

He further added to his statement that he understands when one doesn’t receive a salary and what issues it creates, and highlighted that the authorities do not want that same for their teachers. He stated that the federation will continue its efforts until the teachers are not paid.

It was said that meetings are being held with the Department of Finance, and the acting minister of education highlighted that they are not leaving any chance to solve the issue. 

“I've gone as far as even having a conversation with finance, the with the accountant general, and not leaving it to chance. So, we are doing our best to resolve this issue in the shortest possible time,” he asserted.

Following the address from the acting Minister of Education, the permanent secretary for human resources and educational development, Elvis Moraine stated his views and spoke of all the possible remedies for the situation. 

Moraine noted that teachers are appointed to replace others, some of which are on maternity leave, study leave, and for many other reasons. However, he said that these teachers appointed cannot be treated as regular teachers as they have to leave on a specific day. 

Notably, the issue has been prevailing for a while and the authorities were constantly questioned about the same. The announcement of the payment has acted as a big relief to the teachers and they are looking to receive their payments soon.