Bursar-payment system in public schools to be trashed

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE MINISTRY of Education is to phase out the bursar-payment system in public schools, which will result in all teachers being paid from a centralised payment system and the elimination of long-standing issues with salary payments to teachers at bursar-paid schools.

This was announced by Education Minister Fayval Williams at yesterday’s final day of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) 58th annual conference in Montego Bay, St James, where she was one of the speakers.

“Concerning deductions being paid over on time, we are doing a comprehensive audit of all our bursar-paid schools in order to address this issue, because this seems to be a recurring problem. Just so you know, eventually, there will no longer be bursar-paid schools, and all our teachers are going to be paid centrally by the Ministry of Education,” said Williams.

While she did not give a date or timeline for the complete phase-out of the bursar-paid school system, Williams said that the move would help to address the recurring issue of late or missed salary payments often experienced by teachers.

“Once we do that, then many of these problems that you have been experiencing over many years ... you should not be having these problems. If you do have an issue, it will be resolved much faster than it is right now, and we are actually in the process of implementing that measure,” the education minister told the conference.

In 2014, teachers at bursar-paid institutions in the Corporate Area, Manchester and Clarendon, protested over the non-payment of retroactive sums which were owed to them.

Williams also announced that she will be organising financial-planning seminars for teachers, to help them become more financially savvy and capable of expanding their income sources.

“We need more financial seminars for our teachers, so we can help our teachers to realise the dreams that they have. We can help them with their financial planning, and we can give them advice in terms of expanding income sources, and already I am in conversation with our financial services sector to begin to put together a programme so that we can bring more information to our teachers about their financial wellness,” said Williams.

“We know that you continue to have concerns about your remuneration. That is not a topic that I can respond to, as the JTA has been diligent in its advocacy on your behalf. But what I can speak to this morning, is your overall financial wellness,” Williams added. “We want our teachers to be very conversant with terms such as their risk tolerance, whether they are conservative, moderate, or aggressive investors, and how much you should have in the bank as your ‘rainy-day’ fund”.

The minister’s attempt to resolve issues with salary payment and improve the financial well-being of teachers come amid recent reports that approximately 400 of Jamaica’s educators have left the local teaching profession to seek more lucrative job opportunities overseas. The JTA recently revealed that some 600 teachers will not be returning to the classroom when the new school term begin in September.