Education ministry investigating salary issues affecting staff at Bethel Primary

The Ministry of Education says it is investigating the issues affecting payroll processing for auxiliary staff at Bethel Primary School in Hopewell, Hanover. 

In a Gleaner report, staff at the bursar-paid school lamented the discrepancies with their salary payments since the Education Ministry assumed responsibility for paying certain categories of staff in April last year. 

According to staff, they have been seeing incorrect payments, missing overtime pay, unpaid allowances and unpaid statutory deductions, with some cases showing deductions taken but not being paid over to agencies. 

But in a statement, the ministry said it understands the frustration of staff at the Hanover-based school and is working to address the concerns promptly and effectively. 

"We understand and regret the impact these delays have on our staff and are committed to resolving them,” the ministry's permanent secretary, Dr Kasan Troupe, stated. 

She noted that the ministry is transitioning to the Government initiated system, MyHR Plus, a new platform that will allow for electronic HR processing, eliminating the need to transport physical files across the country and allowing for remote claims submission, which ensures faster and more accurate processing of payments. 

Full migration to MyHR Plus is expected by March 2025. 

Troupe outlined that almost 17,500 teachers and over 8,000 non-academic school and ministry staff members have already been onboarded to the system.  

“We are the largest users of the system in the Government and as we transition to this new process challenges may arise, however, we are resolved to address these forthwith,” she said. "We appreciate the patience of affected staff as we work to ensure timely and accurate payments. The Ministry remains committed to resolving these issues and enhancing the payroll process for all employees.”

- Sashana Small

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