Teachers have been forgotten, says TTU

Dar es Salaam. Stakeholders say they expect the government to resolve the teachers’ arrears issue once and for all.

They say as the government tables its budget today, clearing of arrears should be given priority to boost teachers’ morale.

The government did not give emphasis to teachers’ arrears totalling about Sh300 billion in the relevant ministerial budget earlier in the year, giving the impression that the issue has been ignored.

Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) officials say teachers’ arrears had reached Sh300 billion by January, this year.

TTU has challenged the government to explain its plan to clear the debt instead of simply disclosing how much money has so far been disbursed.

TTU deputy secretary-general Ezekiah Olouch told The Citizen recently that the government should divulge the actual debt it owes teachers and stop misleading them and other education stakeholders.

The Deputy of Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Ms Stella Manyanya, told Parliament recently that the government had so far spent Sh31 billion on settling teachers’ arrears, which include delayed salary adjustments after promotions.

But Mr Oluoch was not impressed. “When the government says it has paid Sh31 billion to settle teachers’ arrears, it sends the wrong message to teachers and stakeholders. To avoid misinformation, it should elaborate clearly how much was disbursed for which year,” he noted.

He said if the government was claiming to have paid Sh31 billion it should also provide clear information on how much it owed teachers to date.

According to Mr Oluoch, as far as TTU is concerned, in the 2015/16 financial year almost 40,000 teachers were promoted, but some of them have yet to see their salaries adjusted, adding that the government should also elaborate on previous arrears.

“We have gone through documents and have discovered that teachers’ arrears amount to Sh300 billion. This amount should be paid sooner rather than later,” he said.

According to him, 85,000 teachers were promoted between February and March, last year, but only 5,000 teachers had their salaries adjusted accordingly, only to revert to earlier scales after a few months.

Mr Oluoch said 80,000 teachers had received promotion letters since February 2016, but their salaries had yet to be increased.

“We have had several meetings with the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Mr George Simbachawene, and the Treasury Registrar, and we wish to make it clear that the government has not started paying the 2016/17 arrears.”

Mr Olouch urged the government to settle teachers’ arrears first and delay salary increments because it was unable to work on both as it has been attempting to do.

According to him, if the government continues delaying paying the Sh300 billion arrears, the burden will be too much in the future, adding that this could further demoralise teachers.

A recent report shows that the government disbursed Sh2.864 billion to pay teachers’ arrears in 45 municipal and district councils in the country.

This is the second time the government has disbursed funds to settle teachers’ outstanding arrears.

Earlier this year, the government disbursed funds to settle teachers’ arrears in 118 district and municipal councils.

HakiElimu research and analysis programme manager Godfrey Bonaventura said the issue of arrears should be resolved once and for all before it was too late.

“The government will soon be overburdened and will fail to pay teachers their dues altogether. If the government does not clear the arrears now, it will be impossible to clear them in the future.”