Teachers' hours of work to be reviewed

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 12, 2013 00:00

 

Education permanent secretary, Grace Muzila, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that they had realised that paying teachers overtime was costly compared to when they worked 10 hours.The ministry has paid P17 million in overtime between November 2012 and April this year.'We are now working with the DPSM to return to the initial system because as long as teachers are using the New Public Service Act, the ministry will continue to incur huge costs,' she said. 

According to Muzila, most of the extra hours that teachers work go to remedial lessons and sporting activities.Another measure meant to cut expenditure in teachers' overtimes is engaging volunteers or mentors for remedial lessons.However, PAC member and Kanye North legislator Kentse Rammidi objected that bringing volunteers on board would not achieve the desired results.

'When you engage volunteers that will be taking away the teachers who spend the whole week with these students and know their weaknesses,' he said.The issue of hours of work emanated from the inclusion or categorisation of teachers within an eight-hour working day under the New Public Service Act in 2010.Previously the Teaching Service Act, which did not stipulate hours of work, governed teachers and they could be engaged for more than 10 hours.