MOE Asks Lawmakers For US$3m

-To Place 5,000 Teachers On Payroll
By Reuben Sei Waylaun
The Ministry of Education (MOE) says to place 5,000 teachers on payroll to complete the 17,000 teachers needed, the amount of US$3million will be required.

Appearing before the plenary of the House of Representatives Thursday to update the lawmakers on the current status of the education system in the country, the Deputy Minister for Administration, Latim Da-Thong appealed to the lawmakers to increase the current US$42million of the ministry’s budget to US$45million.

According to Minister Da-Thong, the additional US$3million will go toward placing the 5,000 supplementary teachers on the payroll of the ministry.

He said the ministry targets 17,000 teachers before 2023, but said they currently have 12,000 on the payroll and need additional 5,000 qualified teachers.

The Deputy Education boss also said it will take the country US$200million to standardize the education completely, something he said is a huge challenge for now.

“It will take us US$200million to get our education system standardize to where we want it to be,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister Da-Thong has also announced that 1,700 teachers are ready for retirement after their long service in the profession, but the ministry is searching for US$1million to give a retirement package to those retirees.

He also said they have identified 1,500 ‘ghost names’ on the ministry’s payroll. Minister Da-Thong further lamented the lack of school materials ahead of the new academic year in the country.

“As we speak, we don’t have school materials ahead of the new school year. We are challenged. We need to pay the teachers because it is our responsibility and if we don’t do that the teachers will soon start leaving and we will have a new crisis. Let’s pay our teacher first,” he said.