Teachers of the Prince of Wales Secondary School are demanding their allowances from the school for overtime services rendered to the institution since the Junior Secondary School was dissolved by the Education ministry.
Investigations conducted by this press indicate that some aggrieved teachers are demanding the immediate payment of the allowances promised them by the School Board and Administration for overtime.
The teachers complained that normal class started at 8:00 am and ended at 1:30pm but was extended to 3:30pm to improve the school learning process for excellence, with mutual understanding with the School Board, Management and the Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA) for monthly payment of teachers allowance of Le100, 000.00 each.
Since this gentleman’s agreement was signed by the School Board and Administration, they are yet to fulfill their own part of the bargain for its implementation as payment of the teachers’ salaries has not been forthcoming. Students are also complaining that teachers are not teaching them well as some enter the classroom just to kill time. “At the end of the period, they just walk out, leaving us with little knowledge despite the fact that we have paid our fees in full”, lamented one of the senior students.
When this press visited the school to get the other side of the story the acting Principal, Mrs Millicent Ogoo, declined to be interviewed or photographed but requested the acting Vice Principal Michael A Bundor to respond to the allegations.
Mr Bundor said, “it is true that the school administration in collaboration with the Board agreed to pay teachers overtime allowances but unfortunately the School Board has not been operational for some time and nobody has access to the bank account for withdrawal”.
He added that the principal and bursar had no access to the bank account and this had been the major setback towards the payments of teachers’ allowances. Mr Bundor revealed that “the School Board met last week and modalities have already been worked out for the prompt payment of their allowances to avoid such an embarrassment to the school.”
The chairman of the Parents Teachers’ Association, who also doubles as a member of the School Board, Gabriele A Savage told Awoko that the problem was with the School Board because since last year it was only now that they were meeting but that payment was expected soon. He added that some parents were making it very difficult for the school administration as they did not pay their boys’ fees on time.
By Saidu Bah
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