4.4 Late payment of salaries

Alongside the lack of enforcement of the bond, another feature of the GES is undermining the stated policy aim of filling vacancies in rural schools with newly trained teachers: the late payment of salaries to new teachers. This is something that had affected all my participants, with delays ranging from 2 to 9 months and it is a practice, which seems to hit teachers in the rural areas hardest, as they are often furthest from their families who might be able to help them financially. The following extract is taken from an editorial in the Daily Graphic:

Some reports from the Eastern Region suggest that some newly trained teachers posted to the region since September last year have not received any salary so far. What is more disturbing is the fact that whilst the regional directorate of GES appears not to be aware of the problem, that fact of the non payment of salaries to newly trained teachers posted to some parts of the region is a common knowledge at some of the educational units. The GES has to put its house in order. The human factor is essential in the provision of quality education, which is the focus of the education reforms. But at the time the GES is making appeals to teachers to accept postings to rural areas, because of large scale refusal by some to take up appointment in certain areas, those who have taken up the challenge are subject to frustration... [Editorial in The Daily Graphic, 22/4/99, p.7]

This issue remains one of the chief complaints of NQTs against GES and was one of the factors leading to a national strike in 2000. It has received a lot of attention in recent years in the national press, with the Daily Graphic, a government paper, calling it 'the unsavoury ritual', and much discussion within GES about how to improve the situation.