New scheme for teachers now in force |18 January 2006

The principal secretary (PS) for Education, Macsuzy Mondon, said this yesterday, as she and other senior officials from her department met and explained the new terms to teachers in different schools.

The teachers on their part hailed the new scheme as a big morale booster and pledged to work even harder to justify the much-improved employment terms.

Among other things, the new scheme provides for payment of an enhanced gratuity every five years instead of every 10 or 15 years.

It also provides for higher responsibility allowances and introduces a new cadre for specialised teachers.

Talking to teachers at Belonie Secondary School, Mrs Mondon said that payment of gratuity will be based on the total earnings over a period of five years, and will take the educator’s basic allowance, Teachers’ Scheme of Service and Responsibility allowances into consideration.

She said that the gratuity will be paid at the rate of 6.5% of the teacher’s total income over five years.

She gave the example of a National Institute of Education (NIE) graduate who earns a basic salary of R3,925 during the first year and, with R100 annual increments, gets R4,325 in the fifth year.

“If that teacher has no other responsibilities, his or her total salary over the five years will add up to R247,500, and his or her gratuity will therefore be R16,087.50,” the PS said.

She said that should the teacher also be earning an R400 allowance for being an extra curricular activities’ coordinator, which would add up to R24,000 in five years, then the person’s total earnings over five years would be R271,500 and his or her gratuity would be R17,647.50.

She said that a returning graduate who will enjoy a R4,725 basic salary in the first year and R5,125 by the fifth year will net a total of R295,500 during the first five years, and will therefore qualify for a R19,207.50 gratuity.

Should he or she also draw a monthly R1,000 responsibility allowance and therefore a total income of R307,500, then their gratuity will add up to R19,987.50.

“By the previous scheme of service, this teacher would have earned a flat gratuity of R30,000 after 15 years, or R10,000 every five years,” Mrs Mondon said.

She said that salary structures for teachers begin with SP25 for a newly created ancillary grade and see Diploma I  in Education holders entering service at SP34 instead of the former SP32.

Diploma II holders will now enter at SP39, not SP37 as was the case before.

Higher National Diploma holders will now start at SP44 instead of SP42 in the salary band SP39-44.

First degree holders whose degrees are not in Education will also start at SP44 instead of SP42 but be in the salary band SP44-49.

Holders of Masters Degrees in fields other than Education will enter in SP46 instead of SP43, while Bachelor of Education holders will enter at SP47 as before, but will now be eligible for promotion to the teachers’ specialised cadre (TSC) after three years post qualification teaching experience.

Masters Degree holders who also have post graduate certificates in Education along with PhD holders in Education will enter in EP49 and similarly be eligible to join the TSC, the PS said.

She said that responsibility allowances have been increased, in some cases doubled from the previous standard R600 to R1,200, depending on the size of schools and responsibilities.