By Samantha Solomon
The issue on teachers missing out on the Consumer Price Index continues on to the floor of parliament, when Member for Moresby North East John Kaupa asked a question without notice to Minister for Public Service Joe Sungi on the matter.
Kaupa asked Minister Sungi on teachers missing out on their CPIs while all the other public servants are benefiting from it.
He asked a series of questions relating to teachers’ CPIs, he questioned if the teachers are going to be paid the salary increase and if so, the percentage that they will be paid and when the payments will be released.
In response, Minister Sungi replied saying,the teachers are entitled for the three precent increase but the issue is that the Department of Personal Management is waiting for PNG Teacher’s Association to sort out the matter with the Teaching service commission, and from there the process will continue to his department and Treasury and Finance will be able to release the funding to 65,000 teachers.
He said after this process, their CPIs will go through due processes for the teachers to get their shares like all other public servants.
However, in a recent media conference PNG Teachers Association President Aita Sanagkepe said, they have already fixed the issue and their employee PNGTSC has already submitted the claims to the Department of Personal Management.
Secretary for Education Dr Uke Kombra also shared the same sentiments, saying, teachers have to be treated fairly like the other public servants.
