Further delay in completion
of new teacher salary scales
PHILIPSBURG--The completion of the structure for the new salary scales for teachers has been delayed further.
The new structure for persons working in the school system was scheduled to be completed before the end of this year but Chairman of the Salary Scales Committee Luud Hakkens said Tuesday it appears that this deadline would not be met. “They’re still putting the data together and the job descriptions are still being finalised,” Hakkens said yesterday. “They can’t make it this year anymore. The Innovations Bureau has taken it upon itself to do the evaluation system; and it’s still going on.”
He expressed hope that the new scales would be completed early next year.
Once completed, the new scales, which are being put together by consultants Deloitte and Touche, will be presented to government.
Government and the union will then have to decide on the amounts that will be attached to the scale. Hakkens had said the new scale which is being devised will be a solid one which will see teachers remunerated based on their job description and responsibilities. Hakkens had said earlier that the consultants were busy preparing job descriptions for all positions in the teaching sector. The new system will also have provisions for the performance of teachers to be evaluated.
Based on the request of Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU), Deloitte and Touche had held an information session with elementary and secondary school teachers a few months ago to update them on the process being taken to put together the scales and the process which is still to be followed.
The issue of teachers salary scales dates back to 2004, when teachers demand for a transition allowance, as was being paid to teachers in Curaçao, was initially turned down. Another request made this year was approved because the Salary Scales Committee felt that the process was taking too long.
St Maarten vacation rental
