MASERU - Lesotho teachers are concerned about their delayed salaries for August, arguing it is now becoming the norm for government to defer their monthly wages unnecessarily.

The Minister of Education and Training Ntlhoi Motsamai has said that the salaries will be delayed for this month due to the introduction of a new career and salary structure for teachers that also comes with a five per cent increment.

The revised teachers’ career structure has been developed to guide career growth of teachers within the teaching service as well as accommodate new trends in the profession.

Some of the objectives of the new structure include the linking the  teachers’ career progression to their performance, qualifications and experience as well as enhance professionalism by recognizing the need for development of competence required for teaching and leadership positions.

It also allows for the provision of basic job description on the career ladder and improves staff motivation and retention within the teaching service.

Motsamai said the ministry is working directly with a South African based consultant to implement the new structure. But due to the COVID-19 shut down, the consultant is operating from SA through online systems.

“This has been a difficult and sensitive work to complete. Progress was also interrupted by poor online systems, taking us longer than expected to bring this matter to finality,” Motsamai said on Tuesday.

Teachers associations are however not satisfied with the ministry’s statements, saying the delay has happened before.

They are therefore calling for the ministry to up its game sooner rather than later to avoid collapse of the local education system.

“We are completely disappointed by the announcement, particularly because we were only told on the same day that we were supposed to get paid. This is not the first time, and they always blame the consultant or the system for these interruptions,” teachers’ unions said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement, which was co-signed by the four unions including Lesotho Teachers Trade Union (LTTU), Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT), Progressive Association of Lesotho Teachers (PALT) and Lesotho Schools Principal Association (LESPA) went on to suggest to the ministry that teachers should be reimbursed their September 2019 salaries that were affected by the implementation of the “no work no pay” principle that was implemented as a punitive action by government following the teachers’ strike.