Madang teachers finally paid their 2024 outstanding leave fares

Madang teachers who have been waiting for their outstanding leave fares from last year [2024] can now breathe a sigh of relief, after their dues were finally settled recently.

The affected teachers are mainly those who have bank accounts with Bank South Pacific, whilst those with Westpac, Kina and MiBank have already been settled.

Acting Education Director for Madang, Alphonse Igag said the bulk of the teachers in the province bank with BSP, and they had an outstanding of K900, 000.00, which Waigani has not released since last year; and they have been waiting since then.

Mr Igag said, teachers must understand the processes involved and the time it takes for leave fares to come out.

He added Government pays leave fares to teachers besides other entitlements, however; how much money it releases depends on the number of teachers in Madang Province.

Igag stated that whether the teachers are paid on time or not again depends on when Waigani releases the funds into the provincial government coffers.

Madang Province since 2007 until 2024 has been receiving the same amount of funds for its teachers leave fares every year, which is K2. 6 million.

This figure has not changed to date.

The leave fares are often released in dribs and drabs.

Last year, Madang Province only received K1. 5 million of the budgeted K2. 6 million; with an outstanding of K900, 000.

This shortfall has delayed the payment of leave fares for teachers banking with Bank South Pacific until May 18, 2025 when the Education Division decided to use its rollover funds to offset the K900, 000.

Igag added, the division used its rolled- over money/ funds from other votes to settle outstanding leave fares as funds were not coming from Waigani.

The Provincial Treasury has already made payments into their respective accounts and hopefully this resolves the issue.

In the meantime, he has also expressed sincere apology for the delay, which has affected a lot of genuine teachers in the province.

Since taking office last June, Mr Igag made a commitment to settle the ongoing outstanding leave fares issue.

Beginning this year, Madang Province hopes to improve on this legacy issue.

To those teachers who are due for their annual leave this year, Mr Igag said they have until next month [July] to start submitting their leave applications to the office.