REB officials grilled over 'idle teachers'

The Director-General of Rwanda Education Board (REB), Janvier Gasana, yesterday, appeared before Parliament to explain why about 130 teachers were still on public payroll yet they were not teaching in the last financial year. The issue was raised during the annual Public Service Commission report tabled before the plenary last October. It indicated that only 1,519 of the 1,719 teachers were active and properly documented in districts, yet close to 130 teachers (mostly in primary schools) whose profiles were incomplete and whose jobs were not recognised, continued to draw monthly salaries. Lawmakers on the standing committee in charge of social affairs said there was no justification for paying the teachers about Rwf80 million. “We were informed of schools that had excess teachers in Nyagatare District. They were posted to schools without assigned subjects and were not working yet they were being paid, said MP Pierre Claver Rwaka, a member on the committee. Rwaka called on the board to ensure that rogue education officials and head teachers are brought to book and help the Government recover the money lost. “Some 129 redundant teachers were discovered in Nyagatare. It is a long chain involving many people. The report might have captured only this but the situation countrywide might be bigger,” added MP Alphonsine Mukarugema, the deputy chairperson of the committee. Gasana acknowledged the mistakes committed by some officials. He informed the lawmakers that his office had limited capacity to monitor and evaluate all schools regularly but efforts to have the issue resolved were underway. “During some of our inspections, we found some districts had allocated teachers to schools, even when they were not needed. They became redundant in the process and were paid regularly,” he said. “There have been serious issues in posting teachers, we have taken note of it and we are dealing with it progressively in partnership with other institutions.” Gasana added that under new special teachers’ statute published at the end of last year, REB will soon start registration of teachers’ countrywide. “We are going to carry out new registration and licensing of teachers according to their capacities. This is an exercise that will soon start, and from there we hope it will reconcile with the payroll,” he said. Gasana said previous restructuring in the public service partially affected some sectors, adding that REB was seeking new structures to streamline all procedures, from the national level to the schools. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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REB officials grilled over 'idle teachers'