School misses tournament after allowances row

Mosah Mokganedi | Wednesday May 7, 2014 10:06

 

The teachers accused their head master Collins Mudadi of underpaying them. But Mudadi has denied the charge, saying he paid the teachers the right amount.   Itireleng was supposed to play against two schools - Chichi and Ipelegeng - last weekend, but due to the impasse over allowances, it failed to honour the fixtures.

A concerned teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mudadi wanted them to under claim although they had supervised sports for longer hours.

When the two parties failed to agree, the headmaster ordered the school to withdraw from the competition.

Mudadi has accused the teachers of demanding pay for hours they did not work. However, he acknowledged that the over-time allowance is creating problems. “This is a problem that cannot be solved by headmasters but the Ministry of Education,” he said.  

The teachers contend that the headmaster wanted them to claim money for lesser hours than they worked.

“Normally the games start at 8am and end at around 5pm but the headmaster wants us to claim allowances up to lunch time only,” one of the teachers said. He stated that the impasse is affecting the performance of the school in sports.  Mudadi defended himself saying that headmasters are charged with making sure that overtime payment is within reasonable limits. He conceded that teachers should be paid for the time they are handling sports activities, but this cannot not be the whole day.

Mudadi criticised teachers for rushing to the media saying it will not solve their problems.

The Sub Zone C sports organiser, Freeman Sentshwaranyi had called a meeting to address the matter. He told Mmegi Sport that the issue was affecting other schools in the zone.