Education Runs Out Of Overtime Funds

Baboki Kayawe | Monday January 23, 2017 17:26

Signing the communication on behalf of the permanent secretary, Oemetse Nkoane said, “considering that according to their records monthly expenditure ranges between P13 million to P15 million,  it is evident that the funds are already depleted, which may be challenging in processing any overtime claims”. Therefore, the Ministry called for stringent measures in managing overtime.

“Challenging as it may be, kindly identify interventions that could reduce overtime payments,” Nkoane said.

Last year, the then assistant Minister of education announced the Ministry was broke so much that employees wanting to further studies were advised to self-sponsor. “Where possible let’s try to self-improve in order to reduce the burden of budget constraints.  But you need to first communicate plans to further studies so that an arrangement for reimbursement made when the financial situation we are facing abates,” he said then.

He said though the ministry continues to be allocated the lion’s share of the budget at around 20% annually, that it employs about 38,000 workers, made the budget insufficient. “People expect changes and results considering  the fact that we get the bulk of the money, little do they know that is just a drop in the ocean,” he said.