President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced salary increases and adjustments as well as duty-free and other allowances for various categories of teachers across the country.
He said the salaries of teachers who are the holders of a relevant Bachelors Degree shall be moved to the maximum of the scale, applicable to post they occupy.
This move is expected to benefit some 4000 teachers.
Meanwhile, he said teachers who are holders of a Bachelor’s Degree shall now receive a $10,000 monthly allowance; teachers who have a Master’s Degree shall receive a monthly allowance of $20,000; while teachers who have a Doctorate shall receive $30,000 monthly.
This adds up to $120,000, $240,000 and $360,000 in additional annual disposable income for teachers from the respective categories.
Meanwhile, President Ali said any pre-existing allowances paid in relation to post graduate diploma in education will remain in place.
Moreover, he said the Remote Areas Incentives (RAI) given to hinterland teachers will be adjusted upwards from its current level to $20,000 monthly, effective December 1, 2023.
This will benefit over 2400 teachers, at an additional annual cost of $260 million.
In giving an example of how these announcements will benefit teachers, President Ali explained that for a Graduate Senior Mistress Head of Department, they will now have their current salary adjusted from $243,069 to $262,917; and with the inclusion of allowances, he said this represents an overall 12% increase to their earnings.
Furthermore, President Ali announced that all teachers who hold a substantive appointment as a senior master/mistress or above and are within three years of retirement, and have not previously received a duty-free concession on a motorcar, shall be entitled to duty-free concession for a vehicle up to 1500cc.
The Head of State reminded that these benefits will not only increase disposable income but impact the pension and gratuity payment of teachers.
“These interventions for teachers aggregate to a total of $1.9 billion in additional disposable income for teachers annually,” President Ali expressed.
