TSC orders immediate salary restoration for 8,000 suspended teachers

The Teaching Service Commission [TSC] has ordered the immediate reinstatement of salaries for approximately 8,000 teachers affected by an automatic payroll suspension on Pay 10.

TSC acting chairman Maini Ugaia has issued an urgent directive to all Provincial TSC Advisors and Provincial Education Advisors nationwide to rapidly collect and submit outstanding Resumption of Duty Summary Sheets to the headquarters to fast-track the payroll restoration.

The mass suspension was originally scheduled to take effect on Pay 7. However, Chairman Ugaia revealed that the commission deferred the exercise after initial data indicated a staggering 29,000 teachers were at risk of being cut off nationwide. Ongoing data verification and system updates successfully whittled that backlog down to the 8,000 who were ultimately affected.

"The Commission remains deeply committed to teacher welfare," Ugaia stated, urging immediate compliance from provincial administrative offices to minimize further financial hardship on the affected educators and their families.

In a significant humanitarian move, the TSC confirmed that teachers stationed in provinces heavily impacted by the recent Cyclone Maila have been completely exempted from the payroll audit, with their salaries deliberately maintained to support local recovery efforts.

Provincial education officers have been told to take immediate action, gather the missing data from the ground, and dispatch verified data sheets to the national headquarters in Port Moresby immediately to facilitate prompt back-pay processing.