State paying €8m to cover sick teachers

THE STATE coughed up over €8 million to replace teachers who were off sick in 2008, the Educational Service Commission (ESC) announced.

The ESC annual report containing data on teachers’ absences and the subsequent costs was presented to President Demetris Christofias on Friday.

The Commission’s Chairman, Anastasios Kouzalis, said the figures were exceptionally high and the matter needed to be dealt with.

“It seems that teachers easily take leave for various reasons,” said Kouzalis. “In 2008, the state spent over €8 million to pay for replacements. This is a huge amount of money; frugality is needed in this sector and leave shouldn’t be handed out with the same ease that is noted today.”

The three main reasons teachers ask for leave, according to Kouzalis, are sickness, army service and participation in European training programmes.

The state’s educators are creating problems in other areas as well, the ESC Chairman explained, by refusing to work in rural schools they have been dispatched to after being promoted.

“This means that his or her service in the rural areas will have to be covered by another teacher, which we think isn’t right,” said Kouzalis. “From the moment that you are promoted, you have to be prepared to serve schools outside your area for two years and this is something everyone needs to understand.”

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