October 19, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 19, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 18: Lack of coordination between the offices of the local government (LG) and Accountant General (AG) has resulted in delay in the payment of arrears and increments to about 67,000 upgraded primary schoolteachers in the NWFP, some of them complained here on Saturday.

These primary schoolteachers had been upgraded to BPS-12 a year ago, but the government had not provided them with perks and privileges so far. Earlier, they were working in BPS-7 and BPS-9 having over ten years of service in the province’s government-run primary schools.

The teachers were upgraded in October 2007. However, there are some teachers who were retiring and now they are of the view that the upgradation had not made any difference in their financial positions.

“I am retiring this month, but my upgradation has not benefited me in any way,” said a teacher who taught for about 25 years in a primary school in Sheikhabad, Peshawar.

The decision of upgrading was taken last year but implementation to this effect was to start from July 2008. The teachers benefiting from this decision were to be paid with arrears. There has been no implementation on this decision for unknown reasons, said Khalid Khan, provincial president of the All Primary Teachers Association NWFP.

“The teachers were neither given arrears nor annual increment. We want implementation of the decision and all financial benefits for the teachers,” Mr Khan added.

Interestingly, instead of paying the teachers with arrears and annual increment, they were being erroneously paid since August this year. Many teachers were concerned that at the end of the financial year, the amount would be deducted which would bring more problems for them.

“My salary was increased from Rs6,460 to Rs7,765 (BPS-12) but I am monthly paid Rs9,935. I am paid Rs2,170 extra per month and when the government deducts the amount after correction, I will suffer financially indeed,” complained a teacher.

However, the AG office has said that it was a computer mistake and would be corrected. The teachers, who were reaching retirement age, said that the error could affect their gratuity and pensions.