The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, said he would soon engage teachers’ unions before deciding whether to scrap teachers’ incentives.
Last week, education ministry secretary, Stephen Mahere, said the government had resolved to abolish incentives to avoid disparities they had created between urban and rural schools.
However, Coltart told NewsDay early this week there was need to consult other stakeholders before a firm decision was made over the issue.
“Our position has always been clear that we are not happy with the issue of incentives, but we had to accept them to try and retain teachers,” he said.
“We need to hold consultations with the unions, before we consider scrapping the incentives.” Coltart said the recent salary increment awarded to civil servants was still too low for incentives to be removed.
Following the latest increases, teachers now earn $320 from $160 per month.
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In rural areas, incentives vary between zero and $20, while those for their urban counterparts range between $30 and $80 or more, per month.
Most rural-based teachers, who do not get incentives, were now pushing for places in urban schools.
Incentives were introduced following an increase in the number of teachers who were quitting their jobs in search of greener pastures in neighbouring counties, at the height of the country’s economic woes.