I was a teacher with the NOS (Na­tion­al Open School) pro­gramme. The pro­gramme is a PNM ini­tia­tive to pro­vide CXC evening class­es to adults and oth­er peo­ple de­sir­able of writ­ing CXC as pri­vate can­di­dates.

I taught in the pro­gramme for ap­prox­i­mate­ly one year, from 2008 to May. Up to present, I have not re­ceived one pen­ny from the Gov­ern­ment for the time and labour that I have in­vest­ed. The NOS of­fice claims that it has done its part and sub­mit­ted the time-sheets for ap­proval, How­ev­er, the de­lay is the re­sult of the Gov­ern­ment not re­leas­ing mon­ey to the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion.

Why has the Gov­ern­ment de­layed for an en­tire year the re­lease of mon­ey to pay the NOS teach­ers? Per­haps it is be­cause there is no mon­ey to re­lease! The Gov­ern­ment has squan­dered bil­lions to host a Sum­mit, but can­not pay the few thou­sand dol­lars it owes me and for which I have worked very hard. Imag­ine work­ing for an en­tire year with­out get­ting paid and when you call to find out you get the same sto­ry every time. Last month they told me this month, and this month they told me next month. Next month will be an­oth­er sto­ry.

The NOS of­fi­cials nei­ther call nor write or both­er to in­form and up­date teach­ers of the sta­tus of their salaries. That would be ask­ing too much I sup­pose. To say that I am fed up and frus­trat­ed with wait­ing will be a gross un­der­state­ment. I shud­der to think what would be my sit­u­a­tion if I were to de­pend on this mon­ey for my sur­vival. I would have starved and died a long time ago. Prime Min­is­ter Man­ning, I want my mon­ey now. I have worked for it and I have things that I would like to do with it. You find mon­ey to fi­nance all your un­nec­es­sary and ex­trav­a­gant en­deav­ours. Find the mon­ey to pay the NOS teach­ers now.

Es­ther Le Gen­dre, you are the Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion, look in­to this mat­ter with the ut­most ur­gency. In­quire whether or not the ac­counts de­part­ment at your min­istry is func­tion­ing be­cause it seems that it is in hi­ber­na­tion. Make it you pri­or­i­ty to get the nec­es­sary funds re­leased for the pay­ment of NOS teach­ers. I am at present con­sid­er­ing tak­ing the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion/ Gov­ern­ment to court. I have worked for a year and they have not paid me. As far as I am con­cerned that is against the law and a vi­o­la­tion of my right as a cit­i­zen.

I can as­sure you that I will nev­er teach in the NOS pro­gramme again. If I am ever faced with the predica­ment of beg­ging on the streets or teach­ing in the NOS pro­gramme for a liv­ing, I will, with­out a sec­ond thought, beg on the streets.

Maria Pe­ter­son

Tu­na­puna