Mozambican government says it is gradually paying teachers overtime

Mozambique’s Minister of Education and Human Development said this Monday that payments to teachers for overtime work are being made “gradually”, ensuring that payment delays do not affect final exams.

“The process is ongoing. As the inspectorate checks, it is confirmed and payments are gradually made,” Carmelita Namashulua told reporters on the sidelines of an event marking the start of Mozambique’s final secondary education exams, which involve some 1.6 million students. . is assessed.

Mozambique’s education minister made the announcement after a group of school teachers in Maputo last week announced a likely boycott of exams due to lack of overtime pay.

According to Carmelita Namashulua, problems with paying overtime for teachers are resolved at the central level by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

“This is not an isolated case for local, provincial or district management, because this is a common situation for teachers in our schools across the country (…) The government has never stated that it will not pay overtime,” he said. Minister of education.

Several professional classes, including teachers, doctors and health workers, have in recent months complained of delays and cuts in payment of wages and overtime following the introduction of a new public sector pay scale, which is causing serious controversy and criticism from various segments of the government machinery Mozambique.

The Unified Salary Table (STS) was approved in 2022 with the aim of eliminating asymmetries and keeping the state wage fund under control in the medium term, but the launch, in addition to delays in payments, led to a sharp increase in wages by about 36%. from spending 11.6 billion tags per month (169 million euros per month) to 15.8 billion tags per month (231 million euros per month).