The secretariat of Solomon National Teachers Association, SINTA has threatened that its members will boycott standard 6 exams if government continues to ignore a 7.5 percent cost of living salary increase it had already promised teachers last year.
SINTA Public and Industrial Relations Officer, Johnly Hatimoana, says a meeting with more than 500 teachers yesterday has given the government until next week to address the issue.He says the Secondary School Entrance Examination starts on August 12 and if government failed to make a move towards solving the issue, then SINTA will call for a nation-wide boycott of the exams.
Mr Hatimoana says if Parliamentarians are paying themselves huge amounts of money in PER entitlements, it has no excuse to delay payments to teachers which are long overdue.
He says government only gave teachers and other public servants five percent of a 12.5 cost of living adjustment it agreed to pay two years ago.
Mr Hatimoana says SINTA is very sympathetic with students, but if individual families could not afford the present cost of living, it also affects teachers.
He says government has been sitting on this issue for so long, and it is time it is made to talk with teachers again.
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