E. Equatoria gov’t removes over 300 ghost teachers from pay list

The state council of ministers in Eastern Equatoria has terminated 337 teachers who have reportedly deserted the teaching profession while their names remained in the government pay list.

Information minister Patrick Oting said the cabinet resolved on Tuesday to remove primary and secondary ghost teachers and advertise their positions.

“In all these eight counties, they gave us this number of 337 deserters. Now the council of ministers have resolved that all these people who have deserted should be terminated and their post should be advertised so that new teachers should be recruited to take over and do the teaching to our children across the eight counties,” Oting said.

The ghost teachers are reported to have left the low paying teaching profession and join non-governmental organizations and other works to make ends meet.

Countrywide, there have been reports of teachers abandoning the profession due to low payment of civil servants. A teacher gets 8,000 South Sudanese Pounds – an amount equivalent to $8

However, Oting did not tell how the government will maintain the next teachers they are planning to recruit considering the payment concerns.

“…not even the teachers alone, all the institution even for us in the ministry of information we have the deserters. All those people should be terminated because some of them have gone for more than 5 years now. Their names are there but they are not seen anywhere.” He added