Teachers get part payment

The island's public-school teachers have been paid a portion of their retroactive salaries after a long period of rows with the Government.

The educators were paid $500 million of the $8 billion owed them.

Yesterday, the education ministry said the cheques for teachers' salaries - including retroactive sums - at non-bursar-paid schools, have been sent to the regional offices of the Ministry of Education.

The sums for bursar-paid schools were uploaded on Monday by the National Commercial Bank (NCB). Accounts in banks other than NCB were credited by 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

The Industrial Disputes Tribunal had ruled in October that the Government should this year pay $500 million of the $8 billion owed to public-sector teachers, and the remaining $7.5 billion in three equal instalments over the next three financial years.