Prime Minister Jotham Napat says the government has met its requirements under the Memorandum of Conciliation (MOC) signed by the Ministry of Education and the Vanuatu Teachers Union (VTU), as concerns remain over the exchange of teachers’ data.

Napat says the outstanding issue relates to information the Ministry considers confidential, particularly data containing teachers’ personal and payment details.

“Based on the report my office has received, the government is up to date with every requirement under the MOCs.”

He says any outstanding matters affecting teachers can be addressed through the Collective Bargaining Agreement or the MOC, which provide avenues for the parties to meet and resolve their concerns.

Disagreement over teachers’ data

Napat says the conciliation process included an agreement to provide aggregated data. However, he says the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Service Commission provided additional personal data after receiving legal advice and agreeing on the information to be shared.

He says the Ministry had initially raised concerns about sharing some information because of its confidential nature.

PM invites VTU to talks

The Prime Minister has called on the VTU to meet with the government to work through the issues that led to the teachers’ strike.

Napat says the government has records showing that it is up to date with its payments to teachers and maintains that meeting the government’s obligations is essential.

He says the government remains willing to sit down with the union to resolve the outstanding matters.