Education Minister, Rosy Akbar [left]

The Education Ministry no longer has an Appeals Board where teachers can lodge their appeals for any disciplinary action.

Minister Rosy Akbar says there was a disciplinary staff board however it was dissolved in 2016 as it did not comply with the constitutional authority of the Permanent Secretary.

Akbar says the Ministry is bound by the disciplinary guidelines which came into effect in January 2017 before being updated in December 2018.

“The disciplinary guidelines aims to bring in a positive discipline which requires an approach to correct behavior and ensure adherence to the civil service values and code of conduct. This we do by one, improving performance, improving poor performance per the employees given an opportunity to improve interactive process and ensuring that any disciplinary action that which may be undertaken is prompt, transparent, fair, impartial, consistent and made with the employees understanding if the issue reported relates to the code of conduct.”

Akbar says should an employee wish to appeal against the decision made by the Permanent Secretary with the argument of the Minister, he or she can appeal to either the employment relations tribunal, the court or seek mediation through the Ministry of Employment.

She says the other option available to the PS, is to refer cases to the public service disciplinary tribunal.

Akbar adds this tribunal compliments the power of the PS which can institute other forms of disciplinary actions such as a fine, or a demotion which the PS cannot institute.

However, any decision of the public service disciplinary tribunal is deviable by the High Court.