Teachers are going months without pay because of administrative failures in school payroll systems, prompting the teachers union leader in the Senate to call for enforceable timelines and faster redress under the proposed Protection of Wages Bill.

Independent Senator Mary-Anne Redman, president of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), recounted a catalogue of administrative failures in the education system, including widespread delays, erroneous salary calculations, and missing allowances, which have left public school educators struggling to meet basic living expenses.

Senator Redman sketched out a crisis undermining staff retention in critical subjects, warning that talented young educators qualified in high-demand areas such as mathematics, physics, and geography are leaving the public system because “they cannot work for nothing”.