Help for CCA Instructors Hit by COVID-19 Restrictions

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By Kay del Rosario

 

The COVID-19 situation has resulted in the suspensions of Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) and inter-school activities. This has affected the income of instructors and coaches who are paid based on services delivered.

 

As a result of talks between the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Instructors and Coaches Association (NICA), instructors and coaches now have the option to restructure their contracts with MOE. 

 

This means that they can:

 

Extend existing contracts by up to a year, but no later than December 2021. 

Receive initial payments, paid ahead of actual work done from now to end-2021. 

 

The amount of the initial payment is set at 40 per cent of the annual contract value, capped at $3,000 per instructor for each contract. 

 

This will assure instructors of some income in 2020 even if fewer hours are delivered. They will be expected to fulfil the hours of work subsequently in 2021.

 

In a Facebook post on 14 May 2020, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung commented: “With this change, MOE will also encourage schools to find ways to engage the coaches and instructors, when school is scheduled to open in June, after the circuit breaker period. They can deliver their services digitally and remotely or teach at a class level with no inter-mingling of students.”

Take for example a netball coach who is engaged by a secondary school with an annual contract value of $10,000. His current contract will end on 31 Dec 2020. 

 

The initial payment for this contract will be capped at $3,000. 

 

He will receive the first payment of $2,000 June 2020 and the remaining payment of $1,000 in November 2020.

 

If the services he renders exceed the initial payment cap of $3,000 when CCA resumes, he will then be paid monthly again, based on the difference in excess of the initial payment received. 

 

His contract will also be extended till 31 Dec 2021 to provide a longer runway for the delivery of his services.

 

Schools will get in touch with eligible companies and instructors with more information from 25 May 2020 onwards, before the end of the school holidays.

 

Get answers to FAQs here.