THE Ministry of Education has approved leave for more than 2,000 teachers for the 2025–2026 academic year.

In a media release on Wednesday the ministry said this reflects its continued commitment to workforce well-being, professional development, and effective school management.

According to the ministry, the approval follows a thorough review of 2,860 applications for various categories of leave. The ministry said there has been a decline in the number of teachers who have applied for leave when compared to the 2022/2023 and 2024/25 academic years when 2978 and 3197 teachers applied for leave, respectively.

A total of 2,026 teachers have been approved across four categories of leave, with the education ministry reporting that the estimated cost of the approved leave is $7.87 billion, which includes both direct leave payments and the cost of temporary staff replacements to ensure continuity of instruction in schools.

The ministry listed the approved leave categories as: four months’ vacation leave, 834 teachers; eight months’ vacation leave, 907 teachers; study leave, 71 teachers; and leave prior to retirement, 123 teachers.

In addition the ministry said, in a special consideration, an additional 91 teachers were approved for eight months’ vacation leave despite exceeding the 10 per cent statutory quota.

“This exception was made to facilitate all teachers who were at their maximum of their leave entitlement and [for whom] a denial would have negatively affected future entitlements had they not proceed on leave this academic year,” said the ministry.

Additionally, six non-academic staff members across three regions have been granted study leave, at an estimated cost of $17.7 million.

“The ministry has honoured its statutory obligations as outlined in the Education Regulations, 1980, thanks to the budgetary provisions approved by the Government,” said permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr Kasan Troupe.

“We applaud the work of the boards and the school principals who facilitated the reviews and initial recommendations for further deliberations at the ministry level” added Troupe.

She explained that, “even with this significant allocation, all the applicants could not be accommodated within the statutory quota. As per usual, teachers whose applications were not approved may submit appeals through the established administrative process. Appeals will be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to budgetary provisions”.

According to Troupe, this annual leave exercise is conducted under the Education Regulations, 1980, and reflects the ministry’s efforts to balance staff entitlements and well-being with the strategic goal of maintaining stable and effective school operations.

“The ministry reaffirms its commitment to advancing education through sound human resource planning, and encourages all stakeholders to support the smooth implementation of the approved leave schedule for the upcoming academic year, and encourages our administrators to commence their staff replacement process to ensure staff are identified for the new school year.

“A raft of strategies will again be shared with our schools to ensure that all staff are in place to ensure the continuation of quality teaching and learning,” the media release said.