KPC clarifies report on ?teachers incentive?

Coal mining giant PT Kaltim Prima Coal said that it had nothing to do with the sudden holiday taken by both the students and teachers of the Sangatta SMUN I senior high school, in East Kalimantan.

The local Kaltim Post daily quoted KPC spokesman M. Khairul as saying on Wednesday that the holiday might have been taken to allow the students and the teachers to witness the local cultural festival.

The paper earlier said that thousands of students could not proceed with their learning activity because their teachers declined to teach until KPC paid the incentive facility promised by the coal mining giant.

Khairul said that KPC temporarily suspend the disbursement of the incentive facility for August because the school proposed an amount higher than the usual figure in the previous months.

He said that KPC management was currently discussing the facility.

He also explained that the incentive facility was supposed to end in 1999, but the company decided to continue it until the end of December 2001.

Khairul added that KPC remained committed to help the development of the local human resources including in helping the SMUN 1 in Sangatta, which is regarded as the best high school in the province.(*)