The national education department’s plan to outlaw additional remuneration and perks by school governing bodies (SGBs) is extremely shortsighted, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Wednesday.
”The department is also naive if it believes that banning this practice by former model C school will improve the quality of teachers that poorer schools can attract,” DA education representative Willem Doman said in a statement.
”It will have the exact opposite effect.”
Those schools that could afford it would seriously consider going private, while those that could not faced an exodus of their best teachers from the public schools system, either to private schools, overseas, or out of the profession altogether, he said.
Also, if teachers had signed contracts with SGBs specifying their total package, this plan opened schools up to the possibility of serious labour disputes.
The only sustainable way to reduce the inequalities between former model C schools and poorer schools was to improve conditions — for both learners and teachers — at the latter.
Most former model C schools had better facilities and generally offered a safer environment than poorer schools. Even with equal remuneration, they would continue to attract the best teachers.
Those leaving for greener pastures would be replaced by the next best teachers, stripping poorer schools of their best.
”Everyone loses,” he said.
Education Minister Kader Asmal had already identified the shortage of teachers, particularly in key subjects such as maths and science, as a major challenge for his department.
”He should acknowledge that additional remuneration for scarce skills and excellence contributes positively to addressing this challenge, while his department’s plan will exacerbate it.
”School governing bodies that raise their own funds to retain excellent and hard-to-replace teachers allow the government to focus on schools that cannot raise their own funds. Instead of outlawing the practice, the government should be encouraging it.”
Forcing schools to apply to provincial education departments for exemption to provide additional remuneration or reward not only infringed on the autonomy of SGB’s, but would also lead to enormous additional red tape for all involved in education.
”This is something we can ill afford,” Doman said.
In terms of the draft Education Laws Amendment Bill, now before Parliament, SGBs will have to apply to the provincial education departments for permission to give teachers extra pay or benefits other than travel and subsistence expenses incurred in school activities.
Education department Director General Thami Mseleku was quoted in the Cape Times on Wednesday as having said the Bill was aimed at preventing inequalities in the education system, where ”those who have can pay teachers more and those who haven’t cannot”.
Requests to give teachers extra rewards would be considered individually, Mseleku said. – Sapa