TEACHERS at Northern Province schools have blamed increasing class disruptions and violence on an ineffective education department.
Riots and boycotts have been reported at about four schools in the province in the past two weeks for reasons ranging from wanting a refund of school fees to wanting teachers dismissed.
Provincial spokesman for the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, Thamaga Morebudi, said on Tuesday that the department was quick to blame teachers for the mayhem.
“(It) derives pleasure from pointing an accusing finger at educators without taking a little time for introspection,” he said.
“They enjoy their rocking chairs in air conditioned offices when the majority of black schools face decline.”
The department had not adjusted the ratio of inspectors to schools, he said, and at least one inspector had to oversee more than one circuit. A circuit can comprise over 100 schools.
“It’s therefore not surprising that schools become unstable because there is not sufficient personnel to act on reports submitted to area and circuit offices,” he explained.
He said teachers had also not been redeployed to schools whose populations had burgeoned and were instead expected to lose teachers to other schools.
The department also continued to retrench temporary teachers teaching key subjects like Maths and Science without knowing how many personnel it had or how many schools.
“There is no employer in this century who does not know how many employees he has employed,” he said.
Six months into the year, schools in areas such as Bochum, Sekhukhune and Mutale still did not have textbooks, he added.
And the department had suspended all workshops aimed at empowering teachers on critical issues like outcomes based education, he alleged. He said Sadtu did not defend lazy teachers or unruly pupils, but abhorred attempts by the department to pass the buck.
“In all the accusations against educators, there is no reference to problems that stem directly from bureaucratic inefficiencies,” said Morebudi.
— African Eye News Service, June 6, 2000.