A rock and a hard place

Scores of teachers who work far away from their homes are faced with the difficult dilemma of having to choose between keeping their jobs and being able to support their families, and quitting their jobs and facing economic ruin. Both are difficult calls to make.

Some of these teachers are victims of the education department’s re-deployment policy, while others are just not lucky enough to find jobs close to home.

Their biggest concerns are leaving spouses and young children on their own, seeing them only on weekends or at the end of the month. And it is their preoccupation with the safety and wellbeing of the children that puts a lot of emotional and psychological strains on such teachers. This in turn affects their work and could lead to them losing their jobs.

The Teacher was flooded with letters from some of the aggrieved teachers, peppered with impassioned pleas such as: ‘Please help, my family is falling apart — I need a transfer!”

Margaret Ndlovu (not her real name) teaches at a junior primary school in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. She started teaching in 1992. Ndlovu is married with two children who are left with their security guard father. His irregular shifts make it difficult for him to look after them.

‘My firstborn, who is 16 years old and in grade 10, is doing drugs. His eight-year-old sibling has started to bunk classes,” she said. Ndlovu fears things might get worse, which is why she wants to be nearer home.

Another teacher, who identified herself as Nene, faces an even bigger challenge. While she was worrying about the wellbeing of their children, her husband left her for another woman. Nene blames the long separation for this.

A Foundation Phase teacher, Nene has 15 years of teaching experience at a primary school in Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal. Her woes started in 1999 when she was redeployed from a school in Richmond — near her home in Pinetown, Marianhill — to where she works now.

She is separated from her family by 150km. Because she cannot afford to travel daily to and from school, Nene has decided to rent a room for R400 a month. Her 75-year-old, frail and sickly mother cannot cope with looking after Nene’s children.

Nene’s six-year-old child, who is a grade one learner, suffers from cardiac problems, as does her two- year-old sibling. She was forced to fire a nanny whom she was paying R700 a month because she was untrustworthy.

‘I am frustrated and depressed. I am seeing a psychologist to help me lead a normal life. And most of the time I am booked off sick,” said Nene. ‘I want to be with my family on a daily basis. I cannot bring them here [to Ixopo] because they are under special supervision of doctors.”

Teachers’ unions sympathise with the teachers, but acknowledge that this is not an easy matter to deal with. For a transfer to be effected there should be another teacher willing to swap. They were also unanimous that the national department of education has the obligation to assist by timeously making information on transfers available to teachers.

Shireen Pardesi of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said teachers should check ‘vacancy lists, but where their personal circumstances warrant a teacher to move, they can take it up with the local education authorities for consideration”.

She said Sadtu does handle some cases, not as an obligation, but to help their members. Pardesi said the department bears the ultimate responsibility to help in this regard. She said principals ‘as the first port of call” should also assist troubled teachers.

Alan Thompson, the National Teachers Union’s (Natu) vice-president, said the biggest problem is the lack of time, as teachers spend the greater part of their time in the classroom. ‘They hardly have time to find out about vacancies and to do anything during schools hours,” he said.

Natu is addressing this with the provincial Education Labour Relations Council. Thompson said this matter is crucial in that teachers who are unhappy produce poor work, which in turn impacts on learner performance.

He said, to address the problem, Natu has called for: prioritising the issue of posting teachers near to where they live; incentivising those working in deep rural areas by paying them better and improving working conditions such as provision of water, sanitation, roads and the basic infrastructure.

The National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa’s president, Dave Balt, said the issue of transfers has always been contentious. ‘The difficulty is that it is not easy for a teacher to move from one school to another. He or she would have to find someone who is willing to swap with him or her.” So if there is no one willing, a transfer cannot take place.

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the national education deparment referred queries to provincial departments.