DailyNews.gif Classes too crowded, cry unions Sihle Mlambo, Daily News, Durban, 12 July 2016 Despite the publication of a provincial gazette which suggests teacher to pupil ratios at schools are adequate, teacher unions said the data was not a true reflection of the reality of classrooms in rural and township areas. The provincial gazette was published last week with the details of the number of teachers and budget each of the province's schools would get. Teacher unions insisted that the schools - particularly those in townships and rural areas - were overcrowded and said the teacher-to-pupil ratio was not accurate in demonstrating overcrowded classrooms. Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane would meet with the unions next month to outline the department's plans to tackle overcrowded classrooms, department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi said. Nomarashiya Caluza, the SADTU KZN secretary, said the province's teacher-to-pupil ratio of 1:31 was not a true reflection. "It does not give the reality of the classroom, not the real picture. When you go to schools you find overcrowding; now the department will want to justify that and say the post-provisional norms (PPN) is the correct model. Nomarashiya 2.jpg "You find that in a class, at a school, there are 90 kids in one class, there is a teacher shortage at the school," she said. Caluza said this led to schools becoming dis-organised as teachers were -frequently moved around - and sometimes from district to -district. Anthony Pierce, KZN chief executive of the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA, said their concern was if money had been made available for the filling of promotional posts due to attrition. "The fact that the department is crying poverty, then the PPN will remain the same as it has from 2011. That's the last time there was any adjustment to it," he said. "Have they budgeted for the appointment of management at those schools? Have they decided to move people from existing schools?" he asked. National Teachers Union deputy president Allen Thompson said rural and township schools were the most affected with overcrowded classrooms, and said Natu had asked to meet the MEC. "Classes are overcrowded and cannot maintain the same ratio as the schools. Yes, on an academic level, only on paper," he said. "That government gazette: to us says say nothing, matter is being discussed at the Education Labour Relations Council," he said. Mahlambi said the MEC would meet teacher unions and all education stakeholders next month and the staffing issues for next year would be discussed. Mahlambi said Dlungwane and the stakeholders would exchange notes in an attempt to come up with solutions to all matters affecting education. At the weekend the department announced construction work had been completed at eight new schools. Asked how these schools were being staffed, Mahlambi said teachers were taken from other schools where they were in excess to the demands of the PPN, or said they were selected after successfully applying for the posts. From: http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/classes-too-crowded-cry-unions-2044598 __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 13809 (20160715) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yclsa-eom-forum/003601d1debd%24a337e6b0%24e9a7b410%24%40com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
