News24white.png Learners on strike Boipelo Mere, Northern Cape Express, News24, 19 October 2016 This week, learners of the RD Williams Primary School in Prieska will for the course of this week be attending school only until ten in the morning, until the Northern Cape Department of Education addresses their grievances regarding the shortage of teachers. This comes after the learners marched to the office of the mayor of Siyathemba, Howard Tsume, on Thursday (13/10) to ask for more teachers. The march was supported by parents, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and the community at large. The school has reportedly entered the fourth term short of two teachers. The department, however, does not see this as a crisis. It says the learners must return to class and prepare for their examinations. Not everyone agrees with this. According to the deputy chairperson of the school governing body (SGB), Jacobus Plaatvoet, concerns have been raised after two teachers could not be permanently employed by the department. He says more than ten teachers at the school have been employed in temporary posts. He further reveals that some of the teachers have been in temporary posts for over two years. "We have been trying to engage with the department, but it seems like our concerns will never be addressed. This time, we have decided to go on a go-slow, until such a time as the department listens to us," he says. "Last year we had the same kind of march and it did not get us anywhere." Regarding whether the learners are ready for the examinations, Plaatvoet says it is a difficult question to answer, as the existing teachers are also overworked. Speaking at the Emang Mmogo High School where she announced that the Northern Cape is ready for the matric exams, the MEC of Education, Martha Bartlett, said the shortage of teachers is due to the high number of teachers that have recently resigned or taken early retirement. "Any protest or strike affects us, because we need those learners in class so that they can get ready for the examinations which start in three weeks," said the MEC. The head of the department, Tshepo Pharasi, added that the department should be careful in appointing substitute teachers at this time of the year, because most of the teachers are basically doing administration work and assessment. "There is currently no serious need of substitute teachers," added Pharasi. From: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Express-News/learners-on-strike-2016 1018 __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 14303 (20161019) __________ 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/002401d229d6%24eaf09060%24c0d1b120%24%40com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
