MyPE

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Education crisis: Afrikaans teacher shortage can be solved

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The MEC for Education is currently meeting with certain targeted districts, especially those where there are critical shortages of teachers whose medium of teaching is Afrikaans.

I have today written to MEC Mandla Makupula to place proposals on the table regarding post provisioning, for consideration.

My proposals are:

  • Request those Afrikaans speaking teachers not on the redeployment list and who are teaching at Township and predominantly English speaking schools to avail themselves to be redeployed. Their positions can then be filled by those on the redeployment list;
  • Offer severance packages to those who cannot be redeployed as a result of their profiles not matching those of the substantive vacant posts; and
  • Allow those in the age cohort 50 to 60 to go on early retirement without incurring any penalties.

This will allow the department to appoint the more than 600 Funza Lushaka bursary holders who completed their education degrees over the last two years as well as allowing opportunities for those bursary holders that will complete their studies at the end of 2013.

The department should also be more assertive in its actions against those who refuse to be redeployed.

The DA is of the opinion that if the necessary processes were followed and the teachers were given ample time to reassign and they refused to comply, then their actions must be seen as dereliction of duty. Monies for these teachers should be withheld for no services rendered, or they should be let go for their dismissive and divisive behaviour.

Edmund van Vuuren, MPL

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.