Asmal urged: Tell it like it is

2004-04-22 00:08

Alet Rademeyer

Pretoria - Qualifications, number of years' experience, whether they left teaching at some point and returned, and bracket or merit increases.

These are all factors that come into play when a teacher or principal's salary is determined.

After several complaints from teachers that they did not earn nearly as much as Education Minister Kader Asmal claimed they did, investigations have shown that teachers' salaries can differ radically for different reasons.

The teachers' main complaint was that Asmal should not lie to the public about how much money they really were earning.

During a campaign to recruit pupils to study education last week, Asmal said beginner teachers earned R85 000 a year and a principal between R150 000 and R210 000.

Beeld newspaper could not find one principal who earned R210 000 a year.

Scarcity of teachers for certain subjects

A principal on the West Rand who has a PhD and a seven-year tertiary education said on Wednesday that he earned R179 000 a year after 27 years in teaching.

All indications were that he was at the "maximum" of his scale.

At the same school, a teacher with a three-year B Sc degree and post-graduate diploma earned R78 000 a year after two years of teaching.

Her subjects are mathematics and music, in which there is a scarcity of teachers.

The department of education's official salary scales show that teachers with a three- or four-year tertiary qualification could earn anything from R39 744 to R99 930 a year, depending on experience and other factors.

A head of department's starting salary is R105 687 a year, while a principal can earn anything from R157 518 to R182 883 a year.

- Beeld