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Teachers, kids back at school
16/07/2007 10:34 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Public schools reopened in South Africa on Monday after seven weeks following a month-long strike by teachers and winter holidays.
While the main teachers' union has still not settled its wage dispute with the government, members who embarked on a four-week strike on June 1 have been instructed to return to work while negotiations continue.
"The schools have resumed this Monday morning. We have given instructions to teachers to resume work and we have the indication that they have done so," an official of the South Africa Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) told AFP.
Education officials say plans will be drawn up to ensure that pupils can catch up with course work by the time the school year ends in December.
"After we have assessed the impact of the strike, we are going to finalise our recovery plan to ensure the curriculum outcomes are attained by the end of the academic year," said Angie Motshekga of the Gauteng province's educational department which oversees schools in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The four-week public sector strike was the longest in South Africa since the end of the apartheid regime in 1994. While other workers accepted a 7.5% government pay offer, teachers are still holding out for a bigger increase.
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