KwaZulu-Natal chalk-down looms
2013-03-19 18:19
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal teachers will report for work next
week but will be on a go-slow, the SA Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) said
on Tuesday.
No chalk would be seen on blackboards and no tests would
be marked or reports issued, Sadtu KwaZulu-Natal secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi
told journalists in Durban.
Mathonsi said the decision was taken at a meeting of the
union's provincial executive council (PEC) at the weekend.
Sadtu is up in arms at proposals to make teaching an
essential service, and to install biometric fingerprinting of teachers to curb
teacher absenteeism.
Mathonsi said fingerprinting teachers would not improve
the quality of education.
"These electronic machines, even if they are
installed, will never improve the quality of teaching and learning, and
therefore any thought of installing such is a miss-thought [sic]."
He said the technology would become "a white
elephant hanging on the walls" of schools as teachers would not use them.
He said the education department would do better to fill
vacant posts.
"KwaZulu-Natal alone has 834 vacant posts of school
inspectors, 569 subject advisers, 186 deputy chief education specialists, 68
chief education specialists, eight directors, and three general managers.
"Yet, [basic education minister] Angie Motshekga is
prepared to waste R480m on electronic machines."
He said the union would inform parents of their
complaints against the department.
Sadtu's demands were for better education. Its demands
and the wishes of parents coincided, Mathonsi said.
The union also wanted Grade R teachers to be employed
full-time, and the elimination of perceived salary discrepancies between Grade
R teachers in various provinces.
The chalk-down would begin on Monday, 25 March and finish
when the term ended on 28 March.
- SAPA
