Teacher strike will hurt matric pupils
2010-07-25 15:57
If teachers go on strike within the next two weeks, as threatened,
it would be disastrous for matriculants as they have only 30 days of class time
left before final exams.
Professor Muxe Nkondo, the spokesperson for the Association of
Black Empowerment in Higher Education, said that pass rates were already
dismal.
“I understand that teachers are allowed to exercise their labour
rights, but they should consider society’s interests and the learners’
futures,” he said.
Mugwena Maluleke, the general secretary of the SA Democratic
Teachers’ Union, which represents 250?000 teachers, said members had rejected
government’s initial offer of a 6.5% pay increase and R620 housing
allowance.
“We are consulting our members and will hold a special national
executive committee meeting on Tuesday to decide whether to go on strike,” he
said.
Commenting on a revised offer that would be tabled at a bargaining
council on Thursday, Maluleke said it would take only two days to consult
members.
“We don’t want any more delays. We have given the employer enough
time to come up with an acceptable offer. We started on April 16 and again on
July 1. It has been four months,” he said.
Bobby Soobrayan, the directorgeneral of the basic education
department, said a strike would affect township and rural pupils the most. He
said the department had a contingency plan in place to soften the effects of a
strike.
Soobrayan said the department would rope in its subject and
curriculum advisers and other government employees. They would use televisions,
DVDs, past exam papers and newspaper supplements to help pupils prepare.
Soobrayan hoped that a strike could be averted, but said circuit
managers would be dispatched to schools to monitor teacher and learner
attendance if the strike did materialise.
“The no work, no pay rule will apply,” he said.
Ezra Ramasehla, president of the National Professional Teachers’
Organisation of SA, accused the government of resorting to delaying tactics
while the education of children was at stake.
“In two weeks (matriculants) must sit for trial exams which are
supposed to gauge their readiness, yet we still have the employer applying
delaying tactics,” Ramasehla said.
- City Press