Number of excess teachers in province queried

AS the Eastern Cape Education Department wraps up the process of giving more than 1000 temporary teachers permanent jobs this week, MEC Mandla Makupula appears not to know how many excess teachers there are in the province.

Identifying and ultimately moving excess teachers to where they are most needed is the second phase of a breakthrough agreement between the government and unions earlier this year set to see all classes with teachers in them.

While the department is still getting lists of teachers identified as being in excess from its 23 districts, Makupula, through Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana, told a sitting of the legislature in Bhisho last week that the province had 9144 excess teachers.