Schools rally to join court action on posts

NINETY Eastern Cape public schools have joined an "opt-in"high court class action to force the Department of Education to fill hundreds of vacant teacher posts and repay them R81.4-million they say they have paid out in teacher salaries.

In March, the Grahamstown High Court certified the cutting edge opt in class action – which gave all provincial public schools until the end of last month to join in the massive court case against the provincial and national Basic Education departments.

Court papers say the action – which started with just 32 schools in March – has grown to 90 schools. It includes many no fee-schools as well as some of the province's top public academic schools in Port Elizabeth, East London, Grahamstown, Adelaide, Mthatha, Barkly East and many others in urban and rural areas. - Adrienne Carlisle