Row as more teacher posts cut
Principals urged to challenge Bhisho on reduction of more than 1 000 posts
A new cut in teaching posts by the Eastern Cape Department of Education will only lead to higher pupil-to-teacher ratios, lower morale in classrooms and further teacher shortages, experts said.
The department has announced that teacher posts in the province will be cut by 1 049, from 55 796 posts this year to only 54 747 next year.
Education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the decision was based on pupil numbers provided by schools.
“The MEC also has the discretion to appoint more teachers if we find schools reporting huge shortages next year,” Mtima said.
“If there is a need, more teachers will be appointed. The fact is that we have not seen an increase in pupil numbers.”
But DA MPL Edmund van Vuuren said schools were already being crippled by vacant posts.
Meanwhile, there were more than 2 000 teachers in the system who could not be appointed as they did not have the relevant qualifications (for subjects lacking teachers), he said.
Van Vuuren said MEC Mandla Makupula had also decided to hold back 4 000 posts, which he would fill at his own discretion.
“This is in addition to the 1 049 posts that have been cut in terms of the post provisioning for 2016.
“I am very concerned about the effect this latest decision will have on the morale of our teachers.”
Van Vuuren urged principals to write to the MEC motivating why the numbers at their schools should not be cut.
“Last week, MEC Makupula told members of the portfolio committee on education in the Bhisho legislature that his decision to hold back a further 4 000 posts – to be allocated at the discretion of the MEC only, to certain categories of schools – was based on a principle of ‘quality teachers, not quantity’.
“Schools are expected to decide which subjects and teachers must be cut. The logic behind this decision is questionable, as the learner-enrolment in the province increased from 1.8 million last year to 1.89 million this year.
-Lee-Anne Butler
