Angry parents protest against crippling teacher shortages
DESPATCH Primary School on Monday became the latest Nelson Mandela Bay school to shut its doors because of crippling teacher shortages, with angry parents vowing not to reopen it until the Department of Education provides the extra four teachers it needs.
A task team, set up last week to deal with the school’s teacher shortage issues, decided it was unfair on the children to be taught in stressful conditions.
The school is battling with four vacant posts, three of which are due to teachers being booked off on extended sick leave.
Parent and task team secretary Janine Jooste, 31, of Reservoir Hill, confirmed the school closure, saying parents would ensure it stayed closed until the problem had been sorted out.
“We are helping the teachers out by closing down the school and relieving their stress. It is not fair that these children be taught in overcrowded classrooms,” she said.
The task team had sent letters to the Department of Education to set up a meeting with district officials to address their grievances.
“Nobody from the department showed up for the meeting and we need answers. We would like the department to meet with us so we can come up with a solution,” Jooste said.
Principal Danny Jacobs confirmed that there was a protest, but declined to comment further.
Despatch Primary joins dozens of other schools in the northern areas that are nearly two weeks into a shutdown in protest against teacher shortages that in some cases have seen up to 80 pupils crammed into a single classroom.
Northern Areas Education Forum (NAEF) secretary Richard Draai said he was not aware of the Despatch school’s protest but he was not surprised that it had followed suit.
“I am not surprised that Despatch Primary is closed down. We need to be mindful that it is not a northern areas problem, but rather that it is a national one,” he said.
Draai said the issue of vacant posts needed to be addressed.
“There are schools in worse situations than this, but we need to stop it before it is a total disaster,” he said.
Despatch Primary falls under the Uitenhage district and has close to 1 000 pupils, with three classes being without teachers since the school year started.
Jooste said they knew of new teacher appointments at two other schools in the district.
“If there are vacancies being filled at other schools, why can’t it happen at our school? This is a problem,” Jooste said.
Provincial Department of Education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said there were logistical steps in place to iron out the issues surrounding the protest at the school.
“There is a task team in place to undertake the holistic assessment of all challenges including provision for overcrowded classes, filling vacant posts, and providing the infrastructure and school furniture that may be needed.”
He said 142 teachers had been allocated for needy schools in the metro and surrounds.