Teachers fume over substitute ruling

Durban - Irked teachers’ unions say that it is “unlawful” for the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department to stop schools from employing substitute teachers.

A recent circular issued to schools and signed by head of department (HOD) Nkosinathi Sishi states that no substitute staff may be appointed for the rest of this year.

This means that unless the school is willing to pay substitutes’ salaries from school fees, existing teachers will not be substituted if they are away on annual leave, sick leave or maternity leave.

The circular warns that disobeying the directive will result in disciplinary action.

It also prohibits the appointment of so-called “temporary teachers” - extra teachers employed when the number of pupils at a school increases.

“It’s illegal. In essence it’s saying that no one may go off on leave,” said Basil Manuel, the president of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa.

Manuel believed that the rationale behind the circular was a cash-strapped department trying to slash costs. He said that pupils without teachers would be split up between the remaining teachers. “They’ll be sitting with 65 children in a class. You need a full complement of teachers,” he said.

Allen Thompson, the deputy president of the National Teachers’ Union, called the department’s circular “unlawful”.

He explained that at the beginning of each financial year, the budget for staff posts was negotiated and schools were told how many teachers they were entitled to, which was fixed for the rest of the financial year.

If a certain school was entitled to 10 teachers, and one left, they were thus entitled to one substitute to bring their staff complement back to 10.

“We think the department is trying to save money. We are going to fight against it. Staff will be under pressure not to take leave, which violates their basic conditions of employment,” Thompson said.

Mbuyiseni Mathonsi, the KwaZulu-Natal secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, said that in a meeting with the department on Thursday, it had agreed to “correct” the circular.

According to Mathonsi, financial provision was made for 2 400 substitute posts a year, but less than 800 of those were filled.

“(The circular) is breaking the law,” he said.

However, department spokesman Muzi Mahlambi on Sunday said that the circular was a much-needed “control mechanism”.

Mahlambi said that “oversubscribed” schools had been appointing temporary teachers without the HOD’s authorisation, and that when those teachers went unpaid for months the department was blamed.

“We are saying follow procedure and get permission first. Then the HOD can go and appeal to Treasury,” Mahlambi added.

The Mercury