Johannah Malogadihlare
Angry qualified unemployed KZN teachers this week embarked on sit-ins in some parts of the province demanding employment from the provincial department citing financial hardships and frustrations in the current hard economic times.
One group of 70 teachers staged a sit-in outside the education department offices in Pietermaritzburg since Monday and vowed to remain on the site until their demands were met.
In their confrontation with officials of the department, the group emphasized that they had been applying for posts for years and have even tried in other provinces with no success.
They went on to claim that instead unqualified teachers were being preferred over them.
The group pointed out to the officials that it felt like an insult to have spent many years studying and yet the department was unable to secure them employment so they could take care of their families.
Another group picketed in Port Shepstone at the district education office with the intention to handover a memorandum to the director.
However, the group was unable to handover the memorandum as the director was said to be in a meeting.
One of the teachers, Mdu Nyuswa, who spoke on behalf of the group, said out of desperation the teachers are forced to hustle to make ends meet and support their families.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the department has consistently been engaging teachers on the process of hiring in the database and all posts are advertised publicly.
Mahlambi said the department will find out how many unemployed educators were in the area as well as their area of specialization as some of the subjects were not in demand.
“The matter of unemployment is not yet to be resolved anytime soon because currently there are no post 1 level opportunities,” Mahlambi said.
Teachers union SADTU has also engaged new MEC Sipho Hlamuka on some of the issues raised including the requirement for transparency in appointing post level one educators. The union said it was encouraged by the attitude of the MEC.
“We were happy to learn that the MEC was also of the same idea of transparent processes. To see the statement of the Department on this matter just less than ten days after our meeting is an indication that the MEC is a man of action who walks the talk.” said SADTU in a statement.
The union said it was delighted that the MEC was speaking the same language with them in terms of introducing more transparent and inclusive processes when appointing teachers and ensure that vacant posts are advertised publicly.
In his statement, the MEC seeks to introduce more transparent and inclusive processes when appointing teachers and ensuring that vacant posts are advertised publicly.
“There has been great confusion and discontent especially on the side of unemployed graduates who do not know how the department is appointing teachers. In as much as they know that people are identified from the App or data base, it remains a mystery
how some have never had an opportunity though being registered in the App for years,” said the union’s statement.
It added that while the App was useful in keeping the data on unemployed graduates in most cases it caused delays in filling vacancies.
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