Cash-strapped teachers leaving profession

Debts are forcing Eastern Cape teachers and health workers to cash in their pensions before their retirement dates.

This was revealed by premier Phumulo Masualle during his State of the Province address (Sopa) in Bhisho on Friday.

Masualle said during the pre-Sopa media lock-up, 3000 teachers across the province had left the system last year, half of them through resignations.

This was impacting badly on the teacher-pupil ratio, especially in critical subjects such as mathematics and science that have always had a shortage of teachers.

To make matters worse, education MEC Mandla Makupula said it was worrying that students pursuing teaching as a career path at tertiary level were now choosing to major in languages instead of maths and science.

Masualle said although there was no scientific explanation of the exodus, the overwhelming view was that such decisions were influenced by “economic hardships” they faced.

This, he said, was a worrying phenomenon, especially as it was not unique to education since it had spread to other public service departments such as health and the police.

Masualle said the nursing profession was experiencing the same problem.

This comes as there is an ongoing dispute between the department and South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) over the number of available teaching posts in schools across the province.

Sadtu believes the declared number of posts which have to be filled this year are 1500 short, which the department disputes.

The Dispatch reported last month that Sadtu’s main concern was that the Makupula-led department refused to take into account factors such as deaths and retirements when declaring available posts.

“Of course this must be investigated as to what are the causes for this. But there is somewhat of an indication that economic factors and situations are at play because we see temptation to want to exit the system only to come back a few years down the line in order to make up for their economic hardships,” said Masualle.

The province’s matric class has been performing badly for the past five years. But Masualle said he was very positive the department was turning the corner.

“We tabled a three-year education transformation plan in 2016, which focuses among other things on increasing the number of functional schools, the rationalisation and re-alignment of small and viable schools, fully capacitated and functional districts and head offices.

“We believed then , and still do now that if we continue fixing these fundamental points over the three- year period, the quality of teaching and learning will improve in our province,” he said.