Scores of rural parents travelled for hours to the provincial capital to fight for their children’s education this week.
Education MEC Mandla Makupula announced last month that teaching posts had been slashed by 1000 for next year – despite a budget increase of R1-billion for his department.
Teaching jobs in the Eastern Cape will drop from 55796 this financial year to 54747.
Both unions and opposition parties at the Bhisho legislature have slammed the cut in posts, warning they will have negative effects.
Close to 200 elderly men and women took the long road from Mount Frere in three buses to the department’s head office in Zwelitsha.
Eastern Cape education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said officials were engaged in talks with the parents and he would comment once the discussions had been finalised.
Mtima said the parents had several grievances. “These relate to the post provisioning and rationalisation, and realignment of schools.”
He said the department was busy “crafting” a response to questions sent by the newspaper. However, it had not arrived by deadline.
A spokeswoman for the concerned parents, Zandile Siyoyo, said school governing bodies from various schools in the district had decided to embark on the action at Bhisho.
“We wanted the MEC to see us. We come from all schools in the district. We want him to know that if he does not provide us with teachers, we are going to shut down the schools come January.”
Siyoyo said their children were already overcrowded. “Makupula now has increased the learner-teacher ratio. One teacher for more than 40 pupils is too much.”
The department was closing down schools as part of its rationalisation without consulting communities, and in the process, failing to provide children with scholar transport, she added. On top of this, the department had not even allocated money to the schools so they could pay their municipal accounts.
“Parents say the department must consult with other stakeholders as they feel that the department takes decisions without consulting.
“Vacant posts must be filled and no learners must suffer due to shortage of teachers,” she said.
Related grievances raised included schools being forced to pay stipends to teachers who should be paid by the department, and a shortage of classrooms.
Siyoyo said parents were also against the progression of pupils from Grade 11 to 12 if they had failed.
“We won’t be surprised if the matric pass rate this year turns out to be lower than last year.
Rural parents confront MEC
Education MEC Mandla Makupula announced last month that teaching posts had been slashed by 1000 for next year – despite a budget increase of R1-billion for his department.
Teaching jobs in the Eastern Cape will drop from 55796 this financial year to 54747.
Both unions and opposition parties at the Bhisho legislature have slammed the cut in posts, warning they will have negative effects.
Close to 200 elderly men and women took the long road from Mount Frere in three buses to the department’s head office in Zwelitsha.
Eastern Cape education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said officials were engaged in talks with the parents and he would comment once the discussions had been finalised.
Mtima said the parents had several grievances. “These relate to the post provisioning and rationalisation, and realignment of schools.”
He said the department was busy “crafting” a response to questions sent by the newspaper. However, it had not arrived by deadline.
A spokeswoman for the concerned parents, Zandile Siyoyo, said school governing bodies from various schools in the district had decided to embark on the action at Bhisho.
“We wanted the MEC to see us. We come from all schools in the district. We want him to know that if he does not provide us with teachers, we are going to shut down the schools come January.”
Siyoyo said their children were already overcrowded. “Makupula now has increased the learner-teacher ratio. One teacher for more than 40 pupils is too much.”
The department was closing down schools as part of its rationalisation without consulting communities, and in the process, failing to provide children with scholar transport, she added. On top of this, the department had not even allocated money to the schools so they could pay their municipal accounts.
“Parents say the department must consult with other stakeholders as they feel that the department takes decisions without consulting.
“Vacant posts must be filled and no learners must suffer due to shortage of teachers,” she said.
Related grievances raised included schools being forced to pay stipends to teachers who should be paid by the department, and a shortage of classrooms.
Siyoyo said parents were also against the progression of pupils from Grade 11 to 12 if they had failed.
“We won’t be surprised if the matric pass rate this year turns out to be lower than last year.
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