Minister Motshekga needs to produce urgent plan on substitute teachers
4 September 2020
The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has to urgently inform Parliament and the public on how her department intends to ensure continuity in schools in light of the fact that over 20 000 teachers countrywide have applied and been given permission to work from home due to comorbidities.
The Minister admitted that her department currently has no money to finance substitute teachers and that a bid has been made to National Treasury to seek further financial support.
The lack of available funding for substitute teachers could have devastating consequences on the education of our learners, especially those living in poorer, under-resourced communities.
South Africa’s education system has already been placed under enormous pressure due to the Covid-19 pandemic as schools have to adhere to Covid-19 health protocols such as social distancing, distance learning and classrooms being split. This naturally requires additional teaching capacity at schools.
In June the DA urged the Minister to provide clear directives on plans to fill the gap that might be left by teachers with comorbidities, and now that we face a potential crisis within the education system the department is scrambling around to find funding.
We have previously urged the Minister to engage Universities and FET Colleges on possible ways in which final year teaching students, who are currently distance learning, can assist in capacitating schools during the lockdown. We also called on Treasury to allocate more funding to the Department of Basic Education in light of this department’s budget having been severely cut, and funds transferred to departments such as Defence and the Police instead of being reallocated for additional salaries of teachers or other educational needs.
The government was shortsighted in its planning, and now there seems to be little to no money left to provide our children with an uninterrupted education during a time of crisis.
Issued by Nomsa Marchesi, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, 4 September 2020
