SADTU to ask for an urgent meeting with the ANC on declaring education as an essential service.
SADTU will make an urgent request for a meeting with the ANC to seek clarity following media reports that the ANC NEC Lekgotla took a decision to propose to government that education be declared an essential service.
SADTU fully realizes the importance of education in the development and prosperity of South Africa and we are prepared to do all to ensure that our children receive not just education but quality public education.
The Labour Relations Act provides that a service is deemed to be an "essential service" if the interruption of that service endangers the life, personal safety or health of the whole or any part of the population. The LRA definition of the "essential service" is in line with the International Labour Organisation's definition.
The reality is that when teaching is interrupted due to strikes, it does not endanger the life, personal safety or health of the learners. The functions performed by educators (teaching) can therefore never be classified as an "essential service".
We don't believe that declaring education as an essential service will address the challenges facing education. We have said many a times that problems confronting education are systematic and multifaceted. Targeting one component in the system which is the teachers will therefore not solve the problem. Problems confronting education need to be dealt with in a holistic manner.