Matriculants to be employed as teacher assistants in Gauteng

Hundreds of matriculants will soon be employed as teacher assistants in Gauteng. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says they will be required to help with slow learners and to assist teachers with large classes.

Motshekga says kids don't develop at the same pace and she doesn't want to withhold those that are learning fast because others are struggling. Provinces such as the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have already begun employing teacher assistants.

The Minister also says she has no objection to schools installing metal detectors on their premises but the costly security measure will not be part of her department's budget. Schools will have to carry the cost on their own. Teachers union Sadtu says that is not good enough. The recent stabbing of a Soweto teacher, allegedly by a pupil has ignited calls for stricter security.

Motshekga says: "They should do it, there is no problem, I mean some schools already search, do constant searches, some schools have huge cameras, depending on their means, and also depending on the means of the province, but as I say it would be good to make it law but if you go to rural areas, you hardly even have fences around their schools."

It is a costly affair and teachers union Sadtu says it cannot condone some schools having the luxury of hi-tech equipment to make them safer while others go without. Sadtu president, Thobile Ntola, says government is the employer and cannot shrug its responsibility to protect schools and they must carry the cost for metal detectors for everyone. Minister Motshekga is meeting her provincial counterparts in two weeks time as a plan is needed to effectively deal with violence in schools.

Teachers ordered to stay in class amid court case

The South African Democratic Teachers Union in Gauteng has instructed teachers in Soweto to stay in class during the next court appearance of its Chairperson, Moss Senye. The Meadowlands Secondary School principal is facing charges of assaulting a learner.

Last Monday, dozens of teachers abandoned teaching and gathered at the Meadowlands Margistrate's Court to show support for Senye. His case was postponed to May 11.

Gauteng Sadtu Secretary, Dumisani Dakile, says they met with all the stake holders which includes parents in the form of the School Governing Boards, Cosas, the South African Teachers Union and the ANC of which all of them are expected to go down on the ground as expected to be able to calm the situation in particular in relation with the learners.

The meeting also agreed that the statement issued by Cosas calling on learners to hit back against educators who administer corporal punishment will have serious negative impact to the stability of the schools in the province. Cosas was requested to withdraw the statement. The learner who stabbed the female teacher earlier fled but was later arrested. He now faces a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The Gauteng Education Department has also condemned the incident.

SA education takes tough stance against corporal punishment

The Department of Basic Education and the SA Council of Educators (SACE) is taking a tough stance on corporal punishment. Since January, SACE has struck five teachers off the roll for beating up learners. Initially the body was investigating 10 cases nationally.

Basic Education today announced it suspended an Alberton teacher after an SABC News expose last month, into corporal punishment allegations at Glenbrack. Learners told of how teachers threw board dusters at them, kicked and slapped them around.

One of the boys at the school was hit so hard that he started bleeding. The principal denied the allegations then but a day later, footage surfaced exposing gross breaches in Sections of the Schools Act.

“We will be conducting further investigations in terms of bringing charges against this educator,” says Gauteng Basic Education Charles Phahlane.

Even though corporal punishment was abolished 16 years ago, many more educators might face the same fate for breaching that section of the Schools’ Act. Gauteng says it has already issued 13 final written warnings and fines and three more beating cases are still under investigation.

The department says it will decide on completion of those cases what course of action to take and parents have been encouraged to come forward with more cases - so that criminal charges can be instituted.

Students march for better education

Thousands of Cape Town learners marched to Parliament yesterday to hand over a memorandum in which they demand the implementation of equal norms and standards in education.

Marching under the banner of an organisation called 'Equal Education', learners aimed to remind government of its promise to implement minimum norms and standards in all schools.

The pupils demands are familiar. School text books, libraries, an end to mud schools and safety in their school premises were amongst the issues raised.

Upon receiving the memorandum, the chief of staff from Basic Education Department, Dingani Ngobeni, was booed off stage by learners who wanted to see Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga. Ngobeni says they communicated to Equal Education earlier that Motshekga would be at the Human Rights Day celebrations in Athlone.

"The Minister had other commitments. She was in Western Cape with the President. I was puzzled when I get to the stage and we had made arrangements in writing that Minister will not be there. I am puzzled at the hostile reception that is there," said Ngobeni.

Yesterday, South Africans celebrated Human Rights Day under the theme: "Working together to protect human dignity for all". On March 21, 1960, police killed 69 people at Sharpeville who were protesting against unjust pass laws.

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