Techno-savvy teachers are the future

About 5,000 teachers exit the public education sector a year, which deputy minister of basic education Enver Surty said might be a blessing as the exodus of ageing teachers made way for younger teachers.

He said the exodus was exacerbated by the fear of teachers losing out on their pensions with the proposed pension reforms.

The Government Pensions Administration Agency last month said the highest number of resignations due to misinformation on pension reforms was recorded in November with a total of 4,600 resignations.

“In a way it may be a blessing in disguise because the Funza Lushaka (bursary scheme) graduates and new others could come in and we could have a young generation of educators coming in...,” he said.

Speaking to board members of the University of South Africa's College of Education in Pretoria yesterday, Surty said there was a need for a 21 century teacher who is techno-savvy as the entire school curriculum was being digitised.

He warned against underestimating the power of technology in delivering quality education, saying the Ukufunda app-a virtual school programme compatible with over 8000 mobile devices-allowed students to access academic resources such as past papers, exemplars and learning aids.

Surty said every teacher graduate should have basic knowledge of information communication technology to be able to use this high-tech system.

“I cannot believe that an educator in any institution of higher learning should be able to qualify without having the proficiencies and skills in terms of ICT. Clearly (we are) going to be integrating ICT into the curriculum and you have to be able to utilise it,” he said.

The deputy minister said by the end of September(2015) teachers would be able to assess their own ability through ICT by downloading 94 modules developed by the department in an effort to promote self development.

He added that connecting schools to ICT and the associated data was critical in order for the department to correctly plan for investments in education infrastructure.

Surty said about 85% of between 12 000 and 14 000 Funza Lushaka teacher bursary scheme graduates have been employed. He however said it was unacceptable that any graduate who has completed was not employed, saying they were working with provinces to ensure placements of teacher graduates.