The National Teachers' Union has urged the Department of Basic Education to allow teachers to cash in part of their pensions early. The union believes this will go some way to preventing experienced teachers from leaving the profession due to the financial challenges they face.The union was speaking during the first teachers indaba held at the department's head offices in Pretoria yesterday. It said freeing up the pensions would give teachers some motivation to stay and benefit the education system as a whole.The union's vice-president, Gugulethu Mbele, said: "This does not only cripple the institution, but the individual teachers themselves, because they lose out on a lot when they leave the system prematurely.''According to the union, research it conducted indicated that most teachers who took early retirement did so to access their pension funds, usually only accessing a maximum of R300,000 of their entire funds.The union's fellow vice-president, S'thembile Ngema, said enabling teachers to access between 30% and 40% of this money could substantially reduce the numbers of teachers who retire early. According to the union, teachers mainly use their pension money to finance their own children's tertiary education - as they do not qualify for funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme - and to provide housing for their families because they do not qualify for RDP housing.Ngema said: "Teachers also find themselves largely in debt because of the lifestyle expectations imposed on them by society, while their salaries don't necessarily reflect this standard of living."But Basic Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said it would be "impossible" for Minister Angie Motshekga to make special exemptions for teachers to access their pensions as the funds were governed by the Pensions Fund Act.He added the department has consistently "discouraged" teachers from resigning, only to return to the system.Other challenges facing the country's teachers - including safety, working conditions, and their mental and physical wellbeing - came under the spotlight during the launch of the teacher appreciation and support programme at the indaba.The programme seeks to recognise teachers throughout the year so as to improve morale and productivity, and reduce teacher absenteeism...