Teacher shortage chronic: Sadtu

More than 2,800 classes and subjects are without teachers in schools across KwaZulu-Natal.

This includes so-called critical subjects like mathematics, physical science and accounting.

This state of affairs was revealed by the SA Democratic Teachers' Union at a media briefing yesterday.

The trade union accused the education department of failing to attend to teacher shortages.

Sadtu provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza blamed the situation on the redistribution of teachers as a result of a "post-provisioning" process.

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"Over 2800 educators are affected and shall have their family lives disrupted. The employer has not developed requisite capacity to deal with this exercise yearly and the situation deteriorates in the hands of officials expected to be efficient," she said.

Caluza said teacher shortages had resulted in overcrowded classes, while the department was busy redistributing teachers endlessly.

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"Educators practically carry the burden of staff shortage because they have to be content with overcrowded classes."

She said Sadtu had raised the issue with the education department during a meeting with the Education Labour Relations Council staffing committee meeting on Wednesday.

The trade union called for the department to implement the collective agreement on the transfer of teachers for operational requirements and to minimise the unnecessary movement of educators.