KZN schools in crisis as most teachers stay at home during lockdown

KwaZulu-Natal is facing a “serious” education crisis as most teachers are absent from schools during the lockdown, the DA says.

The DA said a written parliamentary reply to its question revealed that about 6,000 teachers remained absent from schools as a result of having been deemed “vulnerable” during the Covid-19 pandemic due to age and comorbidities.

“The situation is so bad that the province’s department of education has had to approach Treasury as a matter of urgency to request funding for the creation of 4,000 new posts. This as the department’s current pool of 2020 substitute teachers is labelled as insufficient by the MEC,” said the DA’s Dr Imran Keeka.

“The DA is extremely concerned by the numbers reflected in the MEC’s reply, which do not even begin to include the number of teachers who may be sick or who are on incapacity or maternity leave. According to the reply, the Umlazi and Pinetown districts are worst affected with teacher shortages of 1,242 and 1,197 respectively,” Keeka said.

The findings, Keeka said, also came as teachers expressed their concerns that pupils would not perform well at the end of the year.

“This is as a result of insufficient exam preparation time, teacher shortages, a jam-packed timetable and numerous challenges when it comes to  teacher replacements.

“According to the reply, there are now 5,970 educators who have applied for concessions, 284 who are over the age of 60 and with no comorbidities who have applied for concessions, and 1,400 teachers who are working from home on lesson preparation and assessment development and who are being monitored by their respective principals,” Keeka said.

“The MEC [Kwazi Mshengu], as part of his reply, said the situation is now under control while only permitted grades are attending lessons, and that educators with the requisite qualifications and competency from within the relevant schools are taking on the teaching loads of those who are at home.”

According to Keeka, despite Mshengu admitting there was an issue in the province in terms of teacher numbers, the department’s head has denied there were problems.

“Based on the contents of the reply, it seems the assurances the head of department (HOD) and his officials gave may possibly be viewed as misleading and therefore contemptible. The DA will request that the HOD be held accountable before the committee on this matter.

“The current situation within the education department does not bode well for our pupils. Our grade 12s have experienced a particularly difficult year and it is imperative the education department fulfils its side of the bargain.

“There can be no substitute for teachers and pupils being in classrooms.”

The DA urged Mshengu and the provincial Treasury to “fast-track”the process of ensuring qualified substitute teachers were brought in.

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