More than 22,000 teachers who were granted permission to work from home because of comorbidities will return to school on Monday as the country moves to alert level 1.
The concession awarded to 22,568 educators in terms of an Education Labour Relations Council collective agreement was only applicable during alert levels 2 and 3.
Until September 1, 237 teachers and 40 non-teaching staff died of Covid-19-related complications.
While teacher unions said their members were ready to return to the classroom after a six-month absence, some Limpopo teachers said they would not report for duty until officially asked to do so.
These teachers also told Times Select that their schools did not call upon them to perform any teaching-related duties while they were at home.
A grade three teacher said she did not prepare any teaching material for her pupils from the time she went on comorbidity leave.
“The school has not been in contact with me about providing lessons.”
Echoing similar comments, a maths and natural sciences teacher from Limpopo, said: “We have just been sitting at home getting bored. We are also feeling sorry for our learners because our schools did not find teachers to act as replacements for us.”
He said pupils had only been going to school to collect food, “without receiving any education”.
The teacher said though they were “hungry” to return to school, they would await official notification from the department asking them to return.
Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa), said the concession was “a major gift” and that unions asked for this privilege “for all the right reasons”.
“We have heard many stories of people not necessarily abiding by the regulations, which is a great pity, but we know it served a purpose for many people who were probably saved because of this.”
Manuel said there were people “who are still terrified [of returning] because terror just doesn’t disappear”.
“But our message to these teachers is that schools and your colleagues need you because they have been battling, as the department did not hire replacement teachers.”
A Naptosa member wrote to Manuel outlining the pressure teachers were facing because of having to carry the workload of teachers on comorbidity leave.
The teacher wrote that “the exhaustion levels of teachers currently at school is leading to many feeling ill. Hence teacher absenteeism is on the rise.
“At our school, even our principal and deputy principal are carrying loads of educators on comorbidity leave. We do not have the funds to employ governing body educators. The situation is precarious.”
According to a presentation by the department of basic education to parliament on September 1, 6,400 teachers in seven provinces were hired as substitutes for those on comorbidity leave, including 3,386 teaching assistants employed in the Eastern Cape at R7,000 a month.
Limpopo admitted not employing replacement teachers, while the Western Cape said it had received 860 nominations for teacher assistants.
Alert level 1 means the risk has been brought down to low, hence the risk for these teachers has reduced considerably.
— Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga
Ben Machipi, general secretary of the Professional Educators’ Union (PEU), said they had not heard of any teacher opposed to returning on Monday.
“But we are urging them to be extra careful and treat the safety measures as if we are still in lockdown level 5, because if they contract the virus it could be fatal.”
Matakanye Matakanye, general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, said he welcomed the return of teachers as no replacements had been hired.
“Our children, who were taught by teachers who had gone on comorbidity leave, were left without teachers.”
Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, said teachers would return on Monday as provincial education departments had sent messages to schools indicating they must return.
“Alert level 1 means the risk has been brought down to low, hence the risk for these teachers has reduced considerably. They will be encouraged to exercise the same safety measures as other teachers who have been at school.”
Mhlanga said if teachers failed to returned to work without a medical certificate within 14 working days from September 21, “they will be deemed to have absconded from work and be dismissed on grounds of misconduct”.
