Johannesburg – Glaring failures in the human resources recruitment process coupled with high teacher absenteeism have destabilised teaching and learning in KwaZulu-Natal, with many pupils forced to stay home for more than three weeks.
This is according to teachers’ unions in the province, who told Sunday World this week that Covid-19 had dealt a heavy blow to the education system.
“Most teachers are under chronic medication and due to their high risk of infection, they have to stay at home.
The department has been very slow in sourcing permanent replacements and substitute educators in order to ensure that teaching and learning continues uninterrupted.
“This has resulted in scores of learners, especially those in grade 10 and lower grades, missing out on crucial lessons,” said SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza.
“As it stands, since the commencement of the 2021 academic term, you have schools without teachers in core subjects such as mathematics, physics and accounting. Central to the challenges faced by schools in terms of teacher shortages could be blamed on the use of an app as a recruitment tool.”
The KZN Qualified Educators App was launched in 2019 to eliminate corruption in the filling of posts in the province after allegations that the vacancies were sold to those connected to top union officials.
Sadtu was cited as a key mover in the scandal, which also implicated members of school governing bodies. Cynthia Barnes, the secretary of the National Teachers Union, said the recruitment app was characterised by technical glitches that blocked qualified graduates from being absorbed into the system.
But Kwazi Mthethwa, KZN education spokesperson, shot down the claim, saying more than 521 new teachers had been recruited through the system this year.
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