Suspended teachers want to go back to school
Educators bored with tasks at district office
The Gauteng department of education has turned some of its district offices into sin bins for “bad” teachers facing charges of misconduct.
At least 40 teachers who were removed from schools in the past two years for transgressions including assaults of pupils have been dumped at district offices to perform admin work.
Other work the teachers are given at the district offices include library duties, assisting with management of independent schools and attending workshops for teacher development.
Some of the teachers who spoke to Sowetan yesterday told of their frustrations after spending almost two years earning full salaries while performing mundane jobs as they wait for the conclusion of their cases.
At the same time, the department is paying two salaries for one post at each school where temporary replacements had to be found, according to the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu).
Some of the teachers blamed the department of education for dragging its cases for years. A 42-year-old teacher who was accused of attacking a principal and of sleeping with the schoolgirls said he had been reporting to the district office for 11 months.
“This is very stressing because I was defamed by the principal. I have spent the past 10 months sitting and doing nothing in the library. It is only now that I have been cleared. I am waiting to hear from the school,” he said.
A 49-year-old teacher said he was uncertain about his future after spending 11 months at the district office doing nothing. He was accused of poor performance, but he disputes this. “I applied [for a job] with the department to be a teacher but I spend most of my time here on allegations of poor performance,” he said.
Another teacher from Lenasia said he had been reporting to the district office for four months as the principal complained about his “poor performance”.
“This situation is frustrating as we are scared of losing our jobs,” she said.
Sadtu Gauteng secretary Tseliso Ledimo blamed the department for failing to deal with teachers’ cases swiftly. “The department has left a lot of cases hanging. It is now forced to pay two people for one post as it has hired temporary teachers for some of the posts.”
DA Gauteng shadow education MEC Khume Ramulifho said teaching was affected by teachers reporting at the district.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the department was fast-tracking all cases and re-instatement to ensure that innocent members report back to their respective schools.
Lesufi was responding to questions in the legislature.