Unfair to terminate teachers’ contracts

THE Department of Education has been repeatedly messing with our parents by making them fools who feel worthless and incompetent to provide for their families’ basic needs.

Last year, in February, the department hired temporary qualified teachers to fill in posts that were renewed every three months up until the end of this month. Thus these “previously resigned teachers” are not given any opportunities regardless of the experience and qualifications they have.

The Amathole West district has issued a statement saying that the teachers who have been to interviews will not be considered for the upcoming permanent posts. These “previously resigned educators” are our parents who are expected to put food on the table and pay for our tuition – they are breadwinners who we look up to.

Now if these educators are not employed by the Department of Education, where else can they be employed when the only qualifications they have are teaching degrees or diplomas?

In the end, I would like a detailed response from the Amathole district with regard to the way forward of how to resolve the issue of terminating qualified teachers’ contracts and not making them permanent – and also to hear what the unions have to say about such issues, since they are supposed to be protecting their members.

Being a “student child” who has to see her only breadwinner being let go from work without any explicable reason is very painful.