Pupils call for payment of Ilinge teacher

No salary paid since December

LINGELIHLE High School Grade 12 pupils marched to the education department’s district office last Thursday, demanding that their life sciences and physical science teacher, who has not received a salary for more than six months, be paid.

The pupils said they had decided to stage the march to prevent the teacher from leaving the school at a crucial time as matrics were preparing for their mid-year exams.

A pupil told The Rep their teacher had told them he would be leaving as he could not continue working without payment. The pupils said the news resulted in shock and panic throughout the school, leading them to visit the district offices.

“We do not have a [permanent] teacher for life sciences and physical science. There is a temporary teacher who said he was leaving as he had not been paid. In just two weeks’ time we will be starting exams.

“It is really sad to see our teacher go through this because he told us that he was last paid in December.”

The pupils had paid for their own transport to travel from Ilinge to Komani to plead with officials to intervene.

“We could not just sit and do nothing. We did not get permission from anyone to protest but the district has no right to violate our rights.

“They must be responsible for their actions.” The pupils said there was also a shortage of teachers at the school.

The Rep reported (“Teacher shortages a major concern” January 8) that principal Sandile Mata had highlighted teacher shortages as the biggest contributor to the school’s 50.8% pass rate last year (down from

‘They can not leave school to protest without anyone knowing about it’

75%). Mata said the issue of educators who were not being paid made a mockery of teachers.

“Those pupils decided to go to the district office on their own and I do not have a problem with that as long as they do not damage property and do it peacefully.”

He confirmed that the teacher had not been paid since January but that after the pupils’ demonstration last week, the teacher was paid on Mon- day this week. Prior to this, a parent had been giving the teacher R1 000 per month to help him survive.

School governing body chairman Thembisa Nkotana said they feared for the exam results if the teacher had left.

“Our problems are not taken seriously. How can a teacher work without being paid?”

Ilinge victim empowerment centre manager Xolile Mali criticised the fact that the protest took place during school hours.

“It is their time to be at school and they are not there. It must be organised. They can not just move from school and go to the district office to protest without anyone knowing about it.”

He said it was not the first time that an Ilinge teacher had not been paid and there needed to be different ways to solve such problems.