NC teachers’ union wants dept to explain ‘rejections’

THE SUID Afrikaanse Onderwys Unie (SAOU) is obtaining legal advice to force the Department of Education, by way of a court order, to explain why candidates who were shortlisted for head of department posts, were rejected, when they were supposed to start on January 1.

The SAOU requested the HOD to urgently respond to them regarding posts at Laerskool Seodin in Kuruman and Laerskool Kathu.

SAOU provincial secretary, Henk Brand, indicated that the affected schools were advised that none of the shortlisted candidates fulfilled the requirements.

“The entire process lacks transparency.

“One candidate has been acting in this position for two years.

“The only reason provided for declining them was that they did not meet the requirements.”

He stated that the department had instructed the schools to re-advertise the posts to “attract a wider pool and quality of candidates” while a recruitment and selection process could take months.

“Acting officials will have to be appointed in the meantime.

“The selection process should have been finalised a long time ago.

“The schools cannot be indefinitely left with these unfilled vacancies.”

The department had advised, late last month, that the shortlisted applicants were not satisfactory to “take the school forward in terms of outcomes education”.

“At least three of our members received the same letter.”

Brand, in a letter, had advised that should the department not provide the criteria that was applied to reject the applications, the union would explore other avenues to resolve the matter.

Feedback

“We are still waiting for feedback. Interviews from both internal and external applicants were held and the school governing body was satisfied that anyone of the top three shortlisted candidates should be awarded the post.”

Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Geoffrey van der Merwe, indicated that the department was busy addressing the request for information.

“At this stage the matters are considered to be an internal matter and will be addressed accordingly with the respective schools.”