Council of Educators hosts registrations
TEACHERS in the Northern Cape and other parts of the country were afforded an opportunity to skip the online process of having to register with the South African Council of Educators (SACE) by themselves.
Many students and established teachers flocked to Eureka Primary School in Kimberley where SACE registrations were conducted.
The one-on-one registrations were the brainchild of the teacher’s union, Suid-afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (SAOU) in Kimberley after they saw the challenges that local teachers faced when trying to register with SACE.
The full-time shop steward of SAOU, Amanda Clarke, said the union decided to assist the teachers as many had to travel long distances to register with SACE.
“The closest SACE office that teachers in the Northern Cape can go to is located in Bloemfontein. Other SACE offices are located in Gauteng. It is required that all teachers must be registered with SACE in order to be recognised as lawful teachers.
“It is the same as health workers with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. In the Province we only have one SACE officer who has to travel throughout the Province to assist teachers who might not have the means to travel long distances to register. We have decided to partner with the official and in that way not only assist the teachers, but also make the registration process a bit more comfortable,” said Clarke.
She added that they have also received numerous complaints from teachers that they do not receive any feedback after they have submitted their online registrations.
“We have had complaints from some teachers who indicated that they had been waiting for months to receive their SACE certificates. Others have indicated that their provisional registration certificates have expired while waiting for their certificates.
“These registrations will afford an opportunity to be assisted by the SACE officials in person and they can have the answers to what was the cause of the delay with regards to the issuing of their certificates,” she said.
The provincial co-ordinator for SACE in the Province, Gugu Makhoba, indicated that hundreds of teachers and student teachers were issued with provisional registration certificates.
“What many teachers do not understand is that once you are issued with the provisional registration, you need to register for your SACE certificate afterwards. The provisional registration is not the certificate.
“We have issued teaching students from the Sol Plaatje University (SPU) who are in their last year of studies with provisional registrations. We have explained to them that this is only the start of their professional educator registration process.
“During my travels across the Province, I have found some teachers who were only in possession of the provisional registration. We then have to register them on the system in order for them to receive their certificates. In such instances, we inform teachers that they are curbed from continuing with their work until they have got their paperwork in order.
“Many are shocked and even accuse SACE officials of cruelty, however, we have to ensure that everyone abides by the legislation,” said Makhoba.
She urged other unions to follow the example of the SAOU.
“We have many teachers who are in need of the services offered by SACE. As the professional educator’s council we have partnered with unions to bring these services closer to our teachers.
“We urge other unions to also reach out to us in order to assist the teachers in their respective areas. This may seem like a minor process, but we have found that even educators at times need to be educated on some procedures and processes,” Makhoba said.