Teachers are not guardians to our pupils

THE letter by your correspondent, Nanack Mia, of Phoenix, titled “Protests and strikes damage our economy” ( POST, July 9 - 13) refers. Mia wrote: “We are heading for interesting times in the face of a recession.” How can a recession make for interesting times? It should be a time for concern. Miners in the platinum industry were striking for a living wage. The chief executives of Anglo American Platinum and Implats earn close to R1,5 million per month and R7,5 million a year respectively, but the miners earn R4 500 per month. Are such disparities in salaries acceptable to Mia and is he talking from a safe platform? When it comes to teachers, Mia becomes morbid. He expects teachers to be “custodians of our children”. A custodian is a guardian or keeper. Teachers are not guardians, keepers, maids or care givers to our pupils. These are parental duties and schools are not creches. Parents must not abdicate their responsibilities to teachers whose task is to teach. Mia also wrote: “They (teachers) show blatant disregard for their pupils’ education.” What a contemptible generalisation! On the whole, teachers do a sterling piece of work in educating pupils and must be commended. They work under trying conditions in schools, endure high stress levels, work with some difficult pupils, they carry a heavy work load, and they work late at night preparing lessons and marking. They also work weekends, doing schoolwork. During the holidays they have holiday classes without any extra pay, all for the benefit of our pupils. Anyone who thinks that teachers work half a day must be naive in the extreme. I ask: will Mia and parents work free of charge? I encourage Mia and others of his ilk to put aside their prejudices, acknowledge the good work of teachers and let them be adequately remunerated. They taught us to read and write. They educate the nation. We owe it to them for our careers and the positions we hold.