Disruptive pupils, dagga and disrespect among reasons teacher is ready to retire

Disruptive pupils who smoke dagga at school are among the reasons a teacher is ready to throw the towel and retire.

A Grade 4 teacher, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said she was fed up.

“Bad things are happening at our schools,” she said.

The teacher said what was worsening the situation was that about 20% of pupils in her class couldn’t read or write.

“I have seen a pupil passed to the next grade who couldn’t spell,” she said.

She blamed the department of basic education for promoting pupils who were not ready for the next grade.

“I have tried to teach them to read, but my training isn’t on ground phase skills,” she said.

The teacher had 55 pupils in her class, which had to be split into groups to accommodate them all.

“It is getting worse. Pupils are smoking dagga before class or over weekends and struggle to cope in their studies. When they smoke before class, they are unruly and disrupt the class,” she said.

No consequences or corporal punishment

She said there was no way to reason with the pupils because there were no consequences or corporal punishment.

“Teachers have a difficult job. We try to teach pupils to read but the backlog is too big. The well-behaved pupils are suffering and falling behind due to the chaos,” she said.

Former teacher Zane Lombard gave up on teaching and said she would not teach again.

“How can I teach children who have no respect?” she asked.

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Lombard said it was not safe to be a teacher. She was hit by a pupil and had her classroom ransacked by other pupils.

“Being a teacher wasn’t the easiest job,” she added.

South African Teachers’ Union spokesperson Stephan van den Berg said teachers’ morale was particularly low.

“They find themselves in a work environment where the demands are increasing daily. There is little understanding from the department and parents. Pupils and the communities also look down on the profession,” he said.

Van den Berg said good quality teaching was expected, but the challenges only increased while the trust decreased, appreciation declined, support dropped, staff shortages persisted, equipment failed and available space to move and teach became less.

“The curriculum backlog means that teachers can no longer only teach their grade’s curriculum, but more pupils at different learning levels must be accommodated in the already declining teaching time,” he said.

Curriculum gaps becoming wider

Van den Berg said the gaps in the curriculum wall were becoming wider.

“More classrooms are also not necessarily an answer as schools are built for a certain number of pupils. Hallways, changing rooms and sports grounds only have so much space that can be accommodated,” he said.

Van den Berg said the union would like to thank school leaders and teachers who, despite the challenges, continue to strive for excellence.

“What is left, is for the government and communities [parents in particular] to pick up their fair share of the responsibility to grant every child their right to education,” he said.

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Earlier this week, Democratic Alliance Gauteng shadow MEC for education Khume Ramulifho found severe overcrowding at Randvaal Primary School in Midvaal and said it was affecting the delivery of quality education.

“We were shocked to learn the Gauteng department of education is aware of the overcrowding challenge and has ignored the plea for more classrooms.

“We were told that their excuse was that the department does not have funds,” he said.

Ramulifho said there were more than 1 500 pupils at the school, with some grades having an average of 55 pupils in a classroom.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za