ECD, Grade R teachers take protest to new education minister

Early Childhood Development (ECD) and grade R teachers staged a march to the Department of Basic Education offices on Struben Street on July 24.

The reason for the march was that the group is not being absorbed into the Department of Basic Education’s permanent employment.

Justice for Workers and the South African Early Childhood Development Teachers Union (SAECDTU) say the ill-treatment has been going on since the dawn of democracy.

The ECD and Grade R educators say they are subjected to signing contracts frequently to keep their jobs, leaving them without the same employee benefits as their Grade 1 – 12 colleagues.

The march brought teachers from as far as North West, Eastern Cape, KZN and other provinces to Tshwane to air their grievances to newly-appointed Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube.

SAECDTU President Dr Bafana Langa says the sector can no longer go ignored as it plays a pivotal role in the development of the nation’s children.

“We’ve been in injury since 1998 and there has been maladministration to such an extent that we find our teachers in numbers, thousands of them, who are misplaced and not in the system. We recently had a 63-year-old who just passed [away] two days ago after teaching for 30 years, 30 years and she’s not part of the system, meaning she’s not part of the salary payroll and its benefits or the pension funds. This is what our Grade R teachers are enduring and it’s business as usual in the country, it’s a silent killer we are not addressing,” Langa said.

He said most educators affected by this practice are women.

He also claimed there were instances of teachers serving for 20 years or more receiving a stipend on fixed-term contracts. Some educators are brought in by School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and can go months without being paid and then dismissed.

“Nobody is saying anything because it’s a system. But the system has eyes. The department is supposed to be the eyes of the system. To make sure that, together with the minister, they ensure this issue is dealt with because our teachers are dying, particularly the Grade Rs. They are passing away because of stress, they are underpaid, and they are being declared unqualified. MEC of Education in the North West, Viola Motsumi has declared they are going to phase out the Grade R diploma. There are multiple grievances, we tried putting them together, there can be over 400,” Langa said.

He added that though the ECD educators are being absorbed, they were still subjected to ill-treatment from the department, despite being entrepreneurs who started their businesses without government assistance.

Grade R teacher, Snazo Msithwa, who travelled to Tswane from the Eastern Cape, has been teaching since 2001 and says she’s yet to be a full-time employee and is fed up with contracts.

“The department gave us bursaries to study but we need absorption. We are tired of signing contracts year after year, they must absorb us, and we need benefits. We are qualified teachers, many of us don’t have work, we are old now, 21 years and we have nothing,” Msithwa said.

Grade R teacher from Qwaqwa in Free State, Diketseng Moloi, says the new minister needs to meet with the group to get a sense of the challenges they are facing.

“The minister needs to come to the centres and see how hard we work there. Teaching a child that’s 5 years old or younger is not easy. Teaching how to write, hold a pencil, spell their name, where home is, everything, it’s too much for the salary we’re earning now. I do this because I love teaching, but the love can only go so far dealing with a department like this,” Moloi said.

Rekord also caught up with a teacher from Mamelodi who is currently unemployed with four children to look after. Nelly Mabasa says when her mother retired after 37 years working as a teacher, she she didn’t receive any sort of pension.

“I love teaching, ever since I was a young girl, I’ve loved teaching, and I believe that sharing knowledge is a good thing. Teaching is the foundation for young children, if you give a young child a good education, I’m telling you, they won’t go wrong,” Mabasa said.

Mabasa said she was overcome with sadness after studying for three years only to be told her diploma would be phased out. Mabasa’s mom paid for her studies through the stipends she earned as a teacher as she didn’t have a bursary.

Mabasa also had some words of caution to new the minister should their demands not be met.

“Action will be taken, whether she is going to agree with us or she’s going to be an enemy of the Grade R teachers, action will be taken,” she said.

Though the new minister was not present to accept the memorandum, Director of Education Labour Relations at the department, David Ntloana, accepted the memorandum on the ministry’s behalf.

“We promise that the minister will definitely revert to the leadership of SAECDTU, we are aware of the challenges that the doctor indicated and we will revert as soon as possible,” Ntloana said.

SAECDTU gave the department up to 10 working days to respond to their demands.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram