sxc.hu
Newly qualified teachers, educated at the expense of the government, may never join the public school system because of delays in placing them.
Durban – Newly qualified teachers, educated at the expense of the government to tackle the chronic shortage of maths, science and technology staff, may never join the public school system because of delays in placing them.
The government’s Funza Lushaka bursary foots the bill for registration, tuition, residence, meals, books and other learning material, and provides a living expenses allowance for aspiring teachers.
But the bursary agreement says if a graduate is not offered a job within 60 days of having completed their degree, they are no longer obligated to teach at a public school.
Denying recent claims by the DA’s member of the provincial parliament, Tom Stokes, that as many as 208 graduates were sitting idle, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department said that all its 2012 Funza Lushaka graduates had been employed weeks ago.
The department contended that by January, only 98 of 1 118 posts remained unfilled because teachers had refused appointments at rural schools, and because the department was obliged to consider the curriculum needs of the schools where vacancies still existed.
But The Mercury has found
a high school technology teacher trained at the University of KwaZulu-Natal who said the last correspondence received from the department had been an SMS announcing that provisional placement offers would be processed by December 19.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the teacher said no offer had been received.
More than 20 of this teacher’s friends found themselves in the same boat.
The Basic Education Department acknowledged that the uptake of Funza Lushaka graduates had been low in the past, but contended that there had been a marked improvement since 2010, thanks to close monitoring by the department.
According to spending projections released by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last week, the Basic Education Department would award R2.8 billion in Funza Lushaka bursaries by the 2015/16 financial year.
According to the bursary agreement, graduates may not apply directly to a school and, should they refuse to join the staff at the school selected for them, their bursaries would be converted to a loan.
Allen Thompson, the deputy president of the National Teachers Union said that he was aware there were newly qualified teachers without classrooms.
“And it’s not that the schools do not need them. Some are rejected by principals because they have protected temporary teachers in those positions (unqualified but already studying towards a degree). It is costing the department a lot of money,” Thompson said.
He believed the problem was with the department’s district offices.
According to a report released by the departments of basic and higher education in 2011, the mismatch between teacher supply and demand had been exacerbated because “many” newly qualified teachers were not being promptly snapped up.
The document, titled The Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa 2011 – 2015, acknowledged that by July 2009, only 761 of the 1 116 Funza Lushaka graduates on the placement database for that year had been employed by the provincial departments – 460 of them in temporary positions. The report said the inability of provinces to identify suitable posts was the primary reason why not all Funza Lushaka graduates were being promptly placed.
leanne.jansen@inl co.za
The Mercury
