The Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga announced that the schools will re-open on 1 June.
This was after Motshekga had postponed the media briefings three times to announce the school re-opening, saying she was consulting with the relevant stakeholders, including the teacher unions.
In response to the minister?s announcement, all the teacher unions, including Sadtu, which form part of the tripartite alliance, blasted Motshekga for her rush to open schools. They also attacked her for not taking their input into consideration. What was the ‘consultation’ all about then?
If the Basic Education minister knew that she did not need the unions’ input, why did she waste their time and consulted them? She could have made her announcement a long time ago. Instead, she chose to play games in the name of consultation. What she did was totally wrong and unacceptable.
This shows that she is arrogant.
Motshekga is daring the teachers unions and challenging their power.This shows poor leadership from her side. What is she going to do if the teachers refuse to go back to school, because she cannot force them?
Mark my words: her disregard for the unions will come back to haunt her.
The truth is that schools are not ready for re-opening, as the teacher unions have indicated, though the Basic Education minister claims otherwise.So, there is no need to rush opening them. Otherwise, we are risking the precious lives of our kids.
Motshekga is not doing our education any good. There is no innovation or anything new that she has introduced in the number of years she’s been the Basic Education minister. The only thing she does is to announce matric results every year. It’s time she steps down.
