The education department has agreed to give Tugela Secondary school nine more teachers and five management staff after the school closed its doors last week due to a lack of teachers.
Last week Monday parents, teachers and pupils held a peaceful protest at the school because of the shortage of teachers (‘Shortage of teachers sparks protest, Courier, February 21) .
According to Bonga Gumede, the vice-chairman of the school’s governing body, the school had been in talks with the education department since last March, when it was decided that the school would receive 10 new teachers. However this did not materialise.
Spokesperson for the KZN education department, Muzi Mahlambi said the school had enrollled more pupils than the post-provisioning norms number, which sets how many teachers a school should have in proportion to the number of pupils enlisted.
He also said the department had not promised the school more teachers and had issued a circular to schools in the area saying they would not receive additional staff.
The school enrolled 1200 pupils this year, compared to last years 570 pupils. The school had only 24 teachers for over 1200 pupils and classrooms had as many as 80 to 90 pupils to one teacher.
The school was closed from Monday to Wednesday, while the KZN education department met with the school board to find a solution.
“The issue was addressed and we reached an agreement for more teachers to be allocated to the school,” said Bonga Gumede, the vice-chairman of the school’s governing body.
Teachers and pupils returned to class on Thursday, along with an initial five new teachers.
Gumede said the other five posts were for management positions, and that interviews were going to be done with candidates as early as this week.
“We are happy now, I think this year’s results will be better than last year. At least now we know that every child will have a teacher in their classroom, which is what we needed,” said Gumede.
The school is also expecting the remaining four new teachers in July.
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