All’s well at Silverton High School – GDE
The school was accused of not having enough teachers and learners were told to spend periods in the school hall if there was no teacher.
The government has denied claims that Silverton High School did not have enough teachers, hampering the quality of education offered.
This after a parent who wished to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation told Rekord that the school was “badly managed, and teachers are being fired and the learners are not receiving adequate education”.
“They do as they like, firing teachers left and right.
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“From 46 teachers, only 20 are left to teach 850 children. They are required to teach two subjects each,” the parent claimed.
“This is not possible at all with the total school hours each day – aren’t our children entitled to quality education?”
The parent told Rekord that teachers were not allowed to say anything to the public or parents on what was going on at the school and some teachers who complained to their unions “were fired”.
“The learners were informed that when they did not have a teacher for a class they must go to the school hall and spend that period there.
“As far as I know there is only one mathematics, one mathematical literacy, two Afrikaans, two English and one art teacher for all the learners in the school.”
Last year, the school also saw protests flare up as learners took to the streets to protest against the alleged dismissal of teachers.
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Gauteng department of education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the school’s principal, who has since been suspended, appointed unqualified educators in 2018.
This led to the department’s intervention, which resulted in those educators being ineligible for the current academic year.
Mabona said in 2018, the principal of the school was the only person appointing educators without the proper procedure of involving the SGB.
“He appointed six unqualified and 10 qualified educators.
“The SGB rectified the situation by giving all unqualified educators three months’ notice for termination of their service.
Mabona said this resulted in the SGB being taken to the CCMA, where a settlement was reached.
The 10 qualified educators were offered new contracts and requested to submit their qualifications for proper placement.
“Four of the 10 took the SGB to the labour court, demanding permanent SGB appointments. Their case was dismissed with cost.”
As a result, those educators could not be considered for any SGB posts.
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“The current staff comprises one principal, two deputy principals, four HODs and 20 educators.
“The SGB of the school has further appointed an additional eight educators, bringing the number to 35.”
Mabona said the firing of the educators had not hampered the quality of education at the school.
“The learner enrolment is currently at 850, making the teacher-learner ratio to be 1:24, which makes the class size to be smaller than what is prescribed by policy.
“Teaching and learning at the school had not been affected by the exclusion of unqualified educators, since they were replaced by qualified educators under the SGB’s employ.”
Responding to the concern over the allocation of subjects to teachers, Mabona said this was “informed by their qualifications and the curriculum needs of the school”.
“It is important to note that a teaching qualification has more than two subjects, qualifying an educator to teach more than two subjects,” said Mabona.
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Mabona denied that four teachers were fired for complaining to their union about matters in the school.
He said the school had enough teachers to cater for all the learners and also denied that learners are at times told that they should go to the school hall if they did not have a teacher present for a particular subject.
“The school has competent teachers for all the subjects on the curriculum.”
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