Austerity cuts Western Cape teachers’ jobs
The Western Cape Education Department is planning on cutting over 2,400 teaching posts.
The Western Cape Education Department is planning on cutting over 2,400 teaching posts.
Classes in poor schools are expected to grow even bigger as the education department plans to cut teacher posts.
Hundreds of learners are still not in schools five weeks after the start of the school year.
Parents and learners hope that they will be placed in schools this year despite deep cuts in the education budget.
The department says it is doing its best to place learners who applied late.
Absenteeism continues in schools in Khayelitsha because of the climate of fear and uncertainty caused by the taxi associations, says the Western Cape education department.
The ongoing blockade of learner transport operators in Khayelitsha has resulted in over 13,000 learners missing school since Monday.
The 2022 matric results saw an improvement in poor schools despite the lack of resources that impact on the provision of quality education.
Community organisations and activists that favoured the closure of schools differ over whether Grades seven and twelve should return to school in the Western Cape.
Two education stakeholders say they are not opposed to the introduction of classroom assistants that would facilitate lesson plans for teachers that need to be working from home due to covid-19 vulnerability.
The WCED has condemned the shutting down of schools by parents demanding that the schools be deep cleaned after teachers test positive for covid-19.
The KEF says that the Western Cape Education Department has no plan to deal with COVID-19 as the schools re-open while shifting responsibilities to schools.