non-payment of some temporary teachers
7 March 2006
KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Ina Cronjé said she is deeply concerned about
the non-payment of some of our teachers. "When I took office in 2004 I set two
goals as far as the status of temporary teachers is concerned. One was to
ensure that temporary teachers get permanent appointments as far as possible
within the law. Secondly, where it was inevitable to use temporary teachers, to
treat them fairly and pay them on time.
To this end the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has achieved the
following:
1) The number of temporary teachers (all categories, excluding substitute
teachers) has dropped from 16 938 to 4 801.
2) To address the problem of late/non-payment of temporary teachers the
Department embarked on a new approach to the appointment of temporary educators
in substantive posts in December 2005. According to the new system temporary
teachers' contracts can be renewed on an annual basis. They will also be given
one month's notices when the post is filled.
I deeply regret the fact that our administration process has not kept a pace
with the changes made at policy level. I unreservedly apologise to those
teachers, who have not been paid. I once again invite all teachers, who have
not received their salaries on time to contact me personally, if they don't get
satisfactory response from officials within the department. It can be reported
on the toll free hotline number of 0800 204 353.
The responsible officials have pledged to pull out all stops to ensure that
the necessary documentation is processed and that where documentation contains
errors or has not been returned from schools that such cases will be addressed
as a matter of urgency.
We will always have a number of temporary and substitute educators to fill
essential needs in the education system. Reasons could range from filling in
for teachers on study leave, sick leave, accouchement leave, etc. In addition,
the high attrition rate among teachers (6.4%) in KwaZulu-Natal results in the
appointment of large numbers of temporary educators as a stopgap measure until
the post is filled permanently.
* Temporary teachers can be divided into two categories: "substitute"
educators - who fill in for permanent educators, who are temporarily absent
from their place of work for periods in excess of 30 days, i.e. "double
parking" - and "temporary educators in a substantive vacant post," which still
needs to be permanently filled.
Enquiries: Christi Naudé
Tel: (033) 355 2453
Fax: (033) 342 0275
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
Government
7 March 2006
