SADTU march Durban
Xolani Dlamini|Published
SADTU members marched to Durban City Hall on Friday, raising concerns about teacher shortages, delayed school funding and safety incidents at KwaZulu-Natal schools.
They chanted “Lelizwe elokhokho bethu” (this country belongs to our forefathers) and “Mama wemah thula ungakhali” (mother, be quiet, do not cry) as they they made their way from King Dinuzulu Park, along Dr Pixley kaSeme Street towards the Durban City Hall.
SADTU KwaZulu-Natal secretary Nomarashiya Caluza urged teachers to conduct themselves peacefully and responsibly as the march moved through Durban’s CBD.
One of the protesters, Nomusa Khanyile, a maths literacy teacher from Nqolobane High School, said she woke up at 4am preparing for the march.
"I come from the South Coast. We are fed up by our provincial education department taking us for granted. Our school is already grappling with persistent teacher shortages, leading to severely understaffed departments and overcrowded classrooms where some teachers have to manage up to 80 learners at a time," she said.
Khanyile revealed the provincial education department has chronically delayed or failed to pay out annual school funding under the norms and standards programme.
"Majority of KZN schools are no-fee institutions, they rely completely on these government allocations. Without them, we(teachers), school principals had been forced to use our personal funds to buy basic operational supplies like stationery, textbooks, and cleaning materials, she said.
Sipho Ngwane from Swelihle Secondary School in Umlazi, said he was furious over the department of education in the province for taking teachers for granted.
"Clearly, our department does care about us. We would not be here if our department cares. We are being tossed aside and some of us come very far to get what we want from the department," he said.
Ngwane expressed growing fear over a severe lack of security in many schools across the province.
"Many teachers have been killed, robbed and assaulted inside school yards, but our department is doing nothing. Our government has failed to provide adequate safety measures or psychosocial support to deal with the trauma to the crime victims in schools, he said.
Another teacher, Getrude Msiza, blamed the administrative inefficiencies within the department for leaving vacancies open for months or years.
"We demand what should have been done many years ago. We have many unemployed teachers out there while we are understaffed in our schools. Unemployed teachers are forced to wait for approximately eight years for permanent appointments, even while classrooms sit without teachers," she said.
Msiza said they demand the KZN Department of Education act fast on filling vacant teachers posts.