How can it be that we have a bloated cabinet and executive but there is a plan to cut teacher jobs in South Africa? This is the biggest blight on our so-called Government of National Unity since it was conceived, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceOfGasant column.
Beatrice Arendse* always wanted to be a teacher. She started studying to be a teacher when apartheid was being dismantled in 1992 and has given her life preparing young minds for primary school.
Now, as an employee of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) she faces losing her job in a career that spans almost 30 years.
‘I’ve always been a teacher by heart,’ says Beatrice. ‘I was the one in the family who would babysit for free because I loved interacting and being part of younger people’s lives. When deciding what career path to take, I remembered my first schooling experience, which was kindergarten. I was privileged enough that my parents could send me to a small homeschool on the corner of my street.
‘I remember being so excited but within the first hour of school, the teacher took a wooden spoon and gave everyone a hiding on their hand and said that if we didn’t listen, we would get hidings with the wooden spoon. I was horrified and I’m not sure how I got out of the building, but I remember walking as a 5-year-old down my street crying all the way home. I never went back.
‘The following year I started in Sub-A (now Grade 1). I somehow suppressed these feelings for years and when needing to make a choice of what career to follow, I decided that I wanted to teach younger children and ensure that their first schooling experience was so fulfilling that it would have a positive impact on their entire schooling career.’
Now Beatrice is one of 2 400 teachers at risk of losing their jobs and the rest of the country also faces thousands of cuts – as many as 11 092 in KwaZulu-Natal. She has indeed nurtured hundreds of children, who are now adults with careers, prospering.
This time you won’t hear too many complaints because in this Government of National Unity (GNU) – which is really a Government of Political Expediency – there is no real opposition. The jockeying of positions and bed partners of convenience are far more important on the agenda than teachers losing their jobs.
It is a situation that leaves me feeling disgusted to call myself a South African. This bloated GNU spits in the face of civil society calling for a leaner cabinet that rolls up its sleeves and does some real work like the rest of us. And the teachers, more importantly. If you do the maths and rationalise cabinet and excesses, you’ll find the billions of rands needed for the teachers to keep their jobs in a landscape where a third of the population is unemployed.
Beatrice is no stranger to the shenanigans of the WCED. There were days when she didn’t get paid on time because the department was integrating Grade R into mainstream schools.
‘My journey with the WCED started on a shaky note with a huge salary reduction, even though we were told that not only qualifications but also years of experience would be looked at when determining salaries. This was not only for me but for all Grade R practitioners in the Western Cape,’ she said.
‘For those categorised as “underqualified”, some of these teachers were not getting paid on time and some waited up to four months to get a salary. During this time, many practitioners were forced to leave teaching. After a year of negotiation with the WCED, I am on the correct salary notch, thankfully.’
I have watched from afar the role Beatrice plays every day. She doesn’t keep office hours. She knows every child’s strength and weakness. She plays the role of mother, wiping runny noses, making sure the children in her care eat, and steels herself for massive hugs each morning by some of the very boisterous children in her class.
She loves them all like her own – from the naughty to the nice. She sees their potential and does an incredible job of preparing them with phonics and numeracy so that they’re ready for big school.
If Beatrice and her peers get the chop, it will be a grave injustice that should weigh heavily on the collective conscience of all South Africans that no records by the Springboks against the All Blacks can make more palatable.
Our government needs to find the money and prioritise what is important. We have seen the waste, corruption and outright theft and if this ill-conceived plan goes ahead we should all join the hundreds of teachers who gathered along picked lines before school started last week to protest. We owe it to this dedicated few who have opted for a noble calling rather than a job.
As Beatrice warns: ‘What is happening now is so very frustrating. As a passionate educator of 27 years, I cannot understand how the WCED can even think about decreasing the basket of post for 2025. For years, our province has had issues with the placement of learners in schools due to space.
‘What’s happening now will impact contract educators of the Western Cape, who play a vital role not only in education but also in schools. Our township and rural areas are the most vulnerable and will be the most affected.’
*Beatrice Arendse is not her real name. A pseudonym has been used to protect her identity out of fear of retribution for speaking out.
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Picture: Supplied.
