By Anita Dangazele
Unemployed teachers from different parts of the Eastern Cape marched to the provincial education headquarters in Zwelitsha on Thursday, where they submitted a memorandum of demands.
Dressed in their graduation outfits, they said they were tired of sitting at home while there was a shortage of teachers in schools around the province.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, Zuko Xhobani, the convenor of Eastern Cape Unemployed Educators, voiced his frustration about the situation.
He said it is worrying that there are qualified teachers who have been unemployed for more than a decade, while more people graduate every year as teachers.
“There are educators who graduated in 2013 and are still unemployed. We want the government to prioritise qualified teachers and not use educator assistants to replace us.”
Yonela Ndwendwa, a qualified intermediate phase teacher, said she graduated in 2019 but has never held a permanent post.
“Since I graduated, I’ve only been able to get temporary posts. I don’t have enough experience,” she said.
Another teacher, speaking anonymously, said she had held a school governing body position for five years, only for the department to send someone else to fill the post.
Among their concerns, the unemployed teachers want the provincial education department to stop schools from hiring qualified teachers as educator assistants.
“I once travelled to another town for a job, only to be told after the interview that it was an assistant teacher’s post. I would be paid R3,500. What is that when you’re a qualified professional with children to support?” said another unemployed teacher.
Xhobani said they want the province’s education MEC Fundile Gade to intervene.
He said it is frustrating that the department has money to hire thousands of unqualified assistant teachers while qualified teachers like him sit at home.
“They have money to pay assistant teachers because they want to exploit them. The assistants are not even there to help but they are sent there to fill the shortage that the schools are facing. Most of these assistant teachers are not even qualified to be standing in front of the pupils,” Xhobani said.
Malibongwe Mtima, spokesperson for the Eastern Cape education department, said the memorandum had been received and would be reviewed soon.
The Eastern Cape Unemployed Educators has given the department 14 days to respond to its demands.
Pictured above: Eastern Cape unemployed teachers marching to the province’s education headquarters in Zwelitsha.
Image source: Supplied
