WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2003-11-28 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 11/28/2003 6:08:14 AM
S.Africa: Shock Cut in Teachers
A MAJOR staffing crisis is looming in education in KwaZulu-Natal with school principals warning yesterday that many classrooms will be without teachers at the start of the new year.
The concern was expressed after the provincial department of education released to schools this week a revised post provisioning norm for 2004, which principals say will lead to losses of between one and three teachers at most of the so-called advantaged schools.
But, with most schools already having finalised their staff planning for the new year, the department’s circular announcing the norm has caused great consternation, even anger, at schools. Principals said yesterday this had led to much stress just days before schools break for the holidays.
The Association of Professional Educators of KwaZulu-Natal (APEK) is also outraged, with its chief executive officer, Anthony Pierce, saying the union had been inundated with frantic telephone calls from irate school principals.
“Principals are strongly opposed to any teacher-pupil ratio that decreases the present number of state teachers appointed to their schools.
“The recently released ratio is likely to have a negative effect on most schools, with some schools losing up to three teachers,” said Pierce.
To complicate matters, many schools had not been provided with the correct staffing requirements, he said.
Schools would open next year with an increase in the number of admissions and a decrease in the number of teachers.
“It is clear that there has been no forward planning. Most schools completed their admissions for 2004 in October and admitted pupils in terms of the staffing complement at the time.
“The bombshell of a change to the teacher-pupil ratio has thrown all the preparations into disarray,” said Pierce.
Said James Delport, principal of Carter High School in Pietermaritzburg: “The stress and uncertainty placed on us by the department is exasperating and totally unacceptable.”
Delport said his school had recently lost several teachers through resignations and had interviewed for and appointed replacements. Then came the circular, which will result in another teacher having to go.
“If the post has to go to a disadvantaged school it is fine, but I am not sure that that is going to happen,” he said.
The circular is expected to cause much dismay at schools, reviving the anger displayed during the department’s teacher redeployment process of the late 1990s.
According to the circular, the procedures and time-frames are designed to assist schools and officials to manage the implementation of the post provisioning norm “in a smooth and effective way”.
The objective, it says, is to provide a fair and transparent basis for the staffing of schools next year and to identify teachers who were “additional” to the staff establishment.
Department spokesman Mandla Msibi said the new norm, which equates to one teacher for 35 pupils in a classroom, was “very reasonable”.
Permanent teachers would not lose their jobs, he said, but if they were in excess, they would be redeployed to schools where they were needed.
The bottom line, Msibi said, was money. “Our budget is very limited and right now we are in the red. Most of our budget goes to personnel,” he said.
Msibi said negotiations with stakeholders had led to the delay in finalising the norm.
Source: DailyNews
URL: http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fSection…br>