The acting director of the Kgatleng education region, Ivy Balopi said the decision to engage teachers under such contracts is an effort aimed at ensuring stability in the classroom. The region has 37 primary and 10 secondary schools:"We did that so that students would be constantly changing teachers which is something that can cause instability and hamper the learning process," Balopi said.
A large number of teachers come from the primary level with 57 out of close to 700 staff in that sector. Balopi said this yesterday when speaking to Mmegi following the regional conference on inclusive learning which was themed, 'Inclusive Skills Development: The Foundation for Sustainable and Prosperity for All.' Consisting of graduate and retired teachers, the temporary educators replace those who recently left for further studies and others who have long left but where replaced by temporary staff who operated on very short term contracts. "Previously, we engaged temporary teachers on three month contracts; this posed challenges and we have since changed to engaging them on a long-term, temporary basis," she explained.
