BOSETU unhappy with Venson-Moitoi

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Thursday April 1, 2010 00:00

BOSETU's Executive Secretary, Justin Hunyepa, said the delivery of the petition, supposed to be delivered on Tuesday, had to be cancelled after the minister made it clear that she had parliamentary business on that particular day.   Hunyepa said Venson-Moitoi had also indicated that she wanted the teachers to engage with her first and be given a chance to give them feedback before they embarked on a petition.

Hunyepa said BOSETU interprets that to mean that the Minister refused to accept their petition on the above grounds.  He said the union requested to petition the Minister last week and no response was given only to receive the Ministers' response late on Monday when petition-processing offices had closed down for the day. 'This meant that handing over the petition the next day was bound to fail because the police would not grant BOSETU the permit that goes with handing over petitions. The police needed the letter from the recipient of the petition that proves that the recipient is ready to receive such. It is a police requirement and the Ministry deliberately delayed so that the police permit fails,' he said.

The unionist said receiving a petition is a best practice in a democratic set up.  'When the Minister took office, she inherited a number of issues relating to teachers' welfare. The Minister is not starting from scratch but should resolve what has been there for many years now,' Hunyepa said.

He explained that since the Minister took office six months ago, there is nothing that shows that she is doing something about their concerns. He accused the minister of concentrating on peripheral issues like dress code and corporal punishment. 'Core issues are awaiting the Minister's intervention, especially teachers' welfare and quality education,' he said.

'BOSETU expresses serious disappointment in the way the Ministry of Education and Skills Development refused to take teachers' issues and concerns seriously. BOSETU is working round the clock to ultimately hand over the petition and all teachers are called upon to come in large numbers on a date to be announced,' he added.  Efforts to reach MoE officials on this issue were futile as they were said to be in meetings.