Teachers propose three-year course work, invigilation fees structure
Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday August 1, 2017 16:16
Currently, the rates are negotiated yearly between the two parties - a culture that has led to disagreements and in extreme instances, teachers withholding course work marks due to lack of consent of payment rates.
Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) secretary general Keorapetse Rebobonye told Mmegi that union parties are indeed calling for a long-term solution as frequent meetings between unions and the employer have proved to be costly and disturbing teachers.
“Union members who form the sectoral bargaining committee where these matters are discussed are teachers, and having them leave the classroom every now and then to attend course work and invigilation rates meeting takes time from their schedules, and this has a potential to delay timely completion of the syllabi,” Rebobonye said.
He said union members also foot their transport bills to attend these meetings and it is expensive given the frequency of meeting over the matter.
Rebobonye further said given inflation and changing employment terms, they are looking at a three-year agreement to be amended at the end of every term.
Infact, the matter will be on the agenda for the forthcoming education sectoral meeting with permanent secretary Grace Muzila and other authorities, Rebobonye has said.
Botswana Sector of Educators’ Trade Union (BOSETU) spokesperson Edwin Maitshoko said going to negotiation tables yearly and talks collapsing as has been the case previously is a tedious and time consuming process.
“Teachers unions have long proposed a long-term strategy to engage on the matter, and we are pleased that last year the then permanent secretary in the ministry of education, Dr Theophilus Mooko agreed to the idea,” he said.
Another reason for the proposal is that for course work, topics are released as early as December and at the time negotiations start, teachers would have already started working but without any agreement on payment.
Unions are hoping negotiations into the long-term solution end before the end of this year.
In 2015,the course work and invigilation war saw minister Unity Dow attempting to amend the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) Act in what unions said was a strategy “to force teachers to invigilate course work”.
The Amendment Bill, published last August stated that the responsibilities for invigilation or supervision of course work would remain the responsibility of schools.
Under the Bill, the minister was to appoint members of the Board of the Council on the basis of their competence, knowledge and experience - a move teachers unions said was meant to remove their representation from the Council.
Section 5 of the Amendment Bill tasked the BEC with the responsibility to manage and conduct all school examinations.
A new section in the Bill was that the responsibility for invigilation or supervision of course work or examination arising and relating to all examinable subjects offered in an examination centre should remain the responsibility of schools. Parliament sent the Bill back for further consultation.
In September 2009, in a case between Opelo Makhandela, then director of Teaching Service Management (TSM), and teachers unions, Judge Mpaphi Phumaphi ruled that teachers were not obliged to invigilate external examinations, as that is the mandate of BEC.
The Amendment Bill stated, “The employer may at any time direct a person employed as a teacher in an examination centre to invigilate or supervise candidates sitting for an examination.”
What it meant was there shall no longer be any negotiations between the teachers and government every year since teachers will be forced to do coursework or invigilation without being compensated for it.
Meanwhile, the two parties (employer and unions) agreed to a four percent increment across the board for invigilation and course work engagements. The agreement was reached in June.