Housing auxiliary staff worsens teachers� plight

Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday August 30, 2017 17:13

 

The union says this remains a challenge, as the situation was compounded by a provision in the current Public Service Act, which made support staff eligible for housing.

This is one of the critical outstanding issues that the incoming union leadership would have to prioritise, said publicity secretary, Edwin Maitshoko.

“The worst case scenario is where some schools allocate houses to cooks, cleaners and drivers who were previously never considered for housing,” he said.

The union wants sharing of houses to be a thing of the past citing respect for teachers’ privacy among others.

The union is also calling for an updated transfer policy, as the current one promotes unprocedural transfers and lacks compliance. Maitshoko said the policy has been unfair, especially on teachers in remote areas. 

“They are made to overstay in such remote areas where there are no or few facilities. We note with concern situations where married couples are transferred to places beyond commutable distances. The revised policy should come in handy to address such issues,” he added.

As a consequence, the morale of teachers in rural areas has lowered, he further said.

“This has a negative impact on their results, as rural areas are the hardest hit in as far as shortage of resources is concerned,”

Another issue is that of promotions, a process which the union says is devoid of transparency. BOSETU is advocating for a clear promotion system explained and understood by all parties. Maitshoko said the Ministry of Basic Education has been oscillating between two promotion systems, that of recommendations and that of interviews.

“In our view there should be a clear promotion system understood by all parties. We don’t want a system which would encourage boot licking or turn school authorities into mini Gods who have all the powers to determine one’s progression,” he said.

Classroom sizes remain a major eyesore. Maitshoko said the student-teacher ratio is a concern that continues to grow with time, as the situation changes from bad to worse yearly. “We still have cases where classrooms have more than 50 students. Large class size are difficult to manage. Teachers find it difficult to give individual learners the required attention,” he said.

He added that classrooms are overflowing, in worst-case scenarios with over 40 learners way beyond the recommendations of the Revised National Policy on Education.