Last year's chaos during the external examinations in junior and senior secondary schools is still fresh in most people's minds. Instead of tackling the matter and making sure that she works closely with the teachers in schools, the Minister of Education and Skills Development Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi took a stand against the teachers and the invigilation of examinations was politicised. At the end of the day the minister and teachers unions are sitting comfortably in their offices while the students who were writing the exams have started to feel the pinch of the whole saga.
As the strike moves into the third week, there has been pretence that teaching is taking place in schools. The truth of the matter is that the few teachers who are at work are not conducting any meaningful classes as students are reported to be just idling for the past two weeks. In the first place, it is a fact that the remaining teachers cannot teach classes of those on strike while parents are losing money transporting their children to and from school for unproductive days.
