BDP endorses teaching as essential service

“This very important bill is currently being debated in Parliament. It is a bill covering about 53 clauses covering a wide variety of subjects, which are meant to reform our labour environment,” BDP secretary general Botsalo Ntuane said on Tuesday when addressing journalists at Tsholetsa House.

“The BDP supports the bill in its entirety including classification of the teaching cadre as an essential service. We look forward to its smooth passage and enactment of the necessary changes. This is an issue that the BDP caucus has discussed and which is informed by a resolution of the BDP national council for the teaching cadre to be removed from the public service act,” he added. Ntuane said teachers cannot work from 7.30am to 4.30pm like other civil servants. “Students results will keep on dropping if teachers are going to work like that. We trust this too will come to fruition soon,” he said.  However the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) secretary general Tobokani Rari said the decision taken by the BDP caucus is ill informed.