Speaking at the National Teachers Day celebrations held at Jwaneng yesterday, Keorapetse Kgasa said that it is disturbing that some of their colleagues are perennially counted among the truants and irresponsible citizens. He said teachers are role models and the people they teach are likely to emulate what they do or say. He stated that Botswana teachers' unions have long declared a commitment to professional ethics, which represents individual and collective commitment by teachers. "It is unfortunate that the Ministry of Education has not taken seriously our declarations and submission with regard to the code of ethics," he said.
He said that the ministry must take cognisance of the fact that code of ethics is a tool that aims at helping teachers respond to interrogations related to professional conduct and at the same time to the problems arising from relations with the different stakeholders in education. Kgasa revealed that there are still teachers who are charged with misconduct of having sexual relationships with their students. "Those unethical acts shall not be condoned and those still involved should desist from that instantly," Kgasa said. He added that there are teachers who continue to indulge in serious alcohol abuse to the extent of failing to perform their duties.
The unionist explained that teacher organisations and the MoE are in the process of proposing to Parliament the formulation of a teaching council to fight indiscipline, which is threatening the teaching profession. "We need to accord our profession a lot of respect because we are charged with the great responsibility of mentoring children," he said.
On other issues, kgasa stated that the theme of the day: 'Teacher, a key to partner in achieving national prosperity and well-being" encourages teachers to take pride of their profession and the achievements they have made.
He, however, said teachers in Botswana continue to be confronted with a lot of challenges in their day-to-day execution of duties. He asserted that teachers supervising evening classes are exposed to both internal and external dangers. Kgasa called on the ministry to extend the boarding allowances in boarding schools to teachers instead of the headteachers only as they do the bulk of the work. He stated that the discriminatory approach is demoralising teachers who are rendering a valuable service in boarding schools, often waking up at odd hours to attend to the needs of the students.
He also said that their teaching scheme of service is not only senile but has been overtaken by events. "Contemporary developments dictate that there have been changes which have diversified the work of a teacher," he said indicating that the scheme of service continue to impact negatively on their levels of operations. "For instance, it is in our MoE where accumulation and upgrading of qualification do not account much. Diploma and degree holders in both primary and junior secondary continue to face no if not slow progression and this affects their performance negatively," he said.
He called on the ministry to urgently revamp their scheme of service to accommodate diverse interests and qualifications of teachers without disadvantaging anyone. "This will reduce our despising each other on the ground of which level you are operating at," Kgasa said.
He stated that lack of proper consultation by MoE continues to generate undue animosity between teacher organisation and the ministry. He indicated that the introduction of parallel progression, double shift, leave encashment and size of class increases are some of the otherwise good policies which are not filtered down properly due to lack of consultation.
