"We experienced a lot of onslaught from the minister (Jacob Nkate) through the media. There is no social dialogue between key partners within the ministry and we are unhappy about that," Botswana Secondary Teachers Union (BOSETU) president Eric Ditau said yesterday.
He gave the example of headmasters who have received retirement letters from the department of Teaching Service Management (TSM) for alleged poor performance. He indicated that because they were stakeholders they expected the director, the permanent secretary and the minister to have called them for discussion on the issue. "Instead we just heard from the media that some headmasters were being retired for poor performance," he said.
Ditau further said promotions of heads of department and senior teachers Grade One were also a cause for concern to BOSETU because they were done in a way that showed that there was "a lot of favoritism and nepotism".
On school fees and double shift, the BOSETU chief said they were not improving the education system in Botswana. "The general working conditions of teachers that have not been improved gives us very little to celebrate," Ditau said.
Keorapetse Kgasa, secretary general for the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) concurred and stated that apart from the confrontations they had with the minister they are happy to celebrate their profession. "We love our profession which has opened our eyes and got us in touch with the communities that we work with," Kgasa said.
The theme for the celebrations is: "Teacher, the key partner in achieving national prosperity and well- being". Minister Nkate is the guest speaker.
