Teachers, education fight takes new twist

Teachers say school heads have warned that individual teachers will have to account for their non-participation in extra-curricular activities. However, the ministry and teacher unions are still in negotiations to thrash out teachers' hours of work, as well as their participation in extra-curricular activities. In Thamaga on Friday, primary school teachers in the Kweneng South East Zone attempted to boycott participating in athletics, saying besides being intimidated into participating, the competitions were poorly organised. However, they gave up the boycott when they realised it would only punish innocent pupils who were already in the village. Out of the four sub-zones that were supposed to compete, only three participated in the competition.

A teacher from one of the Thamaga primary schools alleged that they were forced to participate in the competitions despite their students' being unprepared.