Hundreds of Grade R teachers countrywide converged in Tshwane on Wednesday to deliver a memorandum of grievances to the Department of Basic Education in Tshwane.
Speaking to Tshwane Talks during the march on Wednesday, SAECDTU President Dr Bafana Langa said Grade R teachers have been suffering injustices for over 26 years now since the inception of this phase of early childhood learning in 1998 as educators who are in this system are not given due recognition.
He gave an example of a 63-year-old Grade R teacher who passed away after teaching for 30 years only to find that she had no benefits like pension funds as she was not in the government’s payroll.
“This is the situation whetein Grade R teachers, the majority of whom are women, find themselves in,” said Langa.
He pointed out that most Grade R teachers are not recognised by the department of Education, survive on a stipend for close to twenty years, go for a period of up to six months without being paid the self-same stipend and when they eventually get paid in the seventh month they get dismissed and the school they were working to get another teacher who they would Aldo exploit like the one who had just been dismissed,” explained Langa.
He raised concern about the fact that the uncertain working conditions wherein Grade R teachers find themselves has led to some of them dying as a result of stress and anxiety.
Langa pointed out that in provinces like the NorthWest Grade R teachers were going to be dismissed from their jobs as they are regarded as being under qualified even though they have the NQF level 5 or 6 certificate in Early Childhood Education.
He said many Early Childhood Development Centres, which were personally established by entrepreneurs, have now been absorbed by the Department of Basic Education but these entrepreneurs are being abused financially and are denied rights like maternity leave.
“We are calling upon the Minister of Basic Education to fix the mess in the Early Child Development phase as these teachers have been declared essential workers by the department,” he said.
Langa said former Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga failed dismally regarding early child development phase as she was apparently serving the purpose and narrative of her political party.
Grade R teacher Diejetseng Moloi from Qwa- Qwa in the Free State said she has many qualifications in the field of early childhood development and has been teaching since 2003,but has now been told that she is under qualified and will lose her job.
She revealed that presently she earns R7000 a month as a Grade R teacher but pointed out that it us not enough as she has many debts which accrued from her tuition fees and also from her daily needs as a person with numerous responsibilities like taking care of her children and family.
Another Grade R teacher Snazo Msithwa from the Eastern Cape, who has been teaching since 2001, raised concern about the department’s failure to absorb them into its system and allot to them all the benefits that are due to a teacher in the department of Basic Education.
The memorandum of SAECDTU was received by director of labour relations in the Department of Basic Education David Ntloana, who promised that the Minister Siviwe Gwarube will revert to the leadership of SAECDTU as soon as possible.
Some of the points listed in the South African Early Childhood Democratic Teachers Union (SAECDTU) petition, dubbed “Memorandum of Dignity” are as follows:
1. Since 2001 most Grade R teachers have been on a fixed-term contract on a year-to- year basis without compensation of benefits like pension funds.
2. Recognition of Grade R teacher’s qualifications like NSC, N3 Certificate and N4 Certificates.
3. Grade R teachers must be allotted permanent posts and compensated according to their qualifications, and their benefits must include housing or rent allowance and 13th cheque.
4.New initiatives like “Amapanyaza” are better compared to Grade R teachers with an NSC qualification, undergraduate and post graduate qualification.
5. Thousands of unemployed Grade R Diploma graduates are roaming the streets due to lack of teaching opportunities.
6. Some Grade R teachers have been told to work for up to ten years before earning a monthly salary.
7. The children of most deceased Grade R teachers are not paid by the Government Employees Pension Fund because their parents were not included in the system of the Department of Basic Education, yet they had been teaching children every day of their working lives.
The following attachment is copy of a memorandum: