By ROD AMNER and LOYISO DYONGMAN
Teaching was suspended at several public schools from Wednesday after the newly-formed Makhanda School Governing Board (SGB) Forum led a protest against the Eastern Cape Department of Education’s (DOE) failure to deliver stationery and pay for education assistants (EAs) and general school assistants (GSAs).
At 11 am Wednesday, teachers at several schools, including Ntaba Maria Primary, Samuel Ntsiko Primary and Mary Waters High School, downed tools.
Chair of the Makhanda Principals’ Forum Warren Schmidt said the shut down was “a mixed bag”.
While some schools closed, others – including most fee-paying schools – remained open. “The DOE has not addressed the issues but did ask for statistics of the percentage of teachers and learners at school today. They also have cancelled their events scheduled for Wednesday to Friday,” Schmidt said.
ECDOE payments for EAs and GSAs were in such disarray at the end of last year that the wrong payments went to most schools – either too much or too little.
According to an ECDOE spreadsheet, 1 802 Eastern Cape schools were overpaid, 1 852 under-paid. Correct payments were made to 1360 schools. Some schools have paid out of their own pockets to make up for the shortfall, but many others cannot afford to do so.
Three Eastern Cape Department of Education officials implicated in the payment debacle were suspended in early January. Despite this, payment delays continued.
However, ECDOE spokesperson Mali Mtima told Grocott’s that the last batch of outstanding January payments would be available to schools by Tuesday 22 February as the department was transferring the funds on Thursday 17 February.
Mtima said the DOE had established a toll-free call centre should any EAs or GSAs need information about their payments or related issues. The number is 080 1212 570.
Meanwhile, the Makhanda shutdown has been supported by members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu).
Several schools informed parents that there would be no classes until 22 February. A statement from the Ntaba Maria SGB said it was “hopeful that the department will swiftly resolve these non-payment issues, to allow us to resume teaching as usual”.
However, children were free to come to the school to eat from 10 am. They were required to leave by 11 am.
The principal of one local primary school said he was concerned about the legitimacy of the new SGB forum and the impromptu decision to shut schools down.
The SGB Forum was constituted on Tuesday. Chair Nosigqibo Soxujwa said the forum planned to affiliate with the National Association of SGBs (NASGB).
She said it was “good to hear that EA and GSA payments will be made by Tuesday, but it is news to us that the January EA payments were outstanding because of late submissions by schools.”
“To me, this is just a defensive statement; they know that there is no such problem. Schools were submitting time and again,” Soxujwa said.
“Also, the question is, ‘Why are they not depositing the EA and GSA money into their bank accounts as they were doing before. Now they pay to into the school’s accounts, and the schools make the payments.”
Mtima said the DOE had established a toll-free call centre should any EAs or GSAs need information about their payments or related issues. The number is 080 1212 570.
Mtima said the DOE delivered stationery through “a 24-hour delivery program with contracted service providers to ensure all schools get what was outstanding”.
“You should remember that these late deliveries are due to the late submission of catalogues by districts to us. Consignments are being delivered from our warehouse directly to schools. Over 95% of deliveries have been done now,” Mtima said.
However, SGB Forum chair Soxujwa asked why only a handful of local schools had received stationery so far.
“Why?” she asked.
Other grievances include:
- Vacant posts have not been filled.
- Some schools do not have adequate water, fencing, ablution facilities or caretakers.
Mary Waters High School principal Alphonso Michaels reported that the school needed at least four more educators to make the non-rotational timetable work. “There is an average of 46 learners in Grade 8, 45 in Grade 9 and 43 in Grade 10,” he said.
On Thursday 17 February, the Makhanda SGB Forum told Ntsika High School principal Madeleine Schoeman that they were hoping the shutdown would be over by next Tuesday.
District DOE officials will meet on Friday 18 February to discuss the shutdown.
