Pay without work for KZN teachers

Pay without work for KZN teachers
2012-01-26 22:31


Durban - More than 900 KwaZulu-Natal teachers earn salaries without setting foot in classrooms, provincial education authorities said on Thursday.

These teachers claimed to have been displaced from their work places because of violence and intimidation, Education MEC Senzo Mchunu said in Durban.

"We are trying to deal with this problem because it hits us financially. We have agreed to develop a process to fast track the absorption and utilisation of these educators," he told reporters.

KwaZulu-Natal was the only province with this problem because of its history of political violence.

Some teachers had apparently been displaced for years. All they did was regularly go to the education department's circuit office to sign paperwork indicating they were still in the department's employ.

Mchunu said the department was busy doing away with the "displaced" category.

"This has to stop because we no longer have violence in this province. If teachers have problems in their schools, they must stay until those problems are resolved."

Some teachers refused to go to the new schools to which they had been assigned - with union backing.

Mchunu said the department would also deal with principals who consistently produced poor matric results.

"We are worried about the poor level of accountability among some principals. You find a principal who would produce less than 20% matric pass rate for four years and nothing is done to him."

They would first get training. Further action would be taken against them if they continued to perform badly.


- SAPA

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