12 January 2012
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe paid a visit to schools in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.
Motlanthe, who was accompanied by Deputy Basic Education Minister Enver Surty and Eastern Cape government officials, visited Endulini Junior Secondary School and Lutshaya High School.
Motlanthe and Surty used the time to interact with pupils from Grade R to 9 as well as school management and the school governing body as part of an intervention to respond to pupils’ challenges at the schools.
Eastern Cape education has been placed under the microscope by the national department and President Jacob Zuma as they attempt to reform the provincial department’s finances, planning and human resource management.
Race to fill vacant teaching posts
The Eastern Cape Education Department is scrambling to fill vacant teaching posts in some of the province’s most understaffed schools.
Department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said on Wednesday that officials were busy issuing letters of employment to over 500 temporary teachers in 10 of the province’s districts.
“These teachers are qualified and registered with the South African Council of Educators,” Pulumani said. “This is an interim measure to ensure that all schools have teachers while the process of finalising permanent post provisioning continues.”
He said the post provisioning process would entail moving teachers from overstaffed schools to schools where their services were urgently required.
He added that once the process was finalised, the department would have a reliable profile of teacher needs in the province, enabling the department to issue a valid recruitment bulletin that would result in permanent employment into vacancies.
“That will assist us to ensure that the majority of teaching posts are permanent and that all teachers’ services are optimally utilised. This is crucial for finally ensuring lasting stability in education in the Eastern Cape,” said Pulumani.
Source: BuaNews
