The Macassar Ward 109 Education Forum has called on the WCED to bring teachers back to their posts. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - A forum composed of former teachers, SGB members and residents is fighting to decrease overcrowding and teacher cuts in their district, and have managed to secure at least 10 teachers back into vacant posts.
The Macassar Ward 109 Education Forum has called on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to recall 40 teachers who were cut from the eight schools in the district.
The cut has led to class capacity of 65 learners, or grades operating without a teacher, and even two teachers presiding over four Grade 1 classes.
Enrico de Bruin, spokesperson for the forum, told the Cape Argus they started the physical counting of classroom sizes and teachers when the school year started and shockingly, found that four schools had lost between eight and 10 teachers each.
Macassar High School, which has 24 teachers, lost 10 teachers and had a Grade 11 class waiting for weeks for a teacher to be assigned to them.
False Bay Primary School also saw the loss of eight teachers along with Marvin Park Primary with nine, and Oklahoma Primary with nine.
The eight schools in the district accommodate 7 673 learners with 173 teachers and 40 teachers cut.
De Bruin, together with Julian Keet, are former teachers who joined forces in their plight within the forum. The forum held several meetings with the community and principals and later carried out an “unplanned” sit down with district officials where they called for more teachers to be appointed last week.
“I went to the schools after it opened and I began counting the children and teachers in Macassar. That is how I got to the number 40.
“Last Monday, we had a community member meeting and former teachers, where I explained the situation in Macassar and in the context of the broader Western Cape, and we held more meetings with the WCED circuit managers and principals.
“On Wednesday we went unannounced to the WCED offices.
“We had to choose that route because we knew they would not get back to us.
“We were told that some of the schools received teachers back.
“Our demands and objective was to have more teachers back in class” Keet said: “Our grievance is that policy takes too long. We are sitting with 60 to 65 children in class.”
De Bruin said the numbers inside classrooms were shocking and unrealistic.
“When I went to some of the primary schools, they did not have teachers for Grade 1, two teachers for four Grade 1 classes, with 55 children in the class.
“You cannot gamble there, it is the foundation phase, how do you justify giving quality education and it will have a ripple effect in the next few years.”
The forum said they believed that at least 10 posts were filled so far.
“We do not agree with the number of 2 407 (teacher cuts) because how do you give quality education as this is not done practically and how will these numbers affect the March mid term tests,” said de Bruin.
A parent, whose child attends Matroosfontein Primary School, said the Grade 1 classes of English and Afrikaans were combined and that it faced a challenge for children who were ADHD.
“I feel that the WCED failed our kids. My child is ADHD and the reason I chose Matroosfontein Primary is because their average kids in a class is 23-30 kids, which is a good thing for a child that is special needs, now they put more kids in a class still mix the languages as well,” she said.
Vanessa le Roux of Parents for Equal Education said they felt the allocation of large cuts were unfair at disadvantaged communities.
Education MEC David Maynier’s spokesperson, Kerry Mauchline, said the process of allocating new teachers to posts had a strategic process.
“The district has indicated that some of the schools (Macassar) did not follow the procedures for filling their empty posts, which is to consult the excess list, and if no suitable candidates are available, to motivate for a new appointment.
“The schools are now doing so, and approvals were given for appointments.
“This is not a case of posts being cut and then reinstated. The schools had vacancies after contracts ended, and needed to follow the process to make an appointment.
“They are being assisted with doing so, and the temporary issue with class sizes will thus be addressed.”
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