DA calls on basic education minister to pay SGB teachers
Grade 6 and Grade 11 will return to school on Monday. Picture: Jacques Naude Africa News Agency (ANA).
Urgent attention is needed to pay salaries of School Governing Body-appointed support staff and teachers, as schools reopen.
This is the call made by the Democratic Alliance on Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, since a number of SGB-appointed teachers and support staff are not receiving their full salaries.
Some schools simply do not have the financial means to keep paying their SGB staff full salaries, while at the same time ensuring that school premises open safely. Many parents have also not been able to pay school fees due to the devastating economic fallout from the Covid-19 lockdown, according to the DA.
It said losing these teachers would further disrupt an already unstable situation, and argued that additional teachers should be employed to ensure learning took place.
This comes as Motshekga signalled giving leeway to parents who are worried about sending their children back to school amid the pandemic.
She said at a briefing on Tuesday morning that the department had agreed not to deregister children who had been absent from school for 10 days, as required by law.
Speaking at a briefing at Peter Zongwane Primary School in Tembisa, Gauteng , Motshekga encouraged parents to let the school know if they had decided not to let their children return to class.
“Parents that are comfortable in bringing their children to school, are still able to bring their children. But those who don’t, must notify us on time. We have advised that they must homeschool their children,” Motshekga said.
