Durban - KwaZulu-Natal is one of eight provincial education departments which have underpaid thousands of promoted teachers, a bungle that could cost the government millions in backpay.
An investigation by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is believed to be under way to determine the extent of the problem and the potential cost implications.
The provincial education department is already under strain, spending more than 84% of its R45 billion budget on salaries - 4% more than the national benchmark of 80%.
Salary increases for the 2016/17 financial year will cost the department R2.6bn, despite the department only receiving a R2.3bn budget increase this year.
The extent to which the education departments have shortchanged the teachers remains unclear, but the matter was formally tabled at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) last week.
The only province that has correctly applied the policy relating to promotion of teachers is the Western Cape.
The underpaying of teachers who have been promoted appears to have come about as the department’s misreading of the rules. These state that a promoted teacher must be promoted to the minimum salary notch of promotion, but must always receive a salary increase of at least 6% - or six salary notches.
Salaries are determined using the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) salary structure, which has 221 notches.
Each notch represents a percentage and clear guidelines for the minimum pay of teachers (post level 1), school department heads (post level 2), deputy principal (post level 3) and principal (post level 4).
A “promotionâ€ù is only applicable once a teacher moves between the post levels.
A Government Gazette published in February reads: “The salary of an educator who is promoted must be adjusted to the minimum notch of the salary range applicable to the higher post level, provided that the educator’s salary is at all times increased by at least 6%, irrespective of whether the current notch code falls below or within the higher salary rangeâ€ù.
The error was revealed by the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA, Naptosa, at a seminar on teacher salaries at the Northlands Primary School in Durban North this week.
Naptosa’s ELRC representative, Louis Smit, speaking to a hall packed with teachers, said the promotion policy had “somehow been incorrectly interpretedâ€ù in accordance with the salary scales.
Smit said the departments were correctly promoting teachers to the minimum salary post level, but were incorrectly failing to note that promotions were accompanied with a minimum 6% salary increase, irrespective of the minimum post level.
This led to some teachers being awarded with lower promotion salaries than the provisioned 6% salary directive.
“You have instances where the (school) departmental head, who was on notch 124, applies for a deputy principal post (which is minimum notch 126). In KZN, they applied the rule where you move the person to the minimum notch, but they did not apply the rule where it states that a promotion must at all times be at least 6%,â€ù she said.
The correct salary notch for the newly promoted deputy principal would be to salary notch 130, which according to the April OSD salary scale, led to a shortfall of up to R12 951 for that individual. Those affected could go as far back as 2008, when the policy came to effect.
Naptosa KZN chief executive, Anthony Pierce, said a KZN Department of Education representative had revealed at the ELRC that the department had no money to correct the bungle.
Pierce said KZN education’s chief financial officer, Hlengiwe Mcuma, told him the province was calculating the extent of the bungle.
Natu deputy president, Allen Thompson, said there had been too many people losing money over the years and the matter had to be taken to the bargaining council.
Department of Basic Education spokesman, Elijah Mhlanga, said the allegations were being investigated.
Daily News