Cape Town – The employment of 200 000 teaching assistants and 100 000 general assistants at schools across the country has raised concerns about the sexual safety of pupils because of inadequate vetting and shortcomings in the sexual offenders register.
Education departments already have to deal with teachers guilty of sexual misconduct, with the SA Council for Educators (SACE), saying it had received 92 sex-related complaints in the financial year 2019/20, of which 18 are in the Western Cape.
National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) chief executive Matekanye Matakanye said: “We are concerned about this and we want the Education Department to reconsider its position. We also encourage the department to do thorough background checks on the teachers. Having a police clearance is not enough when dealing with children.”
Matakanye said as the national body they have been petitioning the department to halt its decision to deploy the teacher assistants and general assistants. At the same time they will be meeting with the director-general of the national Education Department this Saturday to discuss their concerns.
SACE spokesperson Thembinkosi Ndhlovu said: “SACE is worried by the fact that some educators still make themselves guilty of sexual misconduct. As a result, SACE deems sexual misconduct as priority cases.
“SACE has taken the decision to demand that each applicant seeking to register with SACE should submit a police clearance which is not older than six months. SACE also submits an applicant’s details to the Department of Justice for vetting against the National Register for Sexual Offenders (NRSO).”
The department’s plans form part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential employment stimulus programme. The roll out of the assistants started yesterday.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said: “What we are concerned with about the appointment of these teacher assistants is that they don't have adequate training. The department must have to put proper structures in place because a police clearance is not enough, because what about the physiological standing of a teacher?” Maluleke said they were worried about the increase in cases compared with last year.
UCT’S Children’s Institute researcher Lucy Jamieson said: “The Children’s Institute, along with other civil societies, pointed out the inadequacy of the national child protection register and the NRSO.
“It is not completed and those registries do not work properly and are completely flawed. The sexual offences registry does not contain names of those who commit domestic violence and asking for a police clearance will ensure that ultimately you cover a much broader structure of criminal activity. What we would like to see is that the principals are actually looking at the staff’s history and check the teachers' history thoroughly. The vast majority of people who have committed offences against women and children are not caught or convicted. Any system of doing background checks is not sufficient.”
Child commissioner Christina Nomdo said: "The Department of Education should vet every one of its personnel as they all, at some point, may have direct contact with children.
“This will avert the tragedies we come across where known offenders harm children.”
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department had strict processes in place when appointing new permanent employees.
“Vetting of new employees at a departmental level, which includes teachers and support staff, is done painstakingly. Any person seeking employment within the department is required to be fingerprinted. We then use the services of an external service provider that specialises in background checks.
"The service is probably more reliable than that of the Sexual Offenders Registers of the Departments of Justice and Social Development.”
Elijah Mhlanga from the National Department of Education said the new teachers who they plan to employ will be required to provide clearing documents.
“There is never certainty in life. The fact that people don't have previous criminal records doesn't guarantee safety. Child molesters can be found anywhere but in the case of this programme the department has done the basic vetting to ensure that only upstanding individuals are appointed.”
Cape Argus