Durban - THE announcement by the South African Council for Educators that all new teachers have to produce a police clearance certificate when applying for jobs has been met with cautious optimism by unions and school governing bodies.
Sace spokesperson Themba Ndhlovu said this was decided last year, in consultation with teachers’ unions and stakeholders, and took effect this month. The initiative resulted from the high number of sexual misconduct cases against teachers - 74 - they had dealt with last year.
The Daily News reported on numerous cases of errant teachers last year, including 17 teachers from Masakhaneni High School in Kwa- Makhutha being suspended on allegations of selling drugs and sleeping with pupils, and a 38-year-old Manguzi High School teacher being accused of impregnating five pupils, then promising their parents he would marry their daughters.
Thirona Moodley, provincial chief executive of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa), said the union welcomed the introduction of the new regulation.
She felt this was not an unreasonable request to make as “people who teach children should be upstanding”.
She said the step taken by Sace was proactive. “It is the responsible thing to do,” she said, adding that children’s rights to safety took precedence over other matters.
“It should be noted that the police clearance was mainly focused on people who had been convicted of sexual offences,” she said.
Scelo Bhengu, chairperson of the Educators’ Union of SA, said while the union welcomed Sace’s decision, it had many problems with it.
He said teachers with previous convictions and who had paid for them would be punished again for their offences.
“It appears that Sace is better at policing teachers than empowering them. They don’t seem to have thought this out,” he said.
Bhengu said he believed Sace had exceeded its powers by requiring teachers to produce police clearance certificates.
Matakanye Matakanya, general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, welcomed the development, saying teachers should not be convicted of “heinous” crimes.
He hoped the clearance certificates would be applied retroactively to affect teachers already working.