Durban -Lessons did not take place at 32 schools in the south of Durban because teachers marched to the Umbumbulu circuit offices in support of 17 colleagues dismissed from Masakhaneni High School in KwaMakhutha.
The teachers are alleged to have sold drugs to pupils.
More than 100 teachers, part of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), sat outside the Umbumbulu district offices demanding their colleagues return to the school on Thursday.
Lungile Lushaba, Sadtu chairperson in the Andrew Zondo region - which includes Umbumbulu, iLlovu and KwaMakhutha - said in February the school principal had called the police to search the teachers at the school for drugs.
She said a few days later the 17 teachers were told they were no longer welcome because of allegations that included selling marijuana to pupils and sleeping with some of them.
Lushaba said members of the school governing body were part of the crowd gathered outside the premises barring teachers from entering. The following day, 22 volunteers from surrounding areas were deployed to the school to fill in the teaching gaps.
This angered her as she claimed no proper investigations were conducted because the teachers were “summarily dismissed from their posts”.
Lushaba said they had been fighting this matter with the Department of Education for the past six months with no results, which had resulted in the march to the circuit offices.
“We want them to deal with the principal. We want the proper procedures to be followed and not for people to be dismissed in any fashion,” she said.
Stressful
A dismissed teacher said the whole matter had been stressful. The teacher, who did not want to be named, said when she arrived at the school on February 19, the gates had been locked.
She said: “They threatened to kill us and burn our cars.”
Despite their protests, the teacher said they were told they would not be allowed on to the school’s premises.
She said the incident had left many of the dismissed teachers traumatised. Some had to be admitted to hospital, she added, because of stress. Three days earlier, they had been humiliated when police searched them in front of the pupils.
She said: “Our self-esteem is gone. We feel worthless.”
Sadtu advised the teachers to report to their local district offices while the matter was being addressed. The teacher said they reported to the circuit offices for two months before temporary teaching posts were found for them.
Although they had been redeployed, they wanted to return to Masakhaneni High because they were most happy there and had been teaching at the school for more than 10 years.
“We had managed to get pass rates for many subjects like physical science,” she said.
Sicelo Khuzwayo, the department’s spokesperson, said they were aware of the situation and had formed a task team to deal with the matter urgently.
Khuzwayo said this was because final-year examinations were around the corner.
He also said he did not understand why teachers from other schools had protested at the regional district offices because they did not have any problems at their schools.
Principal Nhlanhla Makhanya declined to comment, saying he was not authorised to speak to the media. Two members of the school governing body also declined to comment.