DURBAN - THE Department of Education has deployed a total of 521 new teachers to schools in the province through its HR App, and redeployed a further 700 teachers to start teaching from on Monday.
Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said that on Friday the department met with teacher unions to discuss the mechanism that would facilitate the movement of 700 surplus teachers to identified schools.
There were concerns when the department issued its post provisioning norms (PPN) certificates last October for the year 2021.
School principals were concerned that the figures used by the department to determine the ratio of teachers to pupils were fictitious and that this would result in schools losing teachers.
If the ratio of teachers to pupils in a school was high, then the surplus teachers were displaced from that school and assigned to another.
Mahlambi said the department had identified 961 surplus teachers through the process of PPN. He said 700 of these teachers had not moved to the identified schools.
“Following our meeting with the unions, we will work together in facilitation the process of moving the 700 teaches to the identified schools.”
Mahlambi on Sunday warned against the disruption of these appointments and redeployments, saying that there would be consequences for both the teachers who refused these deployments and any schools or school governing bodies (SGBs) that tried to go against them.
“We want to ensure that schools are well-staffed and that there is stability. No school or SGB is allowed to refuse redeployment and the appointment of teachers,” said Mahlambi.
He said the meeting was also called to discuss the issue of newly appointed teachers – 521 of them.
Head of Department Dr Enoch Nzama said his department would continue to work tirelessly to ensure that there were teachers for pupils.
Daily News