KZN educators who have had to adapt to new ways of teaching during Covid-19, hailed on Teachers’ Day

IFP spokesperson on education and member of the provincial legislature (MPL) Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said despite the teacher shortages, the party applaud teachers who, during the Covid-19 crisis, have shown great strength, determination and innovation in ensuring that learning and teaching continues.

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Published Oct 6, 2021

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DURBAN - TEACHER deaths due to the novel coronavirus have added further strain to the current crop of educators and adversely affected the quality of education, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal.

This means that the government needs to provide meaningful and adequate support to education, the teaching profession and educational support staff, to meet the demands of the changing teaching environment, the IFP said yesterday.

As South Africa joined in celebrating World Teachers’ Day, IFP spokesperson on education and member of the provincial legislature (MPL) Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said teachers had also been expected to carry a heavier workload, due to changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in the curriculum.

World Teachers’ Day is sanctioned by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and is meant to raise awareness, understanding and appreciation for the contribution that teachers make to education and development globally.

Many parents took to social media yesterday to acknowledge the role that teachers play in the development of their children.

“Teachers in South Africa do not receive adequate and continuous support and development. Teachers have also been expected to carry a heavier workload, due to changes caused by the coronavirus and changes in the curriculum,” said the MPL.

She added that continuous training and rigorous development was required to equip teachers for these changes, in order to still produce quality results and improved performance from pupils.

The MPL said that the courage demonstrated by teachers under difficult working conditions was well worth acknowledging.

“Despite the teacher shortages, we applaud teachers who, during this Covid-19 crisis, have shown great strength, determination and innovation in ensuring that learning and teaching continues and that no pupils are left behind. Their courage is applauded,” said Madlopha-Mthethwa.

Teacher union Sadtu said it applauded teachers for the role they have played in ensuring that education continued amid the pandemic.

“They have had to adapt to new ways of teaching, using online platforms to reach their pupils; they have had to be counsellors to their pupils who have lost their parents and teachers; they have had to be safety officers to ensure their schools comply with the health and safety guidelines in order to save their lives as well as those of pupils.

“They have had to sacrifice their precious time with families, teaching during weekends and holidays to make up for the lost time. They are indeed at the heart of education recovery.”

The union said for this year’s theme, “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”, to become a reality, Sadtu was calling for increased investment in the well-being, training, professional development and working conditions of teachers, to recover the learning losses and to adapt to new ways of teaching and learning that have been developed in order to contend with the pandemic.

“We need education for our economy to recover. For South Africa to be more productive, we need more educated workers. The government has to invest in human resource development and teachers are crucial in producing that educated and skilled workforce.”

KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu thanked teachers for their hard work.

“We take this opportunity to wish teachers a happy World Teachers’ Day. We thank you for all the hard work and the sacrifices. As we speak, some of them are not on holiday; they are busy teaching pupils, more especially in the spring classes,” he said.

The KZN Department of Education salutes teachers on World Teachers’ Day. Picture: Supplied.

THE MERCURY