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Government hints Zimbabwean teachers might be recruited to alleviate shortage in SA
Nomusa Cembi, The Cape Times (SA)
January 10, 2007

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=15831

Johannesburg - Maths and science teachers from Zimbabwe may help to alleviate the shortage in South Africa. Gauteng Education MEC Angie Motshekga said yesterday that Education Minister Naledi Pandor had told her that Zimbabwean teachers had approached the government looking for work. Motshekga said the Zimbabwean teachers had not yet been recruited, but they might be if the need arose. She said with the introduction of the new curriculum for Grade 10 pupils, which requires that all pupils do maths or maths literacy as a subject, more maths teachers would be needed in the province. "We don't have a crisis, but we don't have many trained maths and science teachers either. We do anticipate a crisis and if we can't get enough maths and science teachers, we will look into this pool (of Zimbabwean teachers)," she said.

Don Pasquallie, deputy general secretary of the SA National Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), said the recruitment of Zimbabwean teachers should not come at the expense of the quality of education in Zimbabwe. He said Sadtu would support the move only if the department and the unions had satisfied themselves that they had done all they could to find a suitably qualified person in the province or in the country. He urged the country not to exploit the unstable situation in Zimbabwe by offering teachers high salaries. Dave Balt, president of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA (Naptosa), said it was tragic that SA had to rely on another country to supply it with teachers. He said the unions had long been warning the department of the looming teacher shortage crisis. "The situation is so chronic that any emergency measures would be welcome," Balt said. He said only 4 800 trainee teachers wrote their final exams last year. Before the closure of colleges, about 20 000 teachers were produced annually.

Duncan Hindle, director-general in the Department of Education, said teachers were not recruited at a national level. He said the first choice was South African teachers, but if a suitably qualified person could not be found, they were free to recruit outside the country. "We have Indian teachers in the North West," he said, referring to the relationship with Commonwealth countries. He said if there was to be any recruitment, it would be done on an individual basis. Hindle confirmed that South Africa recognised Zimbabwe teacher qualifications. Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, said the country lost more than 4 000 teachers in 2005, mainly to neighbouring countries which offered better salaries. Majongwe said the exodus of teachers became noticeable in 2000. This had not led to a shortage of teachers as the country produced 5 000 teachers annually, but good teachers were lost.

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