765 complaints filed against SA teachers

The South African Council for Educators (SACE) said 765 complaints were received against educators in South Africa with the Western Cape accountable for 200 of them.

According to Ella Mokgalane SACE chief executive when she presented its almanac 2018/2019 report to parliament’s portfolio committee on basic education. With the highest incident happened in the Western Cape was corporal punishment and assault category of unprofessional conduct with 173 cases, followed by inappropriate conduct. She said 636 files were opened against educators with some educators accused of more than one misbehaviour. Most cases were committed because educators spent a lot of time with pupils, even for afternoon classes. These acts were committed by mathematics and sciences.

The committee also received a briefing from the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi). Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba committee chairperson lauded Umalusi for highlighting challenges faced, raising it with the Basic Education Department and monitoring that the identified weaknesses were brought to the attention of national department.

The committee heard that the Umalusi verification of the state of readiness for the department was conducted from September 11 and completed on October 1, and that 629 197 full-time candidates were registered as at September 30 and 122 471 part-time candidates. Umalusi was further satisfied that the department, through the nine provincial education departments, considering the level of readiness, are ready to conduct the 2019 NSC exams.

By: Ellousie Muller