MEC Grant Outlines the Western Cape's Response to the Teachers Strike

It has now become clear that industrial action by teachers, starting tomorrow, is inevitable.

We sincerely hoped that a settlement between the Unions and the Government would have been reached by now. However, the reality is that industrial action will go ahead tomorrow and that we do expect that it will affect some of our province's schools.

We are appealing, until otherwise notified, that parents and caregivers continue to send their children to school.

The Provincial Government's main objective's is to ensure the protection of our learners and that teaching and learning continues as far as it is possible in the current circumstances.

In terms of learner safety, we will provide, where possible, supervision for learners, utilizing district staff and parents.

I must stress, that we will not tolerate unlawful behaviour and will do our utmost to ensure the safety of our learners, teachers and our schools.

Equally, the Provincial Government will also apply the principle of no work, no pay to any teacher who withholds their services during this period. i.e. who is not in the classroom teaching.

As stated, our second objective is to ensure that learners continue to read, write and calculate. We urge parents to ensure that their children bring extra learning materials to school. Examples of such learning materials include library books, textbooks, crosswords and past examination papers.

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will, wherever possible, provide teaching alternatives and will ensure that as many resources are directed to our Grade twelve (12) learners, who have fifty six (56) days to go till their first practical National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.

Our third objective is to ensure that the system functions as effectively as possible despite the disruptions. Therefore, everyday, we will be monitoring, very closely, absentee levels of educators in all our schools.

This will be communicated to the Provincial Head Office in order to identify where there are large-scale stayaways so that we know which areas and schools are in need of assistance and where to direct our resources.

I would finally like to appeal to all parents, learners and educators that they remain calm and focussed during this period, and to ensure that we do everything possible to protect the interests of learners in this province.