Morale down as teachers struggle without salaries

Report and picture by Madoda Dyonana

HARD TIMES: Polar Park Public School teachers in their staff room yesterday.

UMTATA -- About 17 teachers at Polar Park Public School near here yesterday accused the Education Department of dragging its feet in addressing their payment backlog which dates back to May last year.

School principal Siviwe Buso said the situation had affected staff morale and teachers were battling to make ends meet.

"I've never received a cent since I started working here and I find it difficult to provide for my family, which includes sending my children to school," said Buso.

Last year, the department promised to pay all the staff but temporarily employed six of the teachers who only received their payments between May and November.

Their salaries were later terminated without any explanation, said Buso.

The school was established by residents of the nearby informal settlement in 1999 and registered with the department last May.

It has enrolled about 1000 learners from beginners to Grade9, who are accommodated in the donated Eastern Cape Development Corporation buildings.

The school was supplied this year with learner support material but still requires furniture such as chairs and desks.

When the Daily Dispatch visited the premises on Wednesday it found the buildings in a shabby state with a pungent smell coming from blocked toilets.

Most learners were either roaming around or cramped in their filthy classrooms which have broken windows with no chairs, desks or proper chalkboards.

"I'm struggling to survive and depend on my father's pension grant. And most of the time I go to work on foot with nothing to eat for lunch," said Grade5 teacher Thobeka Gwadiso, a mother of four.

Gwadiso, who is one of the volunteer teachers, pleaded with the department to employ them.

School governing body chairperson Mfundo Qobongwana urged the department to do its duty.

A spokesperson for the Education Department, Danie Breytenbach, said the department was looking at employing more teachers this financial year but was still waiting for the budget allocation.

He said the school would also benefit from the R22million set aside by the department to purchase school furniture.