The Citizen reports that Gauteng schools could face further teacher shortages this year, according to the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu).  But the province’s education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, said on Wednesday there were enough teachers to deal with the annual surge of new pupils.  

This as the province faced a massive placement backlog for new pupils.  The department had placed only 18,000 of the new 58,000 pupils requiring placement in schools on Wednesday.  Lesufi said:  “For now we still have enough teachers to cope.”  But, Sadtu spokesperson Mugwena Maluleke begged to differ and went on to say:  “If there is an increase of pupils every year like I have seen, clearly there will be shortages.  I have been to a number of schools where they are missing teachers.”

• Read this report by Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni in full at The Citizen

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page