City Press reports that provincial departments of education have yet to place more than 2,000 graduate teachers funded by the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE’s) Funza Lushaka bursary.
This is because too many students are leaving university without skills in demand, creating a supply vacuum and redundancy. Out of 651 graduates who need to be placed in the Eastern Cape, its education department has managed to place only 36 – just 6% of the total. This was revealed in a presentation by the DBE to the portfolio committee on higher education, science and innovation. According to the National Development Plan, the Funza Lushaka bursary programme should ensure that teaching graduates are “immediately absorbed” into public schools, and “it should not be left to graduates to find placements in schools”. The bursary was established in 2007 with the aim of producing teachers for public schools, who could give instruction in at least two priority subjects – such as mathematics and science. While it is a bursary affiliated to the DBE, it is administered by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. According to the department’s presentation, only 1,646 out of 4,184 graduates were placed by the end of last month. The presentation, which was made a fortnight ago, said placement was “ongoing”. According to the presentation, without prescribed enrolment plans at universities, there was a risk that too many teachers would be produced in areas where an oversupply already existed. It was reported last month that graduate teachers who were not funded by Funza Lushaka were also struggling to find jobs because of a DBE policy that prioritised the appointment of graduates funded by the bursary. Michelle Mathey of the department of higher education, commented: “We are not too worried about numbers. What we are worried about is the specialisation of those students coming out and [whether] they are talking to the demands of the country. Which phases have they graduated to teach in? We are concerned about that. We could have 50 000 new teachers, but, if they are not responding to the needs in the country, we do have a crisis.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongekile Macupe at City Press (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Makhanda school in court bid to have more teachers appointed, at DispatchLive
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