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Sunday Times reports that education departments have agreed to pay the cost of vetting teachers against the national register for sex offenders (NRSO) after teachers objected to paying the fees themselves.
Four unions that are part of the Combined Teacher Unions (CTU) wrote to basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli in December to say there was no agreement between themselves and the department that teachers should pay for their own vetting. There are more than 447,000 teachers at almost 25,000 public schools. The cost of fingerprint reports, which have to be requested from the police, is about R75 per teacher. Initially, provincial education departments issued circulars informing schools that teachers had to pay for the fingerprint reports. The Western Cape provincial education department was alone among provinces which indicated that it was willing to foot the bill for its schools. Basil Manuel of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA said his union supported the vetting of teachers, but objected to them having to pay for it. He reported that Mweli told him on Friday that the employers would pay. “I believe that pressure from the unions could have possibly had a role to play in the departments' agreeing to foot the bill,” Manuel opined. Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga confirmed that they and the provincial education departments had agreed to pay for the vetting of teachers and other public employees in the sector. The process will start with teachers and staff in special schools and hostels and then in primary and secondary schools. “It cannot be done all at once since there is not sufficient capacity to do so given the number of employees in the education sector,” he said.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page