The Eastern Cape Education department has paid R67 million of the R82 million it was ordered to hand over to schools for unpaid teachers' salaries.
The Eastern Cape Education department has paid R67 million of the R82 million it was ordered to hand over to schools for unpaid teachers' salaries.
However, the Department has failed to publish bulletins of vacant posts which will force the schools to return to court, according to the Legal Resources Centre (LRC).
The schools were involved in South Africa’s first opt-in class action law suit, fronted by Linkside High School in Port Elizabeth and against the Minister of Education and his department.
Following the court order of 17 December 2014, PriceWaterhouseCoopers was appointed by the Department of Education to receive and verify schools’ claims for reimbursement for amounts spent on educators during 2011-2014 and to pay the verified claims.
The LRC, acting on behalf of all the schools that make up the class, says the schools are immensely relieved to receive this funding.
”Many schools have been placed in a perilous financial condition due to the Department’s ongoing failure to appoint educators to vacant substantive posts and pay them. Individual schools have accumulated between R200 000 and R5 million in debt over this period. This has resulted in schools increasing their fees, but this has often resulted in a higher rate of parents defaulting on payments,” comments the LRC.
The educators named in the court order, if suitably qualified, were to be appointed as permanent educators.
The Department has appointed all 144 educators with effect from 1 January 2015.
There was a delay in the payment of these educators, but the LRC says it is pleased to note that most of the teachers have been paid and, according to the recent update, will all be on the Department’s payroll for July.
However, while the LRC welcomes the payments and appointments to schools in terms of the court order, a key aspect of the 2014 court order remains unfilled.
The Department has failed to publish bulletins of vacant posts.
The first bulletin was due to be published on the 30 April 2015.
Failure to publish these lists of available posts prevents schools from employing professional educators in an open and transparent manner.
This effectively stops them from filling vital vacant posts which, in turn, has a hugely negative impact on learners.
Despite the excellent performance in reimbursing schools, the Department’s failure to comply with this critical element of the order leaves the schools with no choice but to return to court for urgent relief, the LRC concludes.
No answers to Grocott's Mail's questions to the Department of Education had been received by the time of publishing this article.
