Education departments cannot rely solely on the statutory “deemed discharge” to bypass questions about whether a teacher actually reported for duty. Teacher absenteeism and a lack of educators are massive problems in South Africa, yet, as a recent Labour Court ruling shows, education departments cannot simply label a teacher as “automatically fired” for not reporting to work without properly testing the facts. On an average school day, between 10% and 12% of teachers are absent, said the Auditor General in 2023.
This equates to lost teaching time of between 20 and 24 days per teacher each year, its report added. “Teacher absenteeism has persisted over many years and is higher in poorer schools,” it said.In addition,more than 30,000 educators have left South Africa’s public schoolsin the past five years. ore than 30,000 educators have left South Africa’s public schoolsin the past five years.
Yet, a recent ruling determined that teachers can’t simply be posted to schools they don’t want to work at – and then fired for not pitching up at that school. The Labour Court caseinvolved Sephiri Makhale, a mathematics teacher employed by the Free State Department of Education,who took the department to court to contest his firingbecause he didn’t go to the school they told him to. who took the department to court to contest his firing In 2015, Makhale was appointed as aPost Level 1 educatorat Seemahale Secondary School in Botshabelo in the Free State, teaching grades 8 to 10.
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In April 2019, he was transferred to Senakangweni Secondary School, where he worked until March 2021. Senakangweni Secondary School is located in Mmakau, in the North West Province, albeit near Pretoria. Google Maps shows that the distance between the two schools is about 10km.
The Senakangweni principal at the time, Diphagoe, decided to reduce staff numbers, and he told Makhale to return to Seemahale Secondary School. When he returned to Seemahale, the principal, Nkokoto, told him he would be transferred to Amohelang Primary School. The distance between these two schools is around 9km. Makhale objected, arguing that he had not consented to this transfer and had always intended to report to Seemahale, the school where he was officially registered.
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