Education

With regard to the alleged forced resignation of a black teacher at the Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School:

 (1)     Whether she and her Department knew of challenges with transformation at the school; if not, why not; if so, what interventions did she put in place;

 (2)     whether she will be taking any remedial action against the principal and the School Governing Body of the school in the light of these events; if not why not, if so what are the relevant details;

 (3)     whether she has any plans to increase the number of black and coloured teachers at the school; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

 (4)     whether the teacher in question received any emotional support from her Department; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

 (5)     what are her plans to address transformation in quintiles 4 and 5 schools?

 Answer

 THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

 With regard to the alleged forced resignation of a black teacher at the Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School:

 (1)     At the end of 2017, the Department became aware that some parents were raising concerns, with, according to them, slow progress of transformation of the school. The HOD and a small team of senior officials, met with a group of concerned parents immediately. They met to try to understand the nature of their concerns, and to listen to their inputs.

 An undertaking was given to set up a series of engagements in 2018, with various roleplayers, to hear all sides of the story and to ultimately seek a conciliatory approach to the issues raised. 

 At no stage were issues of racism raised. The concerns related to this group's perception of the school's slow progress with transformation and embracing diversity. 

 Subsequently in 2018, separate meetings were arranged with the SMT , then with the SGB and SMT together, and then Governing body, SMT and concerned parents group, as well as circuit manager and district director. 

 The parent group indicated all that they had done in trying to speed up transformation.  The SGB similarly indicated the steps that they had taken, and gave the assurance of their commitment to transformation. At the same time, the school indicated the various interventions they had had with external roleplayers in creating a diversity awareness, and the steps they had taken emanating from that. 

 The last meeting was held in September 2018 where agreement was reached by ALL parties that the parent group would have input into the Diversity sub-committee – to design a transformation implementation plan at the school, and that they would form part of the SGB's diversity sub-committee.

 The issue has since been raised again with the resignation of the educator.

 The WCED remains committed to an ongoing process of reconciling the differences, ensuring participative processes by all interested groups.  A meeting was held last week where all parties agreed to external, independent mediation.

 (2)     Unless further information comes to light that causes me to change my mind, I will not be taking any remedial action against the principal or SGB for the resignation of Ms Mthembu.

 My information is that Ms Mthembu resigned after ongoing legitimate concerns were raised with her regarding her performance in the classroom. Out of respect for her privacy, these have not been disclosed, despite media pressure making assumptions that this had to do with her race.

 Among Ms Mthembu’s complaints was that the school singled her out for a “mentorship programme” that left her traumatised. The school makes this type of mentorship available for all junior teachers.  She was not singled out because of her race.

 Every day, there are hundreds of educators, principals and officials undergoing mentorship programmes to improve their performance. This is something we encourage as a department. We encourage all teachers especially new ones, to take part in these programmes for continuous professional growth.

 The school has indicated that they have records of various meetings with Ms. Mthembu where interventions were discussed and she acknowledged the issues raised in those meetings and the support offered by the school. 

 (3)     The WCED’s Personnel Administrative Measures document, which emanates from a National Collective Agreement, is the tool the employer uses to shortlist, interview and nominate employees of the WCED, irrespective of race.

 The WCED also upholds Chapter 11 of the Employment Equity Act, no 55 of 1998 and Regulations. The WCED further upholds section 28(2) of the Constitution of South Africa in appointing the best teachers for every child in every classroom and every school.  

 A School’s SGB does, however, not have a duty to inform the Department whom they appoint as they have their own legal personality, elected by the body of parents.

 We are constantly trying to foster a culture in the WCED of embracing diversity and ensuring inclusion in our education system, and will continue to do so.

(4)     Ms Mthembu was an SGB appointment, not a WCED appointment, and thus we were not aware of her need for any emotional support.  She is no longer at the school so we can’t comment on her current situation. 

(5)     Please see response to question 3.  In addition, we are developing a Diversity Strategy, which we have been working on for over a year, to ensure that diversity is embraced and enhanced at ALL of our schools.