When teachers strike children suffer

One hopes that the on-going go-slow by teachers does not intensify into a full-blown strike if Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga remains in her position.

In fact, this possibility should worry any conscientious parent and teacher.

The union has given the president 21 days to fire the minister.

Granted, as a union, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) has a right to push any labour union position.

Unions have rights and, in fact, should constantly address the challenges in the workplace specifically, as well as society in general.

This is not new. When the first black African teacher union was established in 1879, there was an undertaking from members for it to focus not only on educational issues, but also on social and national aspects as well.

Therefore, it is not peculiar for Sadtu to move beyond the mere educational mandates, but also to look at the political aspects.

Hence it is calling for a political reshuffle to solve societal and educational challenges.

Issues such as improved teacher salaries and better working conditions are concerns of all deserving teachers as workers.

Teachers should have these rights; after all, as members of a democratic society they also enjoy various freedoms. It is not unreasonable for teachers to fight for better conditions in the workplace.

Teachers should fight for better salaries and the timeous delivery of textbooks – although we all know that the best of textbooks will never replace effective teaching.

However, the teachers’ political actions should take into account not only their own concerns, but the general interests of society as well.

Education is too important to be left in the hands of one role-player. Moreover, education is a public good and unions need to appreciate that their actions and inaction affect the other tiers of society.

There are always casualties when teachers put down their chalk and, unfortunately, it is poor children in poor schools who bear the brunt of disgruntled teachers.

The secretary-general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, was heckled by teachers at a Sadtu national congress last year when he said: “The revolutionary forces in the area of education are in disarray.”

Mantashe said that when teacher unions went on strike, black African children in township schools suffered, while many teachers’ children attended former white schools where education usually continued, even during strikes.

It is very difficult to fathom who wins and who loses during teacher strikes. Maybe it is an argument we do not want to entertain, because of its complexity.

Some have tried to characterise teachers’ work as different from that of other workers who do not deal with children in their workplaces.

Furthermore, some wonder whether this is a fair debate to start with.

It is, however, an undeniable fact that teachers deal with sensitive subjects, the future of our society – the children.

One might not really know for sure if the minister of education and her director-general are efficient or not.

Any ministry of education will be as good as its teachers and the opposite is true.

A ministry that is supported by its teachers sharing the same passion, same vision, has potential to succeed.

Nothing will work if some role-players are not pulling in the same direction.

While the union claims the ministry is not delivering, teachers have to be more vigilant in seeing that education attains its objectives.

Tomorrow we might have a new minister of education as well as a new director- general, but if we have teachers who are uncommitted, without vision and political ethic, they, too, will fail to make the grade.

Concentrating on individuals will never be a panacea to societal challenges after all; it takes more than these mundane niceties to transform social policies.

We need to continue looking for the right answers, but it must be in relevant places.

Teacher unions are huge role-players whose voice is critical in educational policy, but it is meticulous decision-making that the education role-players need from the labour unions.

Unions have enormous power and this needs to be used judiciously, especially considering the effects of go-slows and strikes on our two-tiered system of education.

There is something wrong with an action where William George High School is operating normally while Ntokozweni High School pupils roam the streets aimlessly, because the school gates are locked.

Maybe it is a strategy, a way of ensuring that the powers-that-be will listen when children are not attending school, but can we really let children be the cannon fodder in the struggle for labour’s interests?

Society cannot and should not be dismissive of teachers’ concerns.

In fact, many well-meaning members of society continue to recognise teaching as the noble profession that it is.

Teachers are workers who nurture our children and should by all means be treated well as workers.

Their conditions of service should be constantly improved.

After all, no stakeholder will want to see displeased teachers. We all need to support teachers as potential bearers of hope in a fledgling society.

However, it is when the strikes adversely affect pupils that we might not be able to balance the logic of the labour unrest with the future of the children.

At the end, all the role-players need to win after each labour action. It is too costly to have casualties. It is difficult to recoup lost time in education.

As society we are always in search of meaningful changes and we cannot let the government filibuster, instead of bringing real changes, and if teachers can speed change initiatives, this should be supported.

Despite the strides in technology this century, the teachers can never be replaced and are the rightful voices for change in education. Pedagogy will never have any meaning without the warmth and diligence of committed educators.

Yet, these workers need to understand their role in revolutionary transformation should not be antithetical to the goals of social justice.

Actions need to be informed by a political ethic where all role-players win.

Finally, the notion is true – any ministry will win if the employees are supportive. An effective ministry is equal to winning schools.

But the time is now ripe for our teacher unions to look at healthier alternatives, rather than kick down the already falling walls in historically black schools in particular.

We need to devise means to make sure that pupils from indigent families are not left to lick wounds after strikes.

That child with no social and cultural capital should not be left to the vices of luck and chance.

Undoubtedly, society will support labour actions by teachers when these are just and also seek to better the lives of thousands of needy pupils.

l Vuyisile Msila is a professor at Unisa’s College of Education. He writes in his personal capacity.

Pretoria News