Parents threaten to ‘shut down’ KZN school
Angry parents are demand action against a KZN teacher who they say has spent “most” of the past three years out of the classroom.
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Angry parents, including school governing body (SGB) members, have vowed to “shut down” a KwaZulu-Natal school unless action is taken against a teacher who they say has spent “most” of the past three years out of the classroom, away on union business.
The governing body at the ML Sultan Primary in Ladysmith has given the Education Department until Friday to remove Rama Ramdewo and replace him with a “more capable” teacher.
If it fails to meet the ultimatum, the SGB, in a memorandum delivered on Monday, warned the school would “be locked”.
The SGB also accused Ramdewo, a South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) representative, of being a disruptive influence at the school, abusing his leave and said he had “deprived our children” of their right to education.
Parents said the department had failed to act against the teacher because it was controlled by Sadtu, which had close ties with the ANC, and that the union’s needs were being met at the expense of children desperate for education.
Commenting on the row, an education expert has said absenteeism was high among teachers in the province, who were “too unionised”, and this was reflected by poor results.
According to the ML Sultan school register, purportedly signed by Ramdewo, which the Daily News has seen, from April 2013 to November 2015 he would often leave school before 11.30am.
On some occasions he would spend only 10 minutes at the school after signing in at 7.30am.
And in May last year, according to the register, the grades 4 and 5 Life Skills teacher left work between 8am and 9.30am.
Reasons given when signing out early included: attending the department’s short-listing of potential employment candidates as a union representative; Sadtu’s branch executive committee mobilisation campaigns and other union duties.
According to the SGB, other teachers had to look after Ramdewo’s pupils during his absences, until the department sent a teacher from another school in the middle of last year to to fill the void.
But according to SGB chairman, Peter Mabaso, Ms Zuma stayed only two months before submitting a letter saying she was leaving. “She left, saying that she felt she was used. Her letter is in the principal’s office. She went back to the school she was taken from,” said Mabaso.
In a memorandum of demands to the department’s Ladysmith District Office, the parents said: “We are frustrated that this educator has placed his union activities above our children’s education.
“We are giving you five days to remove Mr Ramdewo from this school or we have the right to make the school ungovernable.”
An irate parent who requested anonymity to protect his child, said Ramdewo was entitled to hold office with a union, but by law, labour or union matters may not exceed 15 days a year.
“His frequent absence from school is doing our children no good,” said the parent.
“With all the available evidence against him at the school, for three years now, no action has been or will be taken against him. This calls for parents to show the department, the union and its members that we will not be held to ransom for political interests at the expense of our children.
“The problem is that Sadtu tends to overlook its members’ crucial role, which is to educate our children, so we don’t see the past repeating itself,” said the parent.
The parent said that in the past apartheid had been blamed for depriving black communities of development and giving their children an inferior education.
“What’s different from what was done then to what Ramdewo is doing now? Despite our efforts for the department’s intervention, the man has continued doing this for the past three years. We are prepared to blockade the school like other parents in various parts of the country, to secure education for our children. His union or the department must call him to order,” the parent said.
Contacted for comment, Ramdewo said the matter was under investigation by Sadtu and the department.
“I don’t want to comment on the matter and if you publish it, then it will be at your own peril,” he said.
Section 8 (2) of the South African Schools Act stipulates a code of conduct must be established, aimed at establishing a disciplined and purposeful school environment, dedicated to the improvement and maintenance of the quality of the learning process.
Mabaso said: “The department is lenient to Sadtu members. If we must respect your right to affiliate to a union, you must also respect our children’s rights to education. Because of the parents’ anger we wrote to MEC (Peggy) Nkonyeni early this year informing her of the situation.”
Yesterday eNCA reported that various schools around the province have not been teaching pupils for two weeks after parents locked the gates for various reasons.
Sadtu confirmed the lock-out at two primary and two high schools for two weeks in various parts of Estcourt and Ladysmith.
Sadtu deputy provincial secretary, Bheki Shandu, said local business people believed tender processes were not followed when appointing businesses to provide nutrition at the schools.
Professor Labby Ramrathan of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Education said the nature of learner performance in the province was very low.
“Research tells us 10% of teachers in our schools are absent for two months and above annually. We have to guard against how unions encroach teaching.
“The (education) department has to be more efficient in dealing with trouble teachers. If there’s evidence of transgression, then punitive measures must be taken.
“Our teaching profession is too unionised in that unions become more involved in many aspects of education. There’s lack of professionalism in the relationship between the department, unions and its members,” he said.
Daily News