South Africa: SACCI Calls On Teachers to Return to the Classrooms

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) commends the Department of Education (DOE) on its strict warning to teachers not participate in a march . The current SADTU dissatisfaction with the Ministry should be resolved through negotiation. So there is no need to disrupt education en masse. It is worth noting that a "march" or strike has exactly the same impact on pupils, if teachers are not in classrooms then the education system falls apart. The go-slow that has been in effect since the Easter holidays is also unacceptable, unconstructive and may even be more harmful to learners than an absent teacher for which the DOE can at least have a contingency plan in place.

It is worrying that strikes and other forms of disruptive public protest of have become so entrenched as a negotiating tool that there is scarcely a month that goes by without some form of protest occurring. SACCI supports the DOE in its attempt to maintain operations in schools and requests that any form of intimidation on working teachers must be met with the full might of the law. South Africa suffers from unsustainably high structural unemployment, so there is no excuse for those who seek to disrupt the peaceful activities of teachers who choose to contribute to the country development.

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