SOUTH AFRICA About 360,000 teachers’ jobs are likely to be abolished, with no guarantee of the staff being rehired, under a controversial proposal aimed at transferring teaching posts from central government to provincial governments.
The interim constitution, thrashed out in the run-up to democratic elections in April 1994, gave control of education to South Africa’s nine new provinces. Under the proposal all school and college posts would be abolished and provincial governments would create an equal number of new posts. The provincial ministers are working on the basis of a pupil:teacher ratio of between 35 and 40 to one.
While there has been some opposition, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union supports the move as long as staff are protected.