Statement by André Gaum, Western Cape Education Minister

The stipulations in the Education Laws Amendment Bill with regard to extra payments to teachers, reported about in the media today, represent an attempt to being order and reason to a common and accepted practice in education.

Although our Department is currently looking into the matter and has not yet finalised results and policy in this regard, we are aware of cases where payments or other benefits to teachers are simply too much and therefor not acceptable.

Governing bodies have the responsibility to ensure that their schools are institutions of effective education, and this includes various incentives to gain the best teachers available. Cases where this responsibility and freedom to manage their own funds is abused by schools to unfairly acquire and retain teachers, are not acceptable and flies into the face of our vision of effective education for all.

It is, however, within their jurisdiction for governing bodies to apply to the WCED to have extra payments made to deserving teachers. This cannot be seen as an unequal distribution of our best teachers.

Schools from different communities have the responsibility to engage with each other and create partnerships to share resources such as competent teachers. Such partnerships would justify extra payments to teachers who make their expertise available to schools who are in need of interventions in this regard.

The amendments in the bill serve as an attempt to formalise and manage this very complex issue. It does not prohibit additional payments to educators, but puts a process in place that regulate these payments and that ensures that no irregular of exorbitant payments are made.