Legal action against department if holiday is cancelled
18 August 2021
Solidarity today announced that its legal team is investigating the possibility of litigation against the Department of Basic Education (DBE). This follows after the department announced that it believes the October school holidays for 2021 should be scrapped.
In a letter to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Solidarity said it was opposed to this amendment to the school calendar. According to Solidarity, the actions of the department are irrational, and implementing such an amendment is unfair and contrary to the national policy regarding the compilation of school calendars.
“It is the duty of the Minister and the DBE to communicate with stakeholders before any decisions are made. Currently, the DBE is trying to erase traces of unilateral actions by ostensibly consulting after they have already made their intentions clear. In addition, they choose to consider only one regulation while a number of others are disregarded as they are continuing to steamroller ahead with their plans, and that at the expense of the wellbeing of both learners and teachers,” said Johan Botha, deputy general secretary of the Professional Sector at Solidarity.
Solidarity claims that the department is in the process of changing the school calendar, which currently consists of four terms, into one of three terms, the last term of which will contain twice the number of weeks. Solidarity is also of the opinion that the DBE does not take into account its own policy that stipulates that learners and teachers must be given sufficient time to rest.
“The department’s action can be described as nothing but exploitation. Teachers are expected to be on duty for 21 consecutive weeks with only a short break in the form of an extended long weekend as consolation prize. However, this is not consistent with the regulations. This action will negatively impact the performance of teachers and learners alike during the fourth term,” Botha contends.
According to Botha, the learners and teachers would benefit from it if the department rather adjusts the date of the submission of final marks so that the last two weeks of school on the calendar could be fully utilised by schools that need time to catch up.
“We are of the opinion that it would be far more advisable to maximise the contact time that exists in the current calendar. Our teachers and their learners have worked hard over the past year to overcome the various challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. We cannot allow them to be deprived of a last proper break before the final exams. Solidarity is already investigating possible legal action and will not hesitate to pursue it if the department does not accede to our request,” Botha concluded.
The letter can be read here.
Issued by Johnell van Vollenhoven, Spokesperson, Solidarity, 18 August 2021
