Some post for school principals in the North-West province has been vacant for nearly four years. Despite this situation, the provincial education department only included a couple of positions for promotion in its latest vacancy list.

“The North-West Education Department is already under administration but still there is no improvement,” says Dr. Jaco Deacon, acting CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS).

Deacon says FEDSAS repeatedly requested the provincial education department to make the vacancy list available. “Now the list only includes posts that became vacant since July this year. When we inquired as to why all the posts were not advertised, the response was that it was due to budget constraints. However, departments make provision for vacant posts during every budget cycle. The question now is what happened to the money that was budgeted for vacant posts during the previous four years?”

Deacon says FEDSAS has brought the matter to the attention of the National Department of Basic Education. The organisation is also appealing to the Minister of Basic Education, Ms. Angie Motshekga, to address the matter urgently. “These vacant posts should be advertised immediately. The primary duty of a provincial education department is to make sure that there are teachers in classrooms. Public schools are already under immense pressure to provide quality education to all learners. How much additional pressure is placed on a school that has been without a principal for four years?”

FEDSAS will continue to put pressure on education departments to see to it that the education sector functions optimally and that all learners have access to quality education. “The first and most important link in this chain is teachers. Without teachers there is no education and children are deprived of their constitutional right to quality education.”