10 Mar 2014

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Patrick Masimolole says following implementation of the levels of operation for teachers, there are no more problems associated with their progression.

Responding to a question from Okavango MP, Mr Masimolole said the aim of the directive was to align progression of teachers with that of other public officers to promote consistency with the rest of public service.

He said it allowed teachers in the C Band to progress within the multi-titled and multi-graded positions up to the level of C1 as it was the case with other cadres in the public service.

Mr Masimolole said it also provided for the delinking of the grades of heads of departments and deputy school heads to demonstrate the different levels of responsibility and accountability.

The assistant minister said the directive mainly benefited teachers in primary and junior secondary schools as well as brigades.This is because initially, the position of C1 was considered to be of higher level of responsibility and accountability as compared to other institutions such as senior secondary schools, colleges of education and technical colleges.

The directive also addressed housing to which Mr Masimolole said was in progress as they had so far procured 493 houses and expanded some housing units since 2009.

He said the issue of hours of work would be addressed during the review of the Public Service Act. Mr Masimolole informed Parliament that 20 633 teachers had benefited from the implementation of the directive as at December 2013.

Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone had asked the minister whether following implementation of the levels of operations for teachers, progression challenges had ceased. Ends