So the Department of Education has decided to place an additional 3000 teachers into the provincial classrooms next year to fill the obvious gaps.

We all know that the staff vacancies in education are as rife as in health care. Yet, a once-off injection of 3000 teachers into the system riddled with internal contradictions is no systemic step. It merely comes short of recruiting additional staff in Cuba or some such place as is the case in the Department of Health. The Department of Education has, so far, spared us this flight of fantasy.

The reasons why teachers continue to flee our classrooms are complex. Many feel their expertise will be better rewarded overseas and, indeed, it usually is. Many more aspirant teachers would like to qualify but since the ANC government has closed down so many teachers' training colleges, they just can't.

With some educational training institutions the government simply miscalculated: the demographics did not quite conform to the prognosis. Others, as it were, had an unfortunate history of having been founded and nurtured into notable seats of learning by the erstwhile KwaZulu Government. Having your roots in anything to do with Inkatha, however, is a big no-no in KwaZulu Natal nowadays.

As a result, the ANC government would rather put up with vast teacher vacancies. My private suspicion is that the 3000 teachers in question are to be provided more as a bribe to the frustrated teachers' unions than a genuine attempt at addressing staff shortages.

If the government cannot resolve the existing challenges on its own, it should engage those in the civil society who can. Many faith- and civic-based organisations would be happy to help out.

This, however, might interfere with the ANC government's determination to infiltrate the curriculum with annoying references not only to its own struggle heroes but, more alarmingly, its shaky philosophical foundations.

Dr Lionel Mtshali MPP
Leader of the Official Opposition

Contact: Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902