CONTRACT TEACHERS: WE ARE FRUSTRATED

MBABANE – Employed but frustrated!

Teachers hired under contracts by government are frustrated. Although they have been working for the past five years, with their contracts being renewed by government, the teachers have expressed their suffering and agony of not advancing in life. Recently, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) hired 1 192 teachers, some of whom had already resumed their duties beginning last Tuesday. The hiring of teachers comes following confusion over the issue of a waiver as TSC had earlier on stated that they were not privy to any waiver that was granted to it to recruit this year.

In an interview with some of the contract teachers as they are now referred to, they said their lives were stagnant as they did not have long-term goals. They said they could not even plan for the future. Despite being remunerated under a lower scale, the teachers stated that they were not eligible for promotions. They expressed their desire for government to consider offering at least a five-year contract instead of the two years which they were currently under and also remunerate them according to their scale.

They argued that the posts needed for teachers were there. This, they said, was evident by the fact that their contracts had been renewed in the past years. The contract teachers stated that they were not standing in for other teachers but their positions existed because when they were not present, there was a gap and pupils became idle. “Why is it so difficult for government to create the posts, yet in other sectors, including the forces, they are created?” the teachers questioned. The teachers stated that at least government must be seen making an effort in hiring them. Other teachers have been working for over 10 years under contracts and stated that their worst fear was the fact that when they died, they were not entitled to any benefits, which made their survivors vulnerable.  

Negotiating

They also stated that there was no one negotiating on their behalf or representing their needs to government. According to the teachers, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) represented teachers who were hired on a permanent basis. “Once you are out-of-contract, you cease becoming a member of SNAT,” they lamented.

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