“The appointment of these teachers will cost approximately R321 million over the next three years, which is a significant additional investment into Grade R. It adds to the steps we have already ...

The district director was responding to criticism from labour union, the National Teachers Union (NATU), that Grade R educators are not recognised in the same way as Grade 12 teachers.

Grade R teacher, Snazo Msithwa, who travelled to Tswane from the Eastern Cape, has been teaching since 2001 and says she’s yet to be a full-time employee and is fed up with contracts.

On the negative side, there are 21,207 Grade R teachers, of whom most depend on a (lower) salary from the governing body. Of these, 16,520 (ie 78%) are not qualified to teach Grade R.