We read with great shock and disappointment the comments attributed to Honourable Assistant Minister of Education Patrick Masimolole with respect to the hours of work in the teaching service.
Masimolole is quoted to have said that it is realistic for teachers to work 8 hours a day. He is said to have told parliament that the average contact time for teachers and students is four and a half hours. Mmegi Newspaper of Tuesday 28th February 2012 further quotes him to have told the nation on the floor of parliament that he understands contact time to mean actual time when teachers will be doing academic work with students.
The Honourable Assistant Minister is said to have asserted that the remaining three and a half hours from the 8 hours can be allocated to other school activities including extra ÔÇô curricular activities.
This is a serious misconception of a basic understanding of how the teaching profession operates. It is quite clear from the comments of the Assistant Minister that he is not only ignorant of the activities taking place in a school, but he is also out of touch with the practical reality of the operations within a school set up.
In view of the above misguided thoughts and understanding of the operations of the teaching profession that has been displayed by the Honourable Assistant Minister , we would like to set the records straight regarding the hours of work in the teaching profession as thus;
Prior to the transitional negotiations between teacher union and DPSM, teacher unions had conducted through experts a thorough job audit for teachers using their scheme of service and through a practical research exercise. The Exercise resulted in a comprehensive report that was tabled before DPSM and the Ministry of Education during the transitional negotiations on hours of work for teachers.
The report which was corroborated by the DPSM ÔÇô Ministry of Education research, points to the fact that under the old dispensation before the coming into effect of the Public Service Act No. 30 of 2008, teachers at primary school worked in excess of 13 hours in a day while those at secondary schools worked in excess of 11 hours in a day.
While we agree with the observation of the Assistant Minister that contact time is about four and half hours in day, which to us mean the actual time that the teacher is in front of the students delivering instruction, we however would like to point out that, delivery of instruction or the actual teaching process is just a microcosm of a bigger process of instruction delivery in a school set up.
The view of the Assistant Minister seem to be that the process of teaching and learning begins and stops when the teacher is in front of a class delivering instruction or teaching. This is a misguided view that would see the quality of education in Botswana deteriorating to the worst standards ever.
The Assistant Minister should note that a teacher cannot teach and mark simultaneously and neither can he mark and prepare for a lesson simultaneously. In his answer to Parliament, the Assistant Minister trivialised, in our view, the process of teaching and learning. His answer has failed to take into consideration the time needed by teachers to mark students exercises and tests. In actual fact, the research conducted prior to transitional negotiations, indicate that in a day, a teacher spends 6 hours 45 minutes marking students assignments and exercises. So, the three and a half hours that the Assistant Minister is suggesting that it could be used for other activities including extracurricular activities is far short of even the marking process alone.
It should as well be noted that teachers do not just go to classes without having prepared for the classes they are going to teach. Preparation involves making lesson plans, preparing teaching and learning aids and consulting sources. It would be proper and honourable if the Assistant Minister could further explain to parliament whether the remaining three and half hours will cater for teachers’ preparation time bearing in mind that preparation needed per class in a day is on average an hour which amounts 3 hour for three classes per day and also bearing in mind that six hours is needed for marking exercises, tests and assignments.
In his casual address to parliament, the Assistant Minister, failed to account for the self study sessions which are paramount in a school environment. These sessions usually take 1hr 30 minutes in the afternoons. These are the times that teachers usually take advantage of and conduct remedial lessons, enrichment exercises, assisting students with course work activities and administer tests.
With the above detailed illustrations which crisply show how the 8 hour working duration per day is not practically applicable in the teaching profession, we would like to challenge the Assistant Minister to go back to parliament and further explain how the above activities could fit within the 8 hours.
We take what he said parliament with serious exception as it has the propensity to mislead the nation. In fact we are tempted to hold the view that our education system is in the custody of wrong hands if we can have a situation where an Assistant Minister cannot have a simple and basic grasp of what is happening in schools.
Tobokani Nicholas Rari is BOSETU Secretary General
