1.2 SADTU criticised for shielding incompetent teachers

Micel Schnehage, Eye Witness News, 5 December 2009

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU has again been lambasted for shielding incompetent teachers at the expense of quality education.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille says the DA will push ahead with plans to make all teachers in the Western Cape sign performance contracts.

Zille says the performance contracts will see them evaluated according to the results achieved by their students.

Zille says this is part of a plan to double literacy levels in grade three to six to 90 percent.

It is also part of a plan to increase numeracy levels by 35 percent for grade three learners and 14 percent for grade six to an average of 80 percent.

The DA leader says while these are ambitious targets, she believes they can be met with a sustained, focused and systematic approach that holds teachers, principals and schools accountable.