The South African Council for Educators (SACE) flagged the issue of urgent need to recruit quality teachers, to neutralize the school environment with as many as 12,000 teachers opting out of the profession each year.
We can do without state-of-the-art buildings, but need to have sufficient, qualified and trained teachers; otherwise the rest of the investment in education will be wasted, said CEO, SACE, Rej Brijraj. South Africa is currently challenged by low levels of intake at teacher training facilities and the high cost of training, and also noting the minimal impact of current bursary arrangements, there exists a non-supportive environment for the teachers to carry on with their profession. SACE has put forth their demands for free teacher training for all prospective teachers with immediate effect. The use of IT was also proposed to increase interest and build retention.
