REFILWE MEKOA
It is time that communities and parents start respecting teachers again.
This is according to the spokesperson of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation Of South Africa (NAPTOSA), Louwrens Strydom. He says when learners enter a class they should know that a teacher is a valued person. Strydom says 20 years ago teachers were seen as community leaders and examples to follow, but community views changed.
He was speaking before the World Teachers’ Day on Saturday 5 October. The Free State Department of Education hosted 84 celebrations across the province on Friday. He said the high poverty status in our country contributes on how teachers are viewed nowadays.
“The learners who come from poor backgrounds don’t necessarily see a teacher as somebody to aspire to. But, they could rather see an upcoming businessman driving a huge German vehicle as something or somebody to aspire to, instead of a teacher with his knowledge. Our community’s values have changed where the financial has become more important than the type of person that you are,” he says.
Strydom said some of the challenges teachers have faced are constant curriculum changes and teachers needed to be trained and redeveloped. He says the worldwide commemoration is an important opportunity to thank teachers for their passion and what they are contributing to the future of our country.
Strydom says the celebrations proved that the department values the work that they’re doing.
