Chairperson, babuMpontshane, that was the initial issue that we suspected unions wanted - that the recovery plan was to recover their salaries, whereas for us the recovery plan was about the recovery of lost time.
I did meet with them. We agreed that the recovery plan is going to be informed by the needs. We agreed at national level that for the September holidays, for instance, we will only focus on matriculants because that is where we think there is an urgent need. We will not have a decision from the national level to have a recovery plan from Grade R to Grade 12. The recovery plan is informed by what our needs are.
We will then look at what we need in the primary phases. We have agreed that we want to focus on numeracy and literacy. Therefore we will only employ teachers on the basis of those needs and in an attempt to close the deficit.
So, in short, I am saying we have clarified the situation and I think there is a common understanding that the recovery plan is going to be based on and informed by needs. It is not going to be informed by teachers' need to get their salaries back. I had a meeting with the MECs and I think we have a common understanding that the two things should be delinked.
Position regarding (i) monitoring of schools during recent strike and (ii) incidents of physical violence and arrests
219. Mr D A Kganare (Cope) asked the Minister of Basic Education:
Whether, in the course of the recent strike, her department continuously monitored all schools to ensure that both the learners and non-striking educators remained safe; if not, why not; if so, (a) how many incidents of physical violence were reported and (b) how many culprits were arrested? NO3143E