Teachers humiliate their Permanent Secretary at Education Pitso
Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education, Elizabeth Bonolo Khumotaka walked out of Andasonia Hotel in Francistown a few days ago an emotionally wounded woman.
She is not happy with the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU). She feels that they had invited her to their Pre-Primary and Primary Education Pitso as a guest speaker in order to roast and attack her.
This came about after teachers laid bare all their concerns, requesting that they want nothing, but clear answers from her. They told her that the buck stopped with her and they were happy that she was in their midst that day.
Teachers said they have been suffering for many years and wish for her to address their grievances that have been hanging unresolved for many years, adding that they have been patient while things continue to get worse. The teachers made the PS know that they feel exploited, as they are made to work as procurement officers while others take extra work beyond their job descriptions but are not paid for it.
BTU Pre-Primary and Primary Vice President Tjalebgwa Bakang Bagwasi told Khumotaka that primary school teaching is one of the forgotten departments in the ministry, yet they are the best-performing sector as evidenced by impressive results they produce yearly during the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).
“It is the sector that faces the harshest and most cruel conditions of service. The infrastructure is poor. Up to now, sectoral bargaining has not yet met to engage on issues of operation, which continue to pose a management challenge in the overall running of institutions.”
Agreeing with Bagwasi, teachers reminded Khumotaka, who is only six months into the job, that before her tenure, they had a well-functioning sectoral bargaining forum. They are now worried because, under her leadership, the forum seems to be collapsing.
“In the last meeting we held, we had produced a paper that tried to address their grievances. And in our last meeting, your deputy promised that the ministry is ready to meet us with a response. Please assure us that you are not here to collapse the Sectoral Bargaining Forum because it is where these issues have to be discussed,” they pleaded with her. When responding to Bagwasi, Khumotaka asked him why he bothered writing a speech for her, if he knew they had questions for her that they wanted her to address. She then assured her audience that she would respond during the discussions that would follow in the day.
However, when the time came for her to give teachers what they had been itching for, and after more teachers had fired questions at her, Khumotaka made a U-turn on her promise and said she felt cornered.
“I am not going to respond to anything that has been presented, I am very disappointed with the approach of the BTU leadership because they have never come to me to address all these. So, I do not see this as the right platform. I feel attacked, for that gentleman to say since I took over, things have collapsed. Have you ever come to me to talk about these issues? My door is open I don’t know why you are doing this, so I do not have any comment, I am sorry,” Khumotaka said to the shock of many teachers gathered.
At that moment, murmurs flew across the room as teachers reacted to the PS' unexpected response. The atmosphere in the room had instantly changed, tensions slowly building up as some teachers shook their heads in disbelief. Not able to withstand the awkwardness that had engulfed the room, teachers decided to break into song, saying, “Re dueleng, Re dueleng re le bereketse,”loosely translated to 'Pay us, pay us, we have worked for you.'
They then continued to sing, “Se lebale, maikano a o ikaneng ka one," translated to, ‘Please do not forget your promises’.
After calming down the situation, the programme continued but was interrupted halfway by an announcement that the PS would not stay until the end as she had other engagements to attend to.
Teachers ushered her out with a song, ‘Mo tlogeleng a tsamae, ya gagwe o e weditse,” meaning 'let her go, her job is done here.’
When walking out, this publication overheard the PS telling BTU leadership that she was not happy and that she was extremely hurt by the treatment she received.
“We did not ambush the PS, the Education Pitso was meant to interrogate many challenges within the Primary Sector. Issues were presented and engagements were made by the audience.
“We believe that the PS is in a position to know these challenges and account to the members. A leader’s role is to account, you cannot be ambushed by questions that talk to your daily functions,” Bagwasi said this week.
He added that Khumotaka cannot say she is disappointed when they have knocked on her door several times but in vain. He said they are equally unhappy that their members continue to suffer because of the resistance of the ministry to engage, something he said was new to them as her predecessors believed in engaging teacher unions.