ELRC 202324 Annual Report

EDUCATION LABOUR RELATIONS COUNCIL | 2023/24 ANNUAL REPORT

L EDUCATION LABOUR RELATIONS COUNCI

Overview of Performance of Limpopo Chamber for the 2023/24 Financial Year The Chamber achieved all its set targets for the financial year. A workshop for negotiators in the Chamber on vetting educators was held and then cascaded to circuits and districts. The provincial training team was also trained on QMS (Collective Agreement No. 2 of 2022). The good working relations among the Parties still prevailed and contributed to the success of the Chamber. There was a reduced rate of postponements of meetings. The cost containment measures on officials’ travel served as a performance inhibitor in some instances; for example, the reported delays in the implementation of some programmes on schools’ safety. Staffing of Schools A total of 51 752 educators’ posts were declared in the 2024 PPN (post basket). Limpopo continued to implement the process of matching and absorption of educators, which was identified as being more than the post establishment. The total number of excess educators had increased to 626 in March 2023 and then to 859 in March 2024. Schools faced challenges regarding the filling of these posts. The implementation of guidelines agreed upon in the Chamber, was gradually helping in achieving the employment equity (EE) targets for people from different demographics. For example, 44% of school principals were females compared to 56% of males; 49,4% of females were in deputy principals’ posts, 52,4% of females were departmental heads, 37.6% of females were holding Chief Education Specialist posts, and 49.3% were in Senior Education Specialist posts. The province was monitoring the reinstatement of commercial subjects into the curriculum of affected schools to minimise the number of excess educators who couldn’t match some posts’ curriculum requirements. Placement of Funza Lushaka bursary scheme beneficiaries The Employer continued to place beneficiaries of the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme into the system. Of the qualifying 603 beneficiaries of the 2 022 Funza Lushaka bursary scheme, 99% (i.e. 599) were placed/matched to posts in schools, and 44 of them were outstanding. In the 2023 cohort, 429 (i.e. 73%) out of 584 Funza Lushaka bursary scheme beneficiaries were also placed in different schools, 155 of which were yet to be placed. Quality Management System The QMS Provincial Training Team was trained on Collective Agreement No. 2 of 2022. A total of 78 school-based Education therapists, psychologists and counsellors were trained on the QMS Collective Agreement No.2 of 2022. The Chamber went the extra mile to monitor the payment of pay progression for EMS-PMDS and QMS 2022/23. A total of 5 779 school-based educators were said to be negatively affected by promotions, attritions, non-compliance and incorrectly captured PERSAL numbers. A total of 3 992 office-based educators were found to be ineligible for pay progression, and payments were finalised for the 1 877 who qualified in October as scheduled. The LDoE also participated in all fourteen categories of the National Teachers’ Awards (NTA) ceremony held on 5 October 2023 and did well in five categories. Dispute Prevention The Employer ran a programme for schools to train on grievance and dispute handling to reduce the rate of grievances and disputes. There was a progressive improvement in the finalisation of disputes in the first and second quarters and a decrease in the number of reported grievances as follows: • In the first quarter, four out of 25 arbitrations were finalised, compared to 14 out of 59 in the previous quarter • Five out of ten grievances were finalised compared to two out of 10 in the previous quarter • In the second quarter, one of nine grievances was finalised Summary of activities

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