The South African teaching industry has a huge problem regarding the shortage of teachers, mostly Science and Maths teachers. The problem is not new in the industry, it started a long time ago during Bantu education(apartheid era), Maths and Science are one of the most important subjects in our school curriculum because they are foundation of engineers,doctors and financial fields of which there is a shortage in South Africa.
The root of the problem was during the implementing of Bantu education. Most of the primary school teachers were given jobs to teach Maths and Science in the secondary level without exprience. Most of the students failed because teachers were failing to reach the maximum expectation and they relied mostly in text books. As a result most of the learners opted to do other subjects such as History.
The problem is felt now as we are living in the world of science and technology, South Africa is facing a huge shortage of manpower in the fields of technology and science.It is clearly possible that it because of the shortage of teachers in our schools.
However, a little of the teachers we have leave the industry to join private companies, which means the problem is here to stay unless we have good options to prevent it. Some of those teachers end up holding big posts in the department,and the department fails to find best replacements.
The government tried to give bursaries to students who want to do teaching in Maths and Science,but the question is how many years will those students stay in the industry without thinking to quit because of poor wages.
The problem is affecting our whole development as the country so is about time the government redress its system in teachers wages and rights.
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