Government's move to delink salaries from qualifications was taken as a means of cutting down on its soaring wage bill.

The Ministry of Basic Education developed a proposal which was sent to all stakeholders and which, according to teachers' organisations, will negatively affect unqualified and over-qualified teachers in the public service.

According to the proposal the minimum qualification for teachers will be Grade 12 plus three year training while the maximum qualification will be Grade 12 with five years training.

Con Pontac, Secretary General of the Teachers' Union of Namibia (TUN), said the proposed minimum and maximum qualification system implied that teachers whose qualifications were below that of Grade 12 plus three years teacher training will be regarded as underqualified while those with qualifications better than Grade 12 plus four years teacher training will be over-qualified and will lose out on better salaries.

"They will have to be satisfied with a general salary adjustment if and when it is approved," Pontac said.

Teaching sources said the new proposal was likely to negatively affect no less than 10 000 of the current 18 000 teachers in the country.

The Namibia National Teachers' Union (Nantu) called on teachers to demonstrate against the proposed system.

Nantu Secretary General Ndapewa Nghipandulwa said the proposal has the potential to derail all efforts to encourage teachers to upgrade themselves.

When she responded to a teacher demonstration staged at Rundu over the weekend, Basic Education Permanent Secretary Loini Nanyeni-Katoma said the proposal was aimed at eliminating what she called the "diploma disease".

She said Namibia currently had a lot of teachers with diplomas who were unable to produce good results.

"We have no disease called 'diploma disease' as the Permanent Secretary put it. [On the] contrary, we have excited teachers who all want to be called qualified teachers despite financial hardships they are going through as they are labelled unqualified and underqualified," Nghipandulwa said.

"If there is a 'diploma disease', then the whole nation must be sick. We are trying to improve our education like any other civil servant with a diploma."

She said teachers were "aggrieved" by Katoma's remarks and called for proper consultation with recognised unions before such moves were taken.

Pontac agreed that the move would kill the already very low moral of teachers and suggested that the Ministry consider other options of cost-cutting.

He said among the other options that can be considered by the Ministry are; reducing the number of non-teaching personnel, increasing the learner:teacher ratio, restricting post-primary education, charging for post-primary education or reducing subsidy for school hostels.

Nanyeni-Katoma was not available for comment yesterday.

Local News Headlines Of The Last 48 Hours

•  'DRC refugee' arrested at airport
•  Keetmanshoop grapples with debt, at odds with Receiver
•  Namibia plagued by gender-based violence
•  'Struggle Kids' are happy campers
•  Teachers 'plot to kill' principal
•  Zero tolerance for road hogs
•  Nujoma Foundation raises N$300 000 at gala dinner
•  Young man sent to jail for killing older brother
•  Three die in lorry crash
•  Henties Bay 'in a mess'
•  High Court upholds labour-hire ban
•  Oshakati nervously eyes the sky
•  Shamil Dirk's graft case postponed again
•  ACC nabs Otavi Village Council CEO
•  Justice driver accused of looting
•  Job equity has improved
•  Ombudsman complains about Justice Ministry
•  New plan for Cuvelai Basin
•  APP postpones congress
•  Zim to ignore tribunal ruling
•  Immigration locks up SA journalist
•  Youth gets four years for rape
•  Swapo closes ranks