Teachers Made To Give Subjects They Don’t Know

IT’S another school year again and I deemed it important to write this letter to you with a sad heart.

I am living in Grootfontein and my child is schooling at Grootfontein Secondary School. I think GSS has become a great concern to us (parents) as things are not done the way they are supposed to be.
It has come to my attention that the principal of the school allocates subjects to teachers at the beginning of the year. Last year (2007), my son was in Grade 8. For Physical Science, they had a teacher who was qualified in Business Studies. He is a great teacher from the performance of the kids on all grade levels that I have seen. However the teacher in question does not know anything about Physics. I was even told that the teacher declined to offer Physics. But they are simply told to try it out. Physics and Mathematics are more technical subjects and kids already have the mentality that they are difficult. My son passed his grade but only failed Physics with a mark that’s not imaginable. What does the principal think of the future of our kids? How on earth did he allow this to continue throughout the year while he knew that our kids were failing? I know for a fact that this year his child will be schooling there. Is he going to allocate the same teacher to that ‘A’ grade? Because I know they will be in the sought-after ‘A’ grade. We all are paying school funds and money doesn’t come easy. This principal should change his attitude.
I want the new Inspector to look into this and also consult different teachers at the school as this will affect everyone. There are a lot of things that need to be addressed.

Martha Sloan
Grootfontein