We are WINNERS

Today was a momentous day in our history. Our SA team has just lifted the World Cup Rugby Trophy from the English. Play was mediocre, I thought but the SA team had the added edge it took to win. As i write this, cars are hooting in the streets and private parties are going on in the suburb in which I live. Today was also an important day in the Hindu calendar, the Day of the Goddess of Education. Since im a teacher, first and foremost, this day was set aside to honour the goddess. I have 2 kids, aged 12 and 15 and they, together with their Dad who is a medical doctor, stood by as I did the prayer honouring the Goddess. Prayed for wisdom and for my situation to resolve itself.

The story unfolds as such...In 1994, former president Nelson Mandela was released from prison, to start a new order in this country. The expected civil war did not materialise. At school, we were ecstatic. At last, the end to being regarded as second grade citizens. I was teaching in Clairwood High School at the time. The school had a majority Indian pupil population. The 118 teachers that taught there were Indian but 2 were White. We got along fabulously but only because they harboured no prejudice. Rare men indeed! By 1998, we felt the winds of change blowing closer to home. There was a need to fast-track integration of a once divided society at all levels. The new government chose to start this at schools. Suddenly a circular was sent to all schools stating that a new pupil-teacher ratio was to be implemented. The number of pupils in a class, from around 35 were to be decreased to around 30. The school had to look at its enrolment and then work out how many teachers they were entitled to. At the same time, retirement packages were made available to those wanting to leave the profession, so as to make space for people of other race groups to enter. By 1999, this "redeployment" process was put into action. At my school, entire departments took the package , having seen the writing on the wall. Other departments were downsizes according to the new requirements. the policy used to determine who was to go was "last in, first out". The resent and anger was tangible. many friendships and bonds were broken as coleague competed with colleague for the right to stay. Principals added to the mayhem by moving their favoured teachers to other less-staffed departments to keep them in the school. I was not so lucky. There were 16 teachers in my department and the last 3 of us were put into a pool of "excess" teachers. Our future was uncertain and it was a horrible time for all of us. Suspicion, resent, anger, envy, every vice known to man was experienced. All excess teachers were not given a teaching load for the new year, 2000. While others who were "in" went about their daily teaching duties, we sat in the staffroom, looking on in envy and fear. We had bonds to pay, mouths to feed. I was lucky. My husband was a medical doctor so we were relatively well off. But I had a deep seated need to work and earn my own income. Now I was not unemployed but hanging in limbo, ready to be redeployed to a new school chosen for me by the Department of education. (DOE). It was a traumatic start to the new millenium.... [More to follow...]