Never too late to renegotiate JEMIMA BEUKESOmbudsman John Walters says negotiators on behalf of the government and labour unions should have tried harder to avert the looming teachers’ strike in the spirit of give and take.
He appealed to both parties that it is not too late to go back to the negotiation table in the interest of the Namibian child.
Walters said children’s constitutional right to education weighs heavier than the teachers’ right to strike, which is not an absolute right.
Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, the Ombudsman also criticised the fact that children and parents have not been consulted about the imminent legal strike, which could cause them “irreparable damage”.
“I believe that parents, more than anybody else, must at least be consulted, at least be brought into the entire process of striking,” he said.
“Children should be given the opportunity to express their views and their views should be given due weight in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
According to him, parents should have been consulted before and during the negotiations on salary increases for teachers.
“This does not mean teachers must be expected to work in extremely difficult conditions, overcrowded classrooms, shortage of basic classroom resources, a lack of proper sanitation facilities at school and a lack of proper housing for themselves,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yvonne Dausab, the new chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission, has said that the government is not entitled by law to replace striking workers, unless existing workers are willing to work during the strike.
“If we can prove that there will be irreversible damage one hopes that the court will reasonably allow the government to find some way of manning those stations, because once the strike starts the damage to the child will be irreparable,” she said.
The law lecturer said the biggest losers in this dispute will be the vulnerable learners in government schools.