The Basic Education Department has revealed that 20 140 teachers have reported having comorbidities since schools reopened last month.
There are 18 791 teachers who were aged 60 and above as at 23 June.
This was revealed by the Head of the Department Mathanzima Mweli when he briefed the virtual meeting of the education portfolio committee on matters related to Covid-19 yesterday.
Mweli noted that the highest number of those aged 60 and above were in Gauteng and the highest of those with comorbidities were in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
Gauteng has 3699 teachers above 60, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 3055, and the Western Cape with 2857.
KZN had the most teachers with comorbidities with a total of 4127.
In the Western Cape this number stood at 1453.
Mweli said that there was a collective agreement in place that provided concessions for affected employees.
“The employee with comorbidities and manager/principal must agree on either special arrangements to be made to report to school or working from home (including tasks/duties). If no agreement is reached, the grievance procedure may be invoked,” the report said.
The employee will submit a medical report to the principal which indicates if the comorbidities are in accordance with the list provided by the Department of Health.
Mweli said working from home for teachers did not work, and presented logistical challenges.
He said there was a 10-day turnaround time for the department to make a decision.
“It is no point for learners to go to school to find some don’t have teachers because of comorbidities,” Mweli said.