The lack of relief teachers affects the school staff

Hundreds of North Otago students are missing school days because of a lack of tools.

North Otago Primary Principals’ Association president Brent Godfery said teachers were being forced to call in sick due to a lack of relief.

The situation also meant that parents were asked to keep their children at home and some teachers had to look after two classrooms to cover for absent colleagues.

He feared the situation was about to worsen as winter fast approaches and called on the government to invest properly in teachers.

Mr Godfery said he had already had one day this year when he asked parents to keep children at home, and last year there were four.

“One time last year we had 14 of our 30 staff out in one day and we asked the whole school to stay home and only send your kids out if they had to.

“We ended up having 40 kids out of 250 come to school and the rest of the parents were very supportive and kept them home that day.”

He said the government must prioritize getting a larger workforce of teachers.

“They’re investing in things they don’t think they need … and they’re cutting things they shouldn’t be cutting.”

“People are just finding themselves at the moment and it makes me angry that there aren’t enough teachers around and people are choosing to leave the country.”

He said he personally knew of three teachers who went to Australia for better pay, where they could earn about $20,000 more than they earned in New Zealand.

In preparation for winter, when diseases were expected to increase, not much could be done, he said.

“At this stage we just have to keep our fingers crossed.”

Mr Godfery said some schools were paying for teachers to get the flu shot to reduce illness and teachers would do their best to come to school when they were sick.

“Teachers are good at not looking after themselves because their attitude is that the children must come first.

“I have a teacher at school today who should be at home.”

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