Originally Posted by Unregistered

This phrase triggers people in some schools right now. Excess is utter BS. We are operating very close to capacity. How do we know this? All it takes is for a couple of teachers teaching a subject to be on LOA/SHN and some of us end up with so much relief that we have a nearly full back to back day (9 lessons ~ approx 7.5 hours in the classroom in a day), with the only break being the recess time when it's impossible to get anything from the canteen due to the queues.

We have no sustainable buffer for contingencies. No need to talk about COVID-19 pandemic. Even in the past, a particularly severe flu season will push the surviving teachers to their breaking point. Granted, it is partly because we have so many extra programmes and nonsense baked into our timetable. But "excess teachers" is an insult to our intelligence.