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There will be room in the classroom for every learner in the province, promises the Department of Education.
AS learners in Johannesburg prepare themselves for the 2009 academic year starting on Wednesday, January 14, the Gauteng MEC for Education has promised parents there will be "learning space" for all schoolchildren in the province.
MEC Angie Motshekga said she had been given assurance that despite an expected one percent growth, the Gauteng Education Department (GED) should be able to place all learners and everything should be settled by Friday.
The GED hopes to achieve this goal by working with schools and school governing bodies in the province.
Every year the GDE admission team engages in what it describes as a massive advocacy programme. This programme seeks to mobilise communities to register learners in public schools before the end of September in preparation for the following academic year. Yet regardless of these efforts parents continue to register learners as late as the day schools open, sometimes because of circumstances out of their control.
This "Christmas present" of students puts pressure on schools, as up to 4 000 additional learners are likely to show up.
The department has identified 43 pressure areas in Gauteng that will be given relief through the supply of mobile classrooms, an increase in the teacher/learner ratio and the opening of 13 new schools. Newly built schools will open their classroom doors tomorrow in Bramfischerville, Buhlepark, Daveyton, Vereeneging, Hammanskraal, Soshanguve South, Roodekop, Tamboville, the Pretoria inner city, Diepsloot, Phumula Gardens, Ebony Park and Vlakfontein.
To date approximately 99 percent of schools in Gauteng, including the 13 new schools, have received their Learner Teacher Support Material. "There were some delays but I must commend the schools as they placed their orders well on time" said the MEC.
The department said it has spent a total of R424-million for the new academic year, and there will be a teacher for every classroom, she said, a result of the department's post provision plan that ensures schools fill up their posts well on time.
"This illustrates co-operation between school management, unions and school governing bodies for the benefit of our children," noted the MEC.
The department would continue to supply meals to learners through the school nutrition programme, she said. "This has been one of our successful ways of ensuring that our learners do not go hungry whilst learning and that they should not be distracted by hunger while being taught." An estimated 542 171 learners are expected to benefit.
The scholar transport programme is also on track: "42 000 learners will be on our scholar transport this academic year", the MEC promised. Transport is provided to learners who stay more than 5km from the nearest school.
The department has also reported on some major successes in the past year.
Of the 139 schools that underperformed in 2007, 100 of them managed to get out of the danger zone. This year the MEC said the department will again work with the schools that found themselves performing under provincial expectations and keep a close eye on those that improved their results. The MEC has warned of "drastic action in the form of dismissals, demotions, suspensions" for those 39 schools should the situation stay the same.
They "will have to be subjected to a more rigorous and school specific intervention programme that will look at management, governance and curriculum delivery", she said.
The department acknowledges there is further work it needs to do and will be working and consulting with key stakeholders in managing and refining some of the proposed intervention proposals.
"During 2008, we conducted universal testing of learner attainment in grades three and six. Now we are currently dealing with validation and analysis using the performance of learners in schools," said Motshekga. "With this the department hopes to intervene to improve the literacy and numeracy competence of learners in the foundation and intermediate phase while expanding and intensifying the provinces numeracy strategy and challenge."
Learners whose applications have been declined should go to the nearest district office for assistance, said Nanagolo Leopeng, GDE spokesperson.
The MEC and members of her department will be visiting a number of schools around the province this week.
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