Pretoria - Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Youth Development and Administration, Buti Manamela, has condemned the disruption of learning and teaching in Malamulele, Limpopo.
The community of Malamulele is denying young people their right to education by closing down schools and preventing learners from registering for the Grade 12 supplementary examinations. Residents are taking part in a protest, where they are demanding a new municipality separate from Thulamela.
"It is becoming a trend that the future of our youth is traded for short-term community demands, a gamble which these young people will in the future blame their parents for.
“We cannot allow any grievance, no matter how strongly we feel about it, to interfere with the education of our children," Deputy Minister Manamela said.
The Deputy Minister says parents have the responsibility to inculcate the love of education in their children and not encourage them to stay away from school.
He said the closure of schools will have long term ramifications on the development of young people and works directly against the principles outlined in the National Youth Policy 2020.
He appealed to the community to allow education to continue until a final decision has been made on the demarcation of the municipalities, a situation the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is attending to. – SAnews.gov.za
