Pretoria – The Gauteng Education Department is currently on a campaign to establish the need for additional textbooks and teacher shortages at schools in the province.
The department came about as a result of schools having taken more learners than they had anticipated they would in November 2012.
The department on Thursday embarked on a blitz of all provincial schools to check on the need for additional textbooks and learner teacher ratios. The blitz was also aimed at addressing possible shortages from late registrations.
Education MEC, Barbara Creecy, said the campaign followed the conclusion of the late registration process which saw 18 000 new learners register in Gauteng between 9 -31 January.
“The majority of late registrations resulted from families that had moved to Gauteng during the festive season. All of these learners have been placed in schools and special provincial and district operation centres were responsible for placing learners in schools which had space at the beginning of the year," said Creecy.
She added that this process was reflective of the commitment to ensure that every learner in the province had access to learning material for every subject
In November last year, the department spent R94 million to assist all schools to top up CAPS text books for Grades 4-7 and Grade 11.
The province announced earlier this year that 12 schools will be opened in the next few months to cater for the increased learner numbers.
“A total of 500 teacher growth posts were created to cope with these enlarged learner numbers. Since January, the department has opened schools in Olievenhoutbosch, Tarlton, Tembisa, Meyerton and Tshepisong,” Creecy announced.
The department is planning to open a further eight schools in areas including Zandspruit, Lotus Gardens and Soshanguve.
Creecy congratulated all department officials and particularly those who worked tirelessly to ensure all learners who presented themselves at their offices were able to access their constitutional right to a school place. – SAnews.gov.za
