Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has welcomed the resumption of schooling in Vuwani today.
The Department of Basic Education on Monday said this follows President Jacob Zuma’s meeting with His Majesty King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana of Vha-Venda and affected community stakeholders, where an agreement was reached on the demarcation concerns from the residents.
The Majesty's proposal is that the Vhembe District Municipality should provide services to the people of Vuwani, while a solution on the demarcation issue is being sought.
“It was further decided that relevant national and provincial government departments should provide support to the district municipality to carry out this new mandate.
“The meeting emphasised that the decision does not mean that the new municipality (LIM 345) is being disestablished,” the Presidency said in a statement.
President Zuma, His Majesty the King and all leaders present at the meeting called upon all community members in Vuwani to work to bring about normalcy in the community. Learners and educators in particular were urged to go back to school.
The Department of Basic Education said officials from the provincial department have been monitoring the situation closely in the area this morning to ensure that schooling resumes.
“Vuwani shutdown had affected about 76 schools involving 27 697 learners with 1 702 of them in grade 12. Initial reports indicate that all the affected schools were re-opened in the area this morning.
“An assessment of the days that have been lost to the protest has been conducted and this will inform us of what needs to be done to help our learners to catch up,” said the national department.
The department urged all learners and teachers to focus on learning. Members of the community are also urged to support departmental interventions to ensure that learners are back in class.
“We value the education of our children and we hope that this kind of disruption will not happen again. Our main aim right now is to ensure that our learners catch up with their work through interventions that will be rolled out at all schools,” said Minister Motshekga.
The department said it will continue to monitor the situation in Vuwani in order to put in place appropriate support measures. - SAnews.gov.za
