Taung - The North West Department of Education has appealed to parents and members of the Greater Taung Local Municipality to send their children back to school, following the recent protests which disrupted the re-opening of school.
On Wednesday, residents from 14 villages in the municipality violently protested for the reincorporation of the villages back into the Northern Cape.
Residents said their children would only go back to school when the Northern Cape schools re-open next week.
More than 20 schools in the Taung area were affected because of the violent protest.
Spokesperson from the provincial Department of Education, Charles Raseala told BuaNews on Thursday that his department would continue to appeal to parents to cooperate and send their children back to school.
"We understand that there are protests but parents must send their children back to school.
"It is very important that children go back to school on the first day of re-opening of schools so that they can produce good results at the end of the year," he said.
Mr Raseala further added that they were in the process of engaging with the Mothibi Demarcation Forum in Taung with the intention of encouraging parents to allow their children to go back to school.
"We are in the process of communicating with the forum that are raising concerns of demarcation and pleading to them that children must be sent back to school for the normal running of school days.
"We hope that our engagement with the forum will lead to learners in the Taung area going back to school," Mr Raseala said.
North West Provincial Government Spokesperson, Tanana Monama also urged parents not to interfere with their children's education.
He said parents must use proper channels to raise their concerns and not to engage in violent protests.
"We understand that there are challenges that the communities of Taung are raising but these problems must not hamper the education of children in this area.
"There are proper challenges that problems are raised when communities have concerns, I would like communities to make use of these channels," he said.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Education will be visiting various schools in the North West to ensure that learning kicks off this week.
