Mbombela - Parents in Mpumalanga have one month left to register their children early for the 2013 school year.
Registration started at public schools across the province in July and ends on 28 September.
"The early registration of all learners in Mpumalanga will help our schools plan better for the coming year," says provincial education MEC Reginah Mhaule.
The department has set strict deadlines to ensure proper planning is in place for the 2013 academic year.
Mhaule said the early registration and finalisation of pupil numbers at each school will help the department plan their budget better.
Schools will also know how many teachers they need for the 2013 school year. "This makes it easy for schools to prepare plans in advance," she explains.
District managers have been instructed to finalise their registration reports by the end of October.
Circuit managers have until 16 November to iron out all problems with registration. "A final report on the admission of learners must be submitted to the head of the Department of Education by the end of November," said Mhaule.
The MEC stressed that pupils may not be denied admission if their parents haven't paid school fees or if the children have a different home language to the school's medium of instruction.
She said circuit managers in the department must ensure that there are "no glitches" on the first day of school next year. "Learning (must) take place smoothly," Mhaule says.
Meanwhile, the department has promised that all learner, teacher support materials and textbooks for 2013 will be delivered to schools in the first week of Decembers.
Principals were instructed to place their orders for stationery, textbooks and other goods by 3 August.
"According to the agreement with our service providers (EduSolutions), we must expect deliveries in November 2012. Our expectation is that all our schools must have received their materials by the first week of December 2012," said Mhaule.
Mpumalanga will replace textbooks for all Grade 4, 5, 6 and 11 pupils for the coming academic year.
The department will spend R411 million to purchase all the textbooks and support material this year.
