The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is confident that its 1,500 schools are ready to welcome back about 930,000 learners into classrooms on Wednesday, and that learning and teaching will begin immediately.
Schools have already started today for the thousands of teachers at our schools. The school management teams and principal are finalizing plans to ensure a smooth start to the new year.
We do not anticipate a crisis with the accommodation of learners. In this regard we have set in place plans to deal with some of the hot spots. We are satisfied that everything is on track.
This includes the provision of learner transport where required, the provisioning of mobile classrooms. During the course of 2007/08 fourteen new schools will be opened and occupied.
At the beginning of 2006, the opening and occupation of fifteen new schools also assisted with the accommodation of learners.
Two hot spot areas may arise; one in South EMDC where the new school building for Heinz Park Primary (between Mitchell's Plain and Phillippi) is not yet completed. The mobile units will not be available this week. The expected influx in Phillippi may require special intervention but at this stage totals are unknown. The EMDC has contingency plans in place.
The second area could be in Paarl (West Coast/Winelands EMDC) where a growth in numbers is expected at Desmond Tutu High. The expected number of learners is unknown at this stage, but the EMDC will monitor the situation closely.
If necessary, learner transport for the Khayamandi High School will be considered. Any unforeseen influx of new learners will be monitored and managed at district level where learners will be re-directed to schools where spaces exist and if necessary learner transport will be considered.
Isolated cases of learners being unplaced will be dealt with at the district offices. Due to the successes of our Early Enrolment Campaigns in the last few years, we do not expect that big numbers of unplaced learners will emerge. I am also pleased to note that almost all schools have already received their learner/teaching support materials - both main and additional orders.
A few textbook titles are not available, it is either out of print or not yet in print. Outstanding textbooks and stationery deliveries will be made in this week in terms of the requirements of the National Education Department.
All Section 21 schools have by now received their transfer payments. In terms of treasury instructions, no further transfer payments can be made unless a report has been received that the previous transfer payments were utilised for the intended purposes. Only two per cent of schools still need to submit their reports after which outstanding payments will be effected.
With regards to the filling of vacancies, at December 2006, 2130 posts were advertised, to date 840 are completed and 479 posts are outstanding (meaning not received from SGBs).
Although the Western Cape had an overall percentage pass of 83,7% last year, my view is that our schools can and must do better.
We are increasingly focussing on maths and science, as well as endorsements for access to higher education, especially for our historically disadvantaged learners.
I am pleased that the pass rates in ex-DET schools have increased steadily in the last three years (by 3.8 % in 2006). However, we must do even better. I am not happy with the fact that some schools continue to struggle to break through the 60% barrier.
So, whilst we are proud of what the class of 2006 achieved, I believe that the class of 2007 can and must do better. In this regard, I want to repeat the six interventions we will be making, to ensure that all our children get the best they deserve. The interventions are:
The campaign will include a review of the codes of conduct of each school; involving the leaders of Representative Councils of Learners (RCLs) as well as members of School Governing Bodies (SGBs).
Thanks to the contributions of community organisations like the Proudly Manenberg Campaign, the Manenberg High School achieved a matric result of 85.29% last year, up from 45.35% the previous year. Although we are concerned at the retention rate at this school , we are proud of the work done.
It is our aim to replicate these types of success stories by continuing to build partnerships with other communities, like the Hanover Park Education Forum, the Lentegeur Education Foundation, and many others.
I want to thank the many partners, business, NGOs and other organizations who continue to support our learners and our schools.
I also want to thank the many committed teachers who are working with our children. In this respect I want to mention the Hector Petersen and Langa Secondary Schools, whose matrics have last year already decided to start learning and teaching even a week earlier.
For enquiries:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Email: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za