Spotlight shined on Alex education problems
ALEXANDRA – A stakeholder forum is established to tackle issues of education in the township.
A stakeholder’s forum has been launched in Alexandra to tackle issues of education that bedevil the township, ranging from
late-coming by schoolchildren, drug and other substance abuses, burglaries and theft of valuable school equipment.
The Alexandra Education Stakeholder’s Forum will tackle social and economic factors that impact negatively on an effective learning and teaching environment in the schools and also map a way forward.
Read: My son is a drug addict, says Joburg East District education director Mnyamezeli Ndevu
The establishment of the forum was facilitated by the Alexandra Parliamentary Constituency Office which has its offices in Phase One at the Thusong Multi Purpose Service Centre at the corner of 8th Avenue and Alfred Nzo Street.
Convenor of the forum and Member of the Provincial Legislature, Godfrey Tsotetsi said the forum would be an ideal platform to address the many issues that bedevil education in the township. It will also enable government to implement the interdepartmental and integrated plan that will be strengthened by sound intergovernmental relations.
He said the stakeholder forum would include a host of community organisations ranging from unions to taxis associations, civic organisations, the media, student bodies such as Congress of South African Students, the South African Democratic Teachers Union), National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa, the Community Policing Forum (CPF), the police and many others. They will form a permanent body that will meet frequently to report on the progress made and address new challenges as they emerge.
Tsotetsi added that the forum was a commitment by government to work with all stakeholders to make education a societal priority, driven by the old adage, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’.
Read: Education is the only way out of poverty
He also welcomed Finance MEC Barbara Creecy’s announcement when she tabled her budget on 7 March that Alexandra High School would be converted into a fully-fledged ICT school in line with the transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation priorities of the provincial government.
Present at the forum launch was Gauteng MEC for Education, Lesufi Panyaza and his district officials led by the Johannesburg East District director, Mnyamezeli Ndevu.
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