Schools in Gauteng reopen today, and Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi believes that all has been done to ensure a smooth start to the first day of school – that learning and teaching starts without any hindrance.
He said the department hosted Admission Open Days this past weekend, on January 13 and 14 at various decentralised venues (in districts) to address the backlog of the 31 000 unplaced learners and to attend to all other admissions related queries.
“We appreciate parents who visited the centres for assistance and assure them that the department is doing everything possible to place all unplaced learners. We appeal for patience and cooperation in the interest of learners,” said Lesufi.
“Notwithstanding our efforts to get all parents to apply on time so that we can improve on our planning processes, a total of 4500 new applications have been received since Saturday.
He said unplanned financial implications of admitting late applicants are substantial.
Additional funding will have to be found to finance educator salaries, additional classrooms, learning and teaching support materials and school furniture. Procurement processes are also not instant but can take weeks to complete.
“Parents that still have admission queries in relation to Grade 1 and 8 are advised to visit the admission centres (see list of the centres below). The centres will continue to operate until the end of January.”
Preparations for National Senior Certificate 2018
Lesufi said the Gauteng Department of Education has opted to begin early with preparations for the National Senior Certificate in order to improve overall performance compared to 2017.
He said the following interventions will be implemented by the Department:
• Ensure an uninterrupted teaching and learning so that most of the curriculum can be covered during normal contact time.
• Supplementary lessons and tuition will be offered as part of the Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP).
• Implementation of special interventions such Litnum (Literacy Numeracy Strategy); Maths and science, etc.
• The Head of Department (HOD) will conduct a series of meetings to support schools performing below 60 per cent, as part of our ongoing effort to provide support and uplift poor performing schools.
• All districts are required to submit intervention plans to monitor and support all schools across the province.
• Tracking and monitoring of progress on a weekly basis by MEC, HOD and Districts.
