Number of pupils seeking space at Gauteng schools increasing, says Makhura

Gauteng is still affected by a large number of migrants from other parts of the country who seek space in the province’s schools.

The numbers are increasing, with an additional 19 000 pupils having arrived in January. Most of those have been placed in schools.

This was announced by Premier David Makhura during his State of the Province address held in Randfontein on Monday.

He said the province could not do anything to stop people from migrating to the country’s economic hub.

Makhura said they realised that Gauteng’s female pupils are taking their rightful place among the top performers in the province with many earning distinctions.

This success could be attributed to system support for female pupils that was initiated by the provincial education department.

Makhura said 300 000 female pupils in the province were receiving “dignity packs” free of charge.

This came after the executive council decided that a million should be provided with pads or sanitary towels by 2019.

The province, which had been leading others on introducing modern school ICT programmes, has seen over 64 000 Grade 12 pupils in 377 no-fee schools benefitting from the conversion to smart classrooms.

A total of 1 800 classrooms were changed to the system and over 900 teachers were issued with laptops in the province.

“Since 2014, we have built 43 new schools, including new ICT-enabled classrooms in the existing schools. In the next two years, we will build 34 new schools, 1 200 laboratories and more than 470 school libraries,” Makhura said.

He said he has directed education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to come up with a plan at the next executive council meeting in March on how to avoid problems with the pupil online registration system.

He said many parents have complained that online registration made it difficult for them to know whether their children would get space and where.

He tasked health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa to inspire doctors in public health facilities to rise to the occasion and provide quality healthcare to patients.

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