“The 2014 academic year commenced successfully with minor, manageable challenges,” Gauteng Education Department spokesperson, Phumla Sekhonyane said.
A total of 17 new schools were opened in the province to address classroom overcrowding and the challenges facing pupils who were forced to travel long distances to get to school.
Speaking at the opening of Palm Ridge Secondary in Johannesburg, Education MEC Barbara Creecy said, “We have already got over 500 Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners in the school. Textbooks have been delivered, teachers and learners are here and teaching has already started.”
Creecy said the school was needed in the area because the other schools in the vicinity were battling to accommodate pupils due to a high demand.
Department of Basic Education spokesperson, Elijah Mahlanga said prior planning had placed the department in good stead for the 2014 school year.
He said by November 2013, 98 percent of textbooks had been delivered to schools across the country.
However, one of the unavoidable challenges at the start of the school year was late registration.
Sekhonyane said in anticipation of the influx of late registrations, the department had established admissions centres in all 15 districts to manage registrations.
She added that the centres served to ensure that learning and teaching was not disrupted by parents going to schools seeking admission for their children.
The district centres would place children in schools that have available places.
The Gauteng Education Department has also set up an operations centre in Braamfontein to address any challenges that might arise across the province, including late registrations.
Parents were also encouraged to report challenges to the operations centre which would be open until the end of January, on 073 064 1565 or 083 401 7644.
