LIMPOPO – This was according to the Senior District Manager of the Department of Education in Vhembe, Gerson Rambiyani during the Vhembe Pastors’ Forum prayer day held at Lwamondo near Thohoyandou on Saturday.
He said the assessment marks should be completed before the trial exam starts on 22 August, in the case of matriculants.
According to Rambiyani, 52 000 learners in Gr R to Gr 12 have been affected by recent clashes in the area over demarcation.
“Where learners did return to school, as in Bungeni, this number dropped to 42 000. Vhembe has more than 30 000 Gr 12 learners and out of that number, 2 195 Gr 12 learners are affected.”
He said lost teaching time result in the non-availability of the School Based Assessment Marks.
“This will affect this year’s Gr 12 results. The assessment marks and the June exam marks are prerequisites for candidates in the national senior certificate exams.” Even though they have a catch-up plan, he said it would still be difficult to recover the lost time, and marks, especially if the shutdown continues another week.
“Every day we think things will return to normal, but we are already behind again,” he said, referring to the dates of the catch-up plan, which was 6 to 22 June.
He said Gr 12 learners from Vuwani will struggle to aquire bursaries without marks.
Teachers and their non-attendance contribute to the problem, he said. “We held meetings with teachers to return to schools. In one of our meetings, a teacher bluntly said ‘if the Magistrate’s Office is closed, Home Affairs is closed, the School Circuit Office is closed, why should we open our schools?”
The Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Dr Naledzani Rasila said it would indeed be sad should learners not progress at the end of the year due to the current situation of no schooling.
Amid an already dire situation, Rasila remained adamant that they still target a 80% pass rate in the province this year.
The Chairperson of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in Limpopo, Ronnie Morwatsehla requested the Venda King, Toni Mphephu Ramabulana to continue to engange with President Jacob Zuma, on the matter.
“I was looking at the Vuwani crisis with Father Simangaliso Mkhatshwa and we agreed that it is a political problem. Something should have been done before the situation got out of hand. The torching of schools is not a solution. Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. Learners and teachers should go back to schools,” he said.
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No mid-year exams for learners in Vuwani
