The Gauteng Department of Education announced that 143 Gauteng schools have been identified to change their name, emblem and motto by the end of September, yet it seems that nobody is completely sure exactly who is affected and by when it needs to be done.
The GDE was contacted to obtain a list of the affected Gauteng schools, and even though the date by which these changes were supposed to be done is the end of September, they could not supply the names of the schools in question.
Oupa Bodibe, the acting GDE spokesperson said, “The Department is still in the process of collating information of schools from the districts. We have established a working group with the School Governing Body Associations to deal with this process. We have also requested all schools wishing to change their names to submit all relevant documents to head office for consideration. The names will be made available once the process is complete.”
The Record spoke to the principal of a prominent dual-medium school in Roodepoort to get some insight into this process. The principal wished to stay anonymous because he is not allowed to speak to the media. He explained the process as he understands it.
He said they received communication from the GDE earlier this year requesting schools to submit the origin and meaning of their school’s name to the Department by the end of September. He confirmed that this was done and sent through to them by 1 August, although there has been no acknowledgement of receipt from GDE.
The next circular they received, which he explained as a direct instruction that cannot be ignored, contained the process of applying for a name in the event of a new school (which they are not) as well as the criteria for school names that would need to change. According to the principal the circular only refers to affected schools – but there was no indication which schools were affected. In this circular the GDE required all affected schools to submit a presentation of new names for the school by the end of September.
The principal believes the instructions from the GDE to be very vague and conflicting. Do they only want the history and origin of the school names, or the proposal of the new names by the end of September? “There is a lot of uncertainty about which schools will actually be required to adhere to this instruction, as no direct communication has been received from the GDE to confirm if the school is required to make these changes or not,” he said.
The other concern the principal has is the cost implications of these changes. Should the name, emblem and motto change, it will cost a lot of money to change branding. “Would the school be expected to carry these costs?” the concerned principal asked.
The Record has sent all these burning questions to the GDE and is awaiting comment from them.
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