Basic education minister addresses various issues in Mpumalanga
Minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube met with role players and community members of Mbombela to address community concerns.
Issues of placement, community unrest interrupting learning and teaching, budget constraints, overcrowding, undocumented learners and infrastructure challenges were some of the topics discussed between role players and community members of Mbombela during the minister of basic education’s Siviwe Gwarube’s visit to various schools in Mpumalanga last Wednesday, January 24.
Gwarube was leading a governmental Back-to-School visit to KaMagugu Special School. She was accompanied by the deputy minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, and the Mpumalanga MEC for education, Cathy Dlamini.
They also visited Boschrand Primary School and Hoërskool Rob Ferreira.
The schools opened for the year on Wednesday, January 15.
However, some of the parents of unplaced children have raised their concerns, saying they do not know what will happen to their kids.
Of the 7 924 Grades Rs, Ones and Eights who still had to be placed throughout Mpumalanga, about 3 000 remain unplaced. This was revealed by Gwarube during her visit.
We want every learner to be placed immediately, to make sure they don’t miss out on crucial learning and teaching time. However, we also understand that Mpumalanga is experiencing tremendous pressure from people who are moving, particularly to the metro areas. The province has managed to halve that number in a week, and the MEC has said that they are going to work hard to try and get the rest of those learners placed,” Gwarube said.
The 1 800 learners in Boschrand Primary are too many for the school, and she said it is unable to cope because the learner-teacher ratio is very high.
Some parents in Msholozi raised their concerns regarding their children not being absorbed into Boschrand and that the school has allegedly admitted some undocumented learners.
Gwarube said the province has about 70 000 undocumented learners in the system.
“We must remember that the Constitution guides us very well – that no learner can be turned away. No child in South Africa can be turned away. Schooling is compulsory for children in this country. Ours is not to essentially to ask where the parents come from, ours is to provide a service.”
In terms of school infrastructure, she said the ministry understands that it is an issue in Mpumalanga.
ALSO READ: Pienaar learner scoops second position among the province’s matric top achievers
We also understand that budget constraints are a huge challenge in Mpumalanga, however, we are pleased to see that the province’s expenditure so far as the infrastructure budget is concerned is ticking up, which means there is commitment from their side to deliver.”
Gwarube said there are still gaps and that the province is struggling, as are some of the others. “That is why, as we head into the cabinet lekgotla in the next week or so, the deputy minister and I will be delving into the case. As the South African government we need to make sure that we are prioritising funding for education,” she said.
Gwarube raised concerns regarding community unrests that have disrupted learning and teaching time.
“We are pleading with the members of the community to please always protect the learning and teaching time of our learners. We must not seek to shut down this schools, because it is that results in our children not getting the education that they need.”
