Limpopo Education MEC announces further school mergers
Education MEC Polly Boshielo recently, in a gathering with stakeholders, announced the department's intention to merge or close 389 non-viable schools in the province.
POLOKWANE – On April 13, Boshielo announced that, in striving to improve the quality of education in the province and with a mandate from the minister of Basic Education brought in 2013, that all non-viable, small schools will have to be merged.
“These are schools that are unable to deliver on their core mandate which includes curriculum delivery. We often see multi-grade teaching in small schools that are not economically viable to maintain, as there are not enough teachers and learner enrolment is below the threshold of 135 for primary and 200 for secondary schools. We have to take the responsibility of ensuring that we invest in the education of our children to afford them the opportunity to excel on the world stage,” said Boshielo.
Given the minimum resources available at their disposal, the MEC said the rationalisation can be done in terms of Section 12A or Section 33 of the South African Schools Act.
In Limpopo, mergers have been initiated three times: in 2008, 2013 and 2017.
A total of 407 schools have been rationalised to date and 52 of those were in the 2021/22 financial year.
In the fourth leg of the merger, a total of 344 non-viable schools will merge and 45 non-viable schools are intended for closure.
Capricorn North will se the highest number of schools close, namely 10.
“The Department of Education has an obligation to ensure that our learners are afforded the best education that the country and the province can offer. This calls for serious cooperation and collaboration to ensure that we work together to reorganise our schools in order to increase efficiency and reduce waste. The schools that are unable to deliver on their core mandate, given the resources available at their disposal must be rationalised,” she concluded.
