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Schools get off to good start
10/01/2007 18:28 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Provincial education departments had a smooth start to the first day of school on Wednesday with no major problems being reported.
Schools re-opened in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State.
"All our schools opened today," said Gauteng education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi. "We are quite excited that everything went smoothly."
Late registrations had led to 1 200 pupils seeking admission to schools. "That's the only major incident that affected the smooth running of our schools."
Lesufi said minor incidents included police restoring order in Johannesburg at a protest at a Bosmont high school.
40 computers handed over
Free State schools experienced a normal teaching day, said MEC Ouma Tsopo, who will visit regions throughout the province in the next few days.
Limpopo education spokesperson Ndo Mangala reported a smooth start with no major problems.
Top officials had been sent across the province to tackle any problems.
Provincial education MEC Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, accompanied deputy education minister Enver Surty to Makgoka Secondary School and Tshebela High School to give 20 computers to each school.
At Makgoka a set of library books was handed to the school and Tshebela received two sets of science kits.
Limpopo was the worst performer in the matric results for the sixth time last year, with the lowest provincial pass rate of 55.7%.
North West education department said all schools had opened and attendance had been good.
Spokesperson Charles Raseala said teachers had been on time and pupils were settled in classrooms.
Long queues were reported in Maquasi Hills, in the south of the province, and at a high school in Itoseng, near Lichtenburg, with parents going to schools register children.
Meanwhile, the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) said Grade 11 pupils who failed 2006 were the biggest challenge facing education in 2007.
Sadtu president Willie Madisha said: "With the introduction of the new curriculum for the new Grade 11s, those repeating cannot simply rewrite on the old curriculum since this will no longer prepare them for Grade 12."
This year was the last that matric would be written on the old curriculum.
"What do we do? Does the school run two parallel Grade 11 groups - for new grade 11s and for those repeating who will need a lot of support to convert to the new curriculum?" he asked.
"This is a major challenge for learners and educators. We will need clear direction and a lot of support and training from the department of education," he said.
Teachers, also, had not been properly trained to deal with the new curriculum.
Gauteng 'short of 200 schools'
Madisha said other challenges were access to education with overcrowding, late registration, illegal exclusions, transport and school uniforms.
School violence and the non-delivery of pupil support materials were also highlighted.
The Democratic Alliance said Gauteng was short of nearly 200 schools.
"Rand Park Ridge High, for example, was built for 800, but today admitted 1 540," said spokesperson David Quail.
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