308 Limpopo schools set to close

Education MEC Dikeledi Magadzi says schools affected either have a low enrollment or poor infrastructure.

 

She has briefed the media in Polokwane on the department's intention to merge 308 schools. Magadzi says steps to deal with problems like lack of scholar transport, are underway. “When you go out on tender somebody tenders for this route and then he sees that the route is not viable. Part of the things that we are trying to do is to look into other alternative means as to making sure that the learners will get transport,” says she says. The merger will affect over 50 000 pupils and is expected to start in January 2014.

 

The South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) says the department did not consult them properly about the decision.“We were just called for an abrupt meeting where the MEC indicated her intention to merge the schools. Indeed it is not for the first time that we merge schools in Limpopo, but we must make sure that communities and local traditional authorities are consulted,” says spokesperson Matome Raphasha.

 

Raphasha says that it should not create the chaos that was created in the Western Cape. “We are very doubtful because the MEC wants to implement this thing by next year. We do not see that it will work out because the time is very limited,” he says.

 

-SABC