Kimberley - In an unprecedented move, the Northern Cape Department of Education has decided to deregister all 469 Grade 12 Kuruman learners who have not been attending classes due to the violent service delivery protests that have closed down the schools in that area since June.
The department’s spokesman, Sydney Stander, said on Thursday that “we are now at a stage where it is not reasonably possible to provide any help to the 469 Grade 12 learners”.
“There are 45 days left to the start of the final examinations. The 469 Grade 12 learners have incomplete assessments. These learners have not been part of a normal teaching and learning process from June 5. The department has therefore arrived at the following conclusion: that all the Grade 12 learners of the affected eight high schools in Joe Morolong be deregistered and reregistered as part-time learners. This will afford them the opportunity to prepare and write supplementary exams in February or March 2015,” Stander said.
“That all Grade R to 11 learners be allowed to redo their current Grades in 2015 as they have been unable to complete a full academic year in the system. This position of the Department of Education is reasonable and should be supported because we have taken all steps necessary to protect our learners, but were not successful,” he added.
This statement has shocked many in the province since it came barely a day after Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas said that her administration had succeeded in convincing the people of Kuruman to reopen the schools on Monday.
Lucas’s spokesman, Monwabisi Nkompela, said that “the deregistration of the learners is a new phenomena to us”.
“We are not aware of that decision,” he pointed out.
“What we are aware of, is that a meeting between government, the contractor who has been appointed to build the roads in Kuruman and the people of that area is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday). Everyone is excited about this meeting because it will pave the way for the reopening of the schools on Monday,” Nkompela added.
He later said that “both Lucas and the MEC for education in the province, Grizelda Cjiekela-Lecholo, are looking at the deregistration of the learners as one of the options that are available”.
“We are working with the Department of Education and Umalusi (the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training) to see how we can set up camps for the affected matriculants for next year,” Nkompela added.
Cosatu in the province has described the department’s action as “unfortunate”.
“While we understand that the affected learners, particularity the matriculants, have lost a lot of time this year, the decision is unfortunate. We, however, will not blame the department, considering the current situation in Kuruman.
“We continue to urge the provincial government and the department to improve their communication effort so that we do not get conflicting statements in the public on issues,” the federation’s provincial secretary, Anele Gxoyiya, said.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in the province said on Thursday that it was “obligated” to support the department because time had run out for the close to 20 000 children who have been prevented from attending school by their own parents and members of the community.
“The children have not been adequately prepared to face the upcoming final examinations so it would not be correct to expect them to write the examinations. We hope the department affords the affected matric learners an opportunity to write their examinations next year,” the union’s provincial secretary, Sipho Mayongo, said.
Stander, meanwhile, said that the department was disappointed by the continued infringement on the children’s right to education by the parents and communities of the Joe Morolong district.
He then provided some background to the hostile situation in Kuruman.
“In 2012, the National Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, took a decision that because it was parents and communities that prevented learners from going to school, that parents and communities should carry the responsibility of their actions.
“The minister decided that all learners from Grade R to 11 must come back in 2013 to redo their grades. This was one of the most painful decisions the democratic state had to make, but also a necessary one so as to hold our parents accountable, that education should never be used to pursue group interests.”
“Two years later, the situation repeats itself in Joe Morolong where 17 000 learners are deprived of their constitutional right to education because of narrow group interests,” Stander said.
He also questioned why parents and the community would deny their children access to education.
“Why does this new culture find support at the expense of the future of our children? What is disappointing is that parents have throughout, openly demonstrated their commitment to destroying the schooling career of their own children.”
Stander condemned the “no tarred road, no school” approach taken by the residents in Kuruman.
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