Kimberley - Classes will only officially resume next year despite the fact that pupils returned to school in the Kuruman area on Monday after an absence of more than three months.
Spokesman for the Northern Cape Department of Education, Sydney Stander, said on Monday that at this late stage it was impossible to make much progress.
“Despite numerous appeals to parents and communities, schooling came to a standstill for the past three and half months. We are at a stage where it is not realistically possible to do anything with Grades R to 11, except to allow them to return to repeat the full year in 2015,” said Stander.
“This was one of the most difficult and painful decisions we have had to make, given that the parents of the learners and their communities actively participated in the disruption of the education of the children.
“The return to school yesterday is unfortunately very late, considering that the progression requirements for Grade R to 11 demands that they must have a 75 percent weighting in the form of class work, assignments and tests.”
He added that the department had started planning for the 2015 academic year.
“The decision to disrupt education was a conscious decision taken by parents and communities in the Joe Morolong district. We took the same decision with Olifantshoek in 2012 when we were faced with same situation of parents actively disrupting the education of their children,” said Stander. He added that preparations were at an advanced stage to enrol the 469 affected Grade 12 learners at matric support camps.
The matriculants will be registered as part-time candidates to write supplementary examinations in February next year.
“The support camps will assist them to complete outstanding school-based assessments and prepare them for their finals,” Stander said.
He pointed out that the department expected the police to deal with charges that would be brought against parents who had prevented their children from attending school during service delivery protests.
“Our expectation is that the police will deal with all cases in the context of ensuring that we all respect the laws of the country. The district department is doing all it can to ensure the situation returns to normal.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said that the police were monitoring the situation.
He indicated that no arrests were made with regards to parents preventing learners from attending school.
Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the Kuruman Roads Forum, Lucky Kaebis, said that if a recovery plan was implemented, learners in the area, including matrics, would be able to write their year-end exams.
“The majority of the 17 000 learners returned to school yesterday, although, no one attended schools in Dithakong yesterday. There is a shortage of teachers as they were deployed to schools in the Joe Morolong district. We are expecting all learners to attend classes by next week. If learners forfeit their holidays and work over weekends, they will be able to catch up on lost learning time,” Kaebis said.
He added that the forum would consult with the ministerial task team on Tuesday as well as the Department of Education to sign a memorandum of understanding.
Kaebis was confident that work on the 130km road would finally start.
“There is a commitment in writing from the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, that the road will finally become a reality,” he said.
“Contractors, who have arrived on site, will start construction on the road by the end of the week. We do not want any further delays or the contractors to leave the project unfinished after they have received payment.”
Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education will visit Kuruman this week.
Chairwoman of the portfolio committee Nomalungelo Gina advised that children should not be held ransom in service delivery protests.
“The committee understands the issues that the communities are raising, but realising them should not be at the expense of our children's education.
“Education, especially for children who are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, should be a priority,” Gina added.
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