Cape Town - An urgent application to halt the closure of 18 schools will be heard in the Western Cape High Court just two weeks before the new school year, it was reported on Friday.
The Cape Times reported that the matter had been set down for December 18 and 19, with the expected closures to take place on December 31.
The provincial schools, their governing bodies and the SA Democratic Teachers' Union filed papers last week against provincial education MEC Donald Grant and his department, and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.
The application seeks to prevent Grant or the department from closing or merging the schools and moving pupils, teachers, and resources.
It also asks for subsidies and salaries to be paid in the interim and that the department be forbidden from interfering in school operations.
Grant announced in October that, after careful consideration, 20 schools would be closed because of low enrolment numbers, multi-grade classes or a decline in pupil numbers.
Beauvallon Secondary School principal Henry Hockey, in an affidavit on behalf of all applicants, said the closures were unlawful and unconstitutional.
According to the report, six new schools would open at the start of the new term.
These schools were: Sunningdale Primary, Concordia Primary and Concordia High in the Eden and Karoo area, Disa High in Hout Bay, AZ Berman High in Tafelsig and Soneike High in Kuils River.