WEDNESDAY 8.30AM:
THE school year began in four provinces on Tuesday, with primary schools turning away Grade 1 pupils who failed to register on time, or whose parents were attempting to register them in schools outside their home districts.
But while schools in mainly white suburbs were overcrowded, principals of township schools reported a large drop in enrolments as township parents attempted to enrol their children at better schools, even at the price of daily long-distance commuting.
The four provinces which began school yesterday were Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Northern Province. The general rule is that children must attend school in the year in which they turn seven; and may begin a year earlier if there are vacancies for them. Schools must give seven year olds from the local area preference over six year olds, or over children from other areas.
Gauteng’s education MEC Mary Metcalfe said the trend for township parents to abandon local schools would harm efforts to build up township schools into “centres of excellence”.
Several provinces announced that they would rehire “on demand” many of the temporary teachers whose contracts were allowed to expire last year. Northern Province will rehire all 2 000 teachers laid off in December on new six month contracts; Gauteng will rehire 3 000 out of 5 000; Mpulamanga will rehire 800 and the Eastern Cape 2 000.
There was also confusion at schools which reported that text books and stationery supplies had not arrived. Some schools may only begin with formal classroom teaching next week when supplies have been delivered.
Most provinces have cut back on textbook and stationery spending, expecting parents to pay for supplies. Government spending on new text books for schools has dropped from R800 million in 1996 to R230m in 1998, according to the Publishers Association of SA. Gauteng has allocated no money for new textbooks; other provinces are buying text books only for poorer schools.