/ 7 January 2007

Report: 200 Gauteng schools may be closed

The Gauteng department of education has threatened to close down 200 badly performing schools, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Spokesperson for the department Panyaza Lesufi said the department has given principals until the end of January to present plans to turn their schools around.

However, he says Education provincial minister Angie Motshekga was convinced that the only solution was to close the schools down.

”They are part of what the education minister calls non-functional schools.

”So in Gauteng we have given them until January 30 to tell us what they will do to turn around the situation,” he said.

”But the [provincial minister] has reached a stage where she believes that these schools are just absorbing money and resources of the state, but the end results are absolutely nothing.”

Lesufi also said the department could not justify the amount of money invested in those schools.

”If we compare the output that we receive, we believe we have no choice but to close down the schools.” — Sapa