Provincial education departments experienced a smooth start to the first day of school on Wednesday with no major problems being reported.
Schools reopened in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West and Free State.
”All our schools opened today [Wednesday],” said Gauteng education spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi. ”We are quite excited that everything went smoothly.”
Late registrations had led to 1 200 pupils seeking admission to schools. ”That’s the only major incident that affected the smooth running of our schools.”
Lesufi said minor incidents included police restoring order in Johannesburg at a protest at a Bosmont high school. In Pretoria, a dispute between a contractor and sub-contractor over payment at a new high school in Lotus Gardens was also resolved.
Free State schools experienced a normal teaching day, said provincial minister Ouma Tsopo.
Tsopo will visit regions throughout the province over the next few days and spent Wednesday meeting primary and secondary school principals in the Sasolburg region to discuss challenges.
”The issue of more teachers, specifically in maths and science, has been discussed and will have to be looked at,” she said.
Funds to buy grade 11 textbooks were also addressed.
Limpopo education spokesperson Ndo Mangala reported a smooth start with no major problems.
Top officials had been dispatched all over the province to tackle any problems.
”There are still some children who are waiting to be admitted to schools, but we are working on that.”
He said it seemed that equipment and stationery were delivered on time.
Provincial education minister Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, accompanied deputy minister of education Enver Surty to the Makgoka Secondary School and Tshebela High School where they donated 20 computers to each school.
At Makgoka a set of library books was handed to the school and Tshebela received two sets of science kits.
Limpopo was the worst performer in the matric results for the sixth time last year, with the lowest provincial pass rate of 55,7%.
The North West education department said all schools had opened and attendance had been good.
”Educators were on time and generally pupils are settled in classrooms,” said spokesperson Charles Raseala.
Long queues were reported in Maquasi Hills, in the south of the province, and at a high school in Itoseng, near Lichtenburg, with parents going to schools register children.
Stationery distribution had been prioritised over teaching in some schools in Maquasi Hills, Raseala said.
Day scholars from surrounding villages and farms could not get to school at Moetwil Comprehensive School in the Rustenburg area where 70% of pupils are boarders.
”The service provider who has been contracted to provide transport did not turn up and those learners were not able to go to school.”
Furniture would be delivered to a Delareyville school on Thursday and officials were attending to two Bophirima schools where stationery had not arrived, Raseala said. — Sapa