The Eastern Cape Education has learnt with unease the closure of 23 Port Elizabeth schools within the Northern Areas by principals and community members in the past two days.
This is despite the department’s decisive intervention by availing 122 educator posts to the district in April this year to fill all critical vacant and funded posts. The department has since discovered that of the 122 posts provided, only 57 have been filled to date due to various circumstance including the shortage of Afrikaans mother tongue educators of mathematics.
In other instances it is the schools themselves that have been dragging their feet and have not submitted the requested list of vacant posts and other required documents to the district office.
The Department wishes to state categorically that the closure of schools and disruptions of learning and teaching is condemned in the strongest terms and will not be tolerated. Furthermore, the intimidation of non-participating schools and their forced closure has been noted. The department has therefore called on the police to enforce a zero tolerance stance and help stamp out recklessness and anarchy in our schools.
A task team established to resolve this impasse is meeting with the Education Development Officers of these schools to look at case by case and implement remedial steps immediately.
We appeal to all parents to desist from closing our schools as this is against the law.
Enquiries:
Mali Mtima
Cell: 084 230 1976
Loyiso Pulumani
Cell: 083 275 0675
