The Mpumalanga Department of Education has already put up plans to ensure that the 2015 school year starts seamlessly.
Admission
Admission of learners for 2015 started in May 2014 and was concluded at the end of August 2014. Currently, the department is addressing instances where parents were unable to get admission. Each district has established admission committees to assist parents in this regard.
Paper Budgets
Paper Budgets for the 2015 school year were developed and dispatched to all schools at the end of September 2014.
The last monetary transfers to schools were concluded in October 2014. This money is expected to be used by schools to procure basic material for the enhancement of the teaching and learning process
Post Establishment
The Department - in compliance with the legislative framework – issued the 2015 post provisioning certificates to District Directors on 29 September 2014, who commenced the distribution process to public schools on 30 September 2014. The Department for the 2015 academic year maintained the same pool of educator posts (32 637) for distribution to public schools. Of the 32 637 educator posts, 394 were distributed to LSEN schools to service the 3,757 learners in Grade 1 to 12, at an average Teacher: Learner ratio of 1:9.59. The remaining 32,243 educator posts were distributed to Public Ordinary schools to service the 978,247 learners in Grade 1 to 12 at an average Teacher: Learner ratio of 1:30.35. The 32637 posts thus distributed for the 2015 academic year to service a total Public School Learner enrolment of 982,206 in Grade 1 to 12, will result in an overall Educator: Learner ratio for Public schools of 1:30.
These ratio’s are very favourable in terms of teaching and learning processes, and it is on this basis that the Department again for 2015 maintained the same pool of educator posts for distribution to public schools (Grade 1 to 12) as was approved for the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 academic years.
Learning and teaching support material
The Department of Education has already delivered all the Learning and Teaching Support Material to schools within the province based on the number of learners per school per grade that each school submitted to the Department through EMIS and SASAMS.
The department allocated R173 million for delivery of the core LTSM for 2015 i.e. Stationery and Grade 12 Folklore. R130 was allocated to schools to top-up on CAPS textbooks and support materials that were supplied to schools from 2011 to 2013 from grade R to 12. The top-up LTSM was delivered to schools in April this year. R50m was allocated for all other LTSM for ECD, AET, QID-UP, Special schools and for Incremental Introduction of African Languages.
The LTSM deliveries started from 07 November 2014 and were concluded on 26 November 2014 for stationery and folklore. Schools are expected to give feedback on the deliveries and to indicate instances where there are shortages before they close on 10 December 2014
The reported shortages and all the other LTSM will be concluded and delivered before schools open in January next year to ensure that schools are able to prepare and plan properly so that teaching and learning may start without hassles on the first day of re-opening (i.e. 14 January 2015). All learners must receive this material on time and at no stage should a learner be deprived stationery even if his or her parents have not met some school obligations.
Schools which will be operational for the first time in 2015
Emakhazeni Boarding School at Emakhazeni Local Municipality will be operational for the first time when schools re-open in 2015. This boarding school will accommodate learners from Allie Primary School, Bloomplaas P School; Nhupheko P School; Ummeli P School; Thembalethu P School and Khayalethu P School. There were small farm schools which needed not be closed to bring to fruition the Boarding School. The operation of this boarding school will see the province having four fully functional boarding schools that takes care of children whose families live below the bread line.
Another school that will be operational for the first time in 2015 is Ubuhlebuzile Secondary School which was built to alleviate overcrowding in schools at UMkhondo Local Municipality. Two new primary schools will be established, one at Emalahleni Local Municipality in Klarinnet and another at Arorand at Steve Tshwete Local Municipality. These two schools are actually planned for 2016 but because of the seriousness of space within their vicinities, the department had no option but to procure mobile classes as an interim measure.
Parental support
The department requests parents to start making the required preparations for their children's education for 2015 now so that they don’t experience challenges in January when schools re-open.
