The Grahamstown district division of the department of education is ready for the start of the 2015 academic year, with all government schools having received learning materials and stationery for this year.
The Grahamstown district division of the department of education is ready for the start of the 2015 academic year, with all government schools having received learning materials and stationery for this year.
Grocott’s Mail interviewed district director Amos Fetsha on Tuesday 13 January 2015 about the district’s readiness for the new school year.
Fetsha said processes for the provision of stationery and textbooks were put in place last year. “All the LTSMs (learning and teaching support materials) were delivered to the schools, although a few have asked for additional material,” Fetsha said.
“We have said to the schools if there is a need for more material they should let us know before the end of January.”
He said the materials should be in schools before pupils come back from the holidays.
“All the schools have received stationery.”
But Fetsha says there is still a shortage of teachers, especially in scarce-skills areas.
They are addressing this through redeployment. Posts not be filled through redeployment have been handed over for the province to fill, he said.
Fetsha said the office of the Superintendent General had asked for numbers of teachers not already in the pool, who are needed in the district by Friday 16 January 2015.
Although some were filled last year, the district still needs about 50 teachers, Fetsha says. Many of these posts are in Afrikaans-medium schools.
“It is our hope that there will be a teacher in every class when the schools re-open, but that depends on the province. As the district, we cannot determine time frames,” he said.
With respect to scholar transport, Fetsha said the department had done its part to submit routes and numbers of pupils that need transport.
“We hope by the end of the week the province will announce those who are going to transport learners. It is really not a function of the department of education. Transport deals with it – but we have done our part,” he said.
On school nutrition, Fetsha said they had asked all the schools to submit reports on nutrition in September.
“The reports reflect that there should not be a problem. Some schools even had a surplus of food left at the end of 2014,” Fetsha said. “Our staff will be at schools to monitor that everything is in order before the learners return.”
Fetsha said he was pleased with matric results in the district but believes Grahamstown can do better.
“The percentage is still low, but we are getting there. Of course we cannot be quiet about going from 62% to 71%. But Grahamstown should be in the 80% range,” he said.
There are 224 pupils who qualify for supplementary examinations, according to Fetsha.
He said the number could increase, because there were learners who might still be granted supplementaries.
