The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has threatened proceedings in the High Court if their demand for school books to be delivered to two Eastern Cape schools is not met.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has threatened proceedings in the High Court if their demand for school books to be delivered to two Eastern Cape schools is not met.
Last week, the LRC sent a final letter of demand to the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDOE) for delivery of textbooks to he Nombulelo Secondary School in Grahamstown and Bethelsdorp Comprehensive School in Port Elizabeth.
Their statement read:
“We are demanding delivery of textbooks to the Nombulelo Secondary School in Grahamstown and Bethelsdorp Comprehensive School in Port Elizabeth, who, despite having ordered books in accordance with the ECDOE’s requirements have, to-date, not received a large portion of their books for the current school year.
“Nombulelo Secondary School is waiting for textbooks to the value of R161 512.30 to be delivered for the 2016 school year. Bethelsdorp Comprehensive School has textbooks to the value of R195 165.29 outstanding for the 2016 school year.
“The Supreme Court of Appeal has made it clear that it is the duty of the state to fulfil the S 29(1)(a) right of every learner by providing him or her with every textbook prescribed for his or her grade before commencement of the teaching of the course for which the textbook is prescribed.
“As a consequence of this failure to deliver textbooks, our clients have had a dire shortage of textbooks for the entirety of the school year thus far, and their chances of succeeding in their exams are being severely jeopardised.
“If we do not receive a response from the ECDOE within the necessary time frames, we will launch urgent proceedings in the High Court to compel delivery of the missing books, so that our clients are, at the very least, equipped with textbooks for the final term of the school year.”
