The Gauteng MEC for Education, Mr Matome Chiloane, has condemned the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) response to a massive sinkhole that has disrupted teaching and learning at Relegobile Secondary, labelling it sensational and opportunistic to the unfortunate situation.
DA IN DISBELIEF AFTER VISITING RELEBOGILE SECONDARY
The DA conducted an oversight inspection at the Carletonville school where they were left disappointed by the action taken by the department to resolve the crisis.
However, MEC Chiloane was triggered by media reports claiming that the DA’s spokesperson on education, Mr Khume Ramulifho, stated that he will report him to the Human Rights Commission for not doing anything to ensure the education of learners at Relebogile was not negatively impacted by this natural disaster.
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MEC CHILOANE CRITICISES THE PARTY FOR SCORING CHEAP POINTS
“Firstly, we would like to dispel an insinuation peddled by the DA that the Gauteng Education Department (GDE) is not doing anything to ensure that the impact of the sinkhole at Relebogile Secondary does not negatively affect the learners longer than necessary.”
MEC Chiloane
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“Since February, when the matter came to our attention, several interventions have been undertaken to minimise the negative impact of the disaster on Relebogile learners. The first step was to, naturally, ensure that we protect the lives of all who use the school by immediately evacuating and stopping classes so that we do not put our learners and officials; lives at risk. Once that was done, we ensured that Relebogile learners were accommodated at a neighbouring school as an interim measure, with their classes taking place between 12h00 and 17h00 daily,” MEC Chiloane said.
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WHAT THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAS AS PLANS
MEC Chiloane added that the school, working with the District, was also implementing a catch-up programme for learners while waiting for a permanent solution.
“At the moment, about 28 mobile classes have been delivered to an identified site to accommodate affected learners. Plans are also afoot to finalise water connectivity so that learners can occupy the mobile units as soon as reasonably possible. Further plans are in progress to accommodate all Grade 12 learners at a camp in due course, with the intention to assist them before their final examination,” he explained.
MEC Chiloane also lambasted Ramulifho for deliberately misinterpreting the Department’s information on the number of drop-outs in the province.
“To claim that more than 110 000 children dropped out of our schools last year shows how little Ramulifho understands Gauteng’s complex schooling system. Our data shows that the 110 000 learners he is referring to are learners lost to the system in the last 12 years in total – from 2010 to 2022. Those learners are not in the system for various reasons, including, but not limited to, moving to private schools or out of the province, some failed and migrated to other countries,” he clarified.
“We will continue to monitor the situation at the school and ensure that we provide more support, as needs be. We call for patience and urge the community to allow us to implement our interventions so that our children do not suffer any further,” he promised.
Finally, the MEC requested all stakeholders to refrain from exploiting the natural catastrophe at the expense of Gauteng learners.
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