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Media Release

3 December, 2004


No need to panic on school enrolments

Statement by Cameron Dugmore, MEC for Education in the Western Cape

There is no truth in media reports this week that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will require individual schools to register hundreds of additional learners at the start of the 2005 school year.

The media reports appear to be based on an assessment of schools to establish their capacity based on a norm of 35 to 38 learners per classroom.

The department has circulated the findings of the assessment to schools with a request for comment.

The assessment forms part of a process of consultation which began earlier this year to develop guidelines on how to determine school capacity.

The department initially proposed that schools with more than 40 in a class are full, but reduced this to between 35 and 38, following discussions with governing body associations.

Schools and the WCED need a clear guideline on this issue to guide accommodation decisions in 2005. The letter informing schools of the findings of the assessment did not ask schools to accommodate additional learners.

At this stage, the norm of 35 to 38 learners per classroom is a guideline. The WCED will finalise policy on this issue in 2005 after a final round of consultation.

Meanwhile, the WCED has also issued a circular (number 69 of 2004), which states that schools may be asked to accommodate up to 38 additional learners in 2005, where they have the capacity to accommodate more learners.

The WCED will ask the schools to accommodate these learners in points of entry to the school, either in Grade 1 or 8, or Grade 10 where the school only offer Grades 10 to 12.

The department is also asking schools with more that 38 in a class to manage numbers down over the period of five years.

In the meantime, we will work with the Department of Transport and Public Works to do whatever we can to speed up the building of additional schools.

The latest measures form part of a long process designed to find learning homes for all our learners. We may still have to accommodate new applicants in January, but we are satisfied that the vast majority of our learners have schools to go to in 2005.


Issued by:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Secretary
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
E-mail: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za
Tel: 021 467 2524
Fax: 021 425 5689


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