Joint statement by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and De Kuilen Primary School

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and De Kuilen Primary School are pleased to announce that De Kuilen will accommodate 16 learners from Mikro Primary School who have been the subject of legal proceedings involving Mikro and the WCED.

De Kuilen will accommodate the learners from January 2006. The WCED and De Kuilen reached this agreement following several months of discussion on suitable accommodation for the Foundation Phase learners.

The WCED instructed Mikro to accept 21 learners in an English-language class late last year because of an acute shortage of accommodation in Kuils River. The instruction followed protracted attempts by the WCED, starting in 2002, to ensure optimal use of all available accommodation in the area.

Mikro approached the Cape High Court successfully to review and set aside a decision of the WCED to accommodate the 21 learners at Mikro and to have them taught in English. The Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of the Cape High Court that the department relocate learners to another school, on condition that the alternative accommodation serves their best interests.

The parents of five of the learners have since found other accommodation for their children, leaving 16 learners now at Mikro who need to be accommodated elsewhere.

While De Kuilen is full for 2006, they have agreed to accommodate the 16 learners from Mikro because of the special circumstances of this case.

The WCED will advise parents of about 60 learners who are on a waiting list for admission to De Kuilen that the school is full and that the department will assist them in finding suitable accommodation in other schools.

De Kuilen is a parallel-medium school in that it offers mother-tongue instruction in both Afrikaans and English in separate classrooms. Dual-medium schools offer instruction in two languages in the same classrooms.

De Kuilen has built a proud tradition for excellence in academic work, sport and cultural activities over many years. The school believes that its recipe for success includes its commitment to offering parallel-medium instruction.

De Kuilen has found that by opting for parallel-medium instruction, it has not suppressed or undermined Afrikaans, but has instead provided an opportunity for Afrikaans to flourish by exposing English-speaking learners to Afrikaans in natural ways.

Both the WCED and De Kuilen acknowledge that school accommodation continues to be a severe problem in the Kuils River area. The WCED appreciates the extent to which De Kuilen has bent over backwards to meet this challenge in recent years.

Both the department and the school governing body are pleased to have reached an agreement on accommodating the additional learners in spite of the accommodation problems that De Kuilen already experiences.

Education MEC Cameron Dugmore has expressed his appreciation to De Kuilen for the positive and constructive manner in which the school has approached this issue, "despite the challenge the school is already facing as far as accommodation is concerned".

"I want to reiterate my and the WCED's position, that the instruction to Mikro last year to accommodate the 21 learners was never an attack on Afrikaans or single-medium schools, but was simply about ensuring access to education."

For further comment, contact:

Mr Francois Lubbe, Principal of De Kuilen Primary: 0827739948
Gert Witbooi, Media Liaison Officer of the MEC: 0825503938