The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is prepared for the upcoming stayaway by educator unions this coming Tuesday and have a number of contingency plans in place.

Currently, our district officials are, as far as possible, determining which schools will are likely to be most affected by the industrial action and are arranging for extra support personnel to be made available at these schools, where at all possible.

On Tuesday morning, we have systems in place to monitor absenteeism levels of educators and will deploy, at short-notice, WCED officials, wherever possible to help supervise classes.

Should a class be without an educator, learners are encouraged to continue to read, write and calculate, using their textbooks and any other material available, for example, crosswords in newspapers, or a book from their school or local library.

Our Grade 12 learners should use this time for revision, consulting past examination papers and their "Tips for Success" booklets.

We urge parents to send their children to school. We are only 4 weeks into the third term after a long June/July holiday period, therefore any further disruption to learning time is discouraged. We ask parents to also ensure that their children bring extra learning materials to school in case they find themselves in a supervised class that day.

The WCED have informed principals that no school can be closed without notice and/or permission by WCED district officials.

Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za