Media Release
Minister of Education Debbie Schäfer
Western Cape

28 June, 2018

Grade 12 learners attend Winter Schools across the Western Cape.

Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education

With 116 days to go to the start of the 2018 NSC examinations, the next five months are a very important time in a learner's school career.

It is therefore important that as a department, we do all that we can to assist our candidates with their preparation for the upcoming NSC examinations. In order to assist our learners, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has initiated a number of targeted and sustained interventions at schools across the province, including a Winter School and Winter Camps for Grade 12 learners.

Providing curriculum support to our Grade 12 learners is a priority for this Government, particularly in schools where learners are struggling in specific subjects.

The Grade 12 Winter Schools Programme aims to assist learners in high enrolment subjects. These subjects include Mathematics, Physical Science, Geography, Life Sciences, Accounting and Economics. Many of the programmes on offer will be taught by tutors selected by the WCED. The Winter School programme also includes Winter Camps. For example, there is a winter camp in Ceres that is hosting over 200 Grade 12 learners for the week.

In some schools, curriculum advisors will be supporting and assisting individual school programmes. Additional resource materials have been developed to complement the lessons being presented.

The dates of each school's programme differ. Some schools have offered programmes on specific days, while others, throughout the holiday period.

Today I visited the Grade 12 Winter Schools Holiday Programme at Uxolo, Sizimesele and Harry Gwala High Schools in Khayelitsha.

At these schools, Grade 12 learners within the Khayelitsha area are attending an intensive revision programme ahead of the 2018 NSC examinations.

I am extremely encouraged to see the eagerness and commitment of so many learners to improve their results with a phenomenal number of learners attending Winter Schools across the Western Cape. I am also encouraged by the commitment of our teachers who are assisting them.

I would like to wish all the Grade 12's in our province the very best of luck with their studies and for what is the most important examinations they will write in their school careers.

Vidal Sasson said that "the only place where success comes before hard work is in the dictionary". Nothing is ever achieved without hard work, and I have every confidence that our Matrics will make themselves and the Western Cape proud.

Media enquiries:
Jessica Shelver
Email: Jessica.shelver@westerncape.gov.za