Eastern Cape Bhisho government to close more than 2000 schools
According to premier Phumulo Masualle, some schools in the province have “only seven learners” and this model is not sustainable.
The Daily Dispatch is reporting that the Bhisho government will next year press ahead with its plan to close down more than 2000 “unviable” schools.
In an exclusive interview with the Dispatch, premier Phumulo Masualle said records showed that the schools to be closed had fewer than 200 learners each.
Masualle say that there are high schools with “only seven learners” which is not sustainable. He said this situation is leading to “learners being deprived of quality education”.
Masualle said the executive council had resolved to “take these learners to areas where you create the necessary quantum for sustainability”.
According to the Dispatch Education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani was unable to source updated data on which schools had fewer than 10 pupils, because officials responsible for data capture were on holiday. But he said the last time he checked schools with fewer than 10 pupils were mostly farm schools.
The Eastern Cape has been one of the worst performing provinces in terms of matric pass rate. The provincial matric pass rate for 2014 was 65.4%, up from 64.9% in 2013.
Masualle said the executive council had instructed the education department to build hostels “so that you can have learners drawn into a hostel environment to create viable schools by adequately resourcing those schools”.
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