The Mpumalanga Education Department has called on parents in the Bohlabela District in Bushbuckridge to refrain from disrupting teaching and learning during protests. It says this has a dire impact on learners’ academic performance.
The district saw a 10% decline in the 2023 matric results, with a pass rate of 69 percent. Deputy Education Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule and Education MEC Bonakele Majuba visited the Bohlabela District to meet principals from 394 schools to engage on issues affecting teaching and learning in the area.
Discussions by principals and education authorities investigated issues affecting teaching and learning in the Bohlabela District. Previously, teachers took to the streets to raise concerns about their safety and that of learners in schools, particularly in the crime notorious Marite area. Most schools in the district face challenges, including the lack of infrastructure and resources, among others.
“There is much fear, we are not teaching well, if you listen to other districts and circuits, they are able to do extra classes, Saturdays, in the morning. We are unable to do that because as learners go to school in the morning, they are being attacked, their cell phones and tablets are being taken. Teachers are afraid to go to school, we are trying to find ways and means to teach our learners without fears,” a principal says.
“The other challenge is that we don’t have learner-teacher support material, we don’t have textbooks. If we can be given enough textbooks we can make it,” another principal explains.
The Education Department has emphasised that it has put plans forward to help improve teaching and learning in the district.
“We’ve got an analysis of the results starting from grade R up until now to check where did we go wrong so as we can be able to intervene, there are plans that were drafted which we are going to implement to make sure that there is an improvement,” says Mpumalanga MEC for Education Bonakele Majuba.
The National Education Department acknowledges that the lack of infrastructure remains an issue for most schools in the province. It promised to prioritize the refurbishment of infrastructure for better teaching and learning.
“As national government, we are consolidating the priorities of infrastructure in our rural provinces to see where we can intervene. The minister is engaging even with the Minister of Finance to look as to how can we fast-track the issue of infrastructure especially in the rural provinces,” says Deputy Minister of Basic Education Dr Reginah Mhaule,
Dr Mhaule has urged everyone to join hands in bringing stability in the Bushbuckridge area, for the betterment of the community.
