Lobby group, Education for Social Justice, says it’s concerned that thousands of learners in Gauteng have dropped out of school over the past year.
The provincial Basic Education Department has confirmed the dropout rate. It says that over 100 000 learners have left its system.
The department says this cannot be entirely attributed to school dropouts.
It follows a call by the Democratic Alliance (DA) for the department to investigate what happened to such a huge number of learners.
The department believes that some learners might have left the country or moved to other provinces.
Makaneta says this needs urgent attention. “And feel that government should a way to track down these learners. And intergrade them back in the terrain of education. Particularly those in lower and grade 1o where the problem is dire. Which is the grade ten crisis. Bring them back so that they also complete their schooling and get their matric certificates.”
