The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, has described the late Allen Thompson as more than just a president of a teacher union. The President and the long-serving national office-bearer of the National Teachers’ Union (NATU), succumbed to Covid-19 related complications. Upon receiving the news of Mr Thompson’s passing, Minister Motshekga expressed her shock and sadness. She conveyed her condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Mr Thompson who had impacted many people through the work he was doing. Mr Thompson was a fearless leader who made a huge contribution to the sector. “In October I shared a stage with him in Newcastle at a NATU ceremony. That event will remain forever etched in my mind. Amongst others they had families of their members who had perished from COVID 19 and a moving ceremony indeed. Thompson gave of his time, talent and soul. I shared a lot of ideas with him on different matters with matric rewrite as the latest matter I shared views with him on. With Thompson…

The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, has issued a new set of directions and protocols as part of the final preparations ahead of the start of the marking of the 2020 matric examinations scripts. The purpose of these Directions is to provide guidelines to officials, educators and administration staff who are involved in the marking of examination scripts and performing other functions related to the finalisation of the results of the 2020 National Senior Certificate and Senior Certificate examinations, and the release thereof. Marking will take place in 181 marking centres around the country and more than 45,000 markers have been appointed to complete the marking of the 14 million scripts over an 18 day period. This examination was administered to 1 058 699 candidates, hence the marking exercise is larger than previous exercises of this nature. The Department has moved swiftly to revise the health and safety protocols to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the marking process. The Department is committed to ensuring that every marking…

The Gauteng Education MEC Mr. Panyaza Lesufi is seriously taken aback by the Independent Examination Board’s (IEB) attempt to force the poor to carry their financial burden. The board even has the audacity to go to court where they seek to enforce this bizarre demand. Ostensibly their court action, if successful, will mean that learners from rural areas and townships will heavily subsidise the rich learners in our country. Essentially that means the inequalities will grow even wider as the poor will fund the rich some of whom are not even living within the borders of Mzansi. In their court papers filed on the 17th December 2020, the secretive IEB, claim they can’t afford to pay for the assessment services offered by UMALUSI. They are basically arguing that the public purse must pay for the rich as well as their clients in other countries like Mozambique, Namibia and eSwatini. In their papers, they argue that they were not given sufficient time to budget for what they term a 2007 policy. IEB…

  Following the address by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday, 28 December 2020, on developments in relation to the country’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic; Minister Nkosazana-Dlamini, Minister Mkhize and Minister Cele will on Tuesday, 29 December 2020, lead a media briefing on the COVID-19 restrictions, regulations and enforcement. Details of the briefing are as follows:   Date:   Tuesday , 29 December 2020 Time:  10h00 Media Participation: Journalists may view the briefing via live streaming on the SA Government Facebook page, Twitter and YouTube channels on the links below.   Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA YouTube: http://youtube.com/GovernmentZA Enquiries: Mr William Baloyi Cell: 083 390 7147   Issued by GCIS 28 December 2020

12 DECEMBER 2020 The Council of Education (CEM) has noted the judgement of the Gauteng North High Court; and agreed that there will be no rewrite of the Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Science Paper 2, which were scheduled for 15 and 17 December 2020, respectively. CEM agreed that the Class of 2020 has been confronted by many challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic; and it would therefore be unfair to further subject the Class of 2020, their teachers and parents to further uncertainties and exacerbate the anxieties they currently face. CEM has noted a number of aspects in the judgment that cannot be left unchallenged. After consulting broadly and extensively with lawyers, the courts will be approached to correct those identified aspects of the judgement. Of major concern, the court did not address the crux of the matter, namely the credibility, integrity and fairness of the 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination, taking into account the compromise of the 2020 exams, resulting from the leaks of Mathematics Paper 2…

The North West Department of Education in partnership with Department of Social Development and Department of Home Affairs took their services to Shamburg Informal Settlement, a remote community near Brits on Saturday, 28 November 2020. At beginning of November the MEC for Department of Education, Mmaphefo Matsemela visited the area of Shamburg to monitor examinations and was concerned to find a number of children of school going age dawdling the streets due to lack of identity documentation Immediately after her visit to Shamburg, MEC Matsemela promised the community that she will invite other departments to help in providing children with proper documentation. This will enable the school going children to get access to education and many other opportunities. MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela emphasised that the department will fast track their services to the people. "During my visit to this area l was concerned to see children who are of school age and not been at school. I also found others who should be at our special schools and not been at school.…

The North West Department of Education is optimistic on developing the learning environment by building brick and mortar structures across the province. This is done through sod-turning ceremony led by MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela to signal the construction of Machakela Mamodibo Secondary school in Moretele which took place on Tuesday, 24 November 2020. Within a space of two months to this far, MEC Matsemela has already conducted a third sod-turning ceremony. In October a sod-turning event was held at Thulare Secondary school in Lebotloane, Rustenburg followed by another held at Huhudi Extension 25 in Vryburg. The construction of these schools is aimed at addressing the backlog of providing a conducive learning environment to the learners. The 6th Administration of government has prioritized education as an Apex priority, therefore the North West province continues to fast track the delivery of quality education for all learners across the province. MEC Matsemela said: "I am here today to confirm to the community of Mogogelo Village that the department is going to build a school to…

The Gauteng Education MEC, Mr. Panyaza Lesufi will on Sunday, 29 November 2020, update parents regarding the Grade 1 and 8 Online Applications Placement process for the 2021 academic year. Accordingly, the placement process started on 01 October 2020 and scheduled to end on Monday, 30 November 2020. MEC Lesufi will among others announce on the commencement of the late registration period to accommodate those who did not apply during the application period. Media is invited as follows: Date:​Sunday, 29 November 2020 Time: 10:00 Venue: 17 Simmonds Street (Auditorium) Johannesburg For more information, contact the Gauteng Department of Education’s Spokesperson, Steve Mabona on 072 574 3860. Issued by the Gauteng Department of Education For media releases, speeches and news visit the Gauteng Provincial Government's portal at www.gauteng.gov.za

The Council of Education Ministers held an urgent meeting this afternoon to consider the implications of the latest developments with the leak of the Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Science Paper 2 question papers. This follows reports that a Physical Sciences Paper 2 had been leaked and circulated before the commencement of examination earlier this morning. The reported leak of Physics 2 come after the Department asked the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, The Hawks, to investigate an earlier incident involving Maths last week. The investigations are at an advanced stage and details on the progress of the probe will be made public at the right time while areas of possible areas weakness have been identified. In addition to this the Department has also dispatched teams to provinces to re-check the security systems. The CEM expressed yet concern that the leaks were causing disruptions to a system which already experienced challenges due to COVID-19. “It is unfortunate that people continue to be involved in something like this even though the consequences…

The MEC for Education, Mr Bonakele Majuba will on Monday, 23 November 2020 visit Nyabela Primary School in Boekenhout in the Nkangala District at 08H00 to monitor progress regarding the improvements on the school infrastructure and to introduce a company which will construct additional classrooms. Nyabela Primary School had a fair share of infrastructural challenges that led to parents withdrawing their children from attending classes at the school. The Department implemented a makeshift arrangement to ensure that teaching and learning was not severely affected while efforts were made for a permanent solution. As a temporary measure for teaching and learning to continue, mobile classrooms were deployed to the school, electrified and had air conditioners installed. Ndaba Zakhe Design offered to donate funding to renovate three blocks of classrooms, an administration block, demolish one block of classrooms and to build sports facilities that will include change rooms and toilets for the school. MEC Majuba will use the visit to introduce Ndaba Zakhe Design to the school community. The Media is invited Media…