Gauteng premier and the former education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and his cabinet will visit different schools and early childhood development centres (ECD) around the province to observe the first day of the school year.
Joined by education MEC Matome Chiloane, Lesufi will also open the Mapenane Secondary School, the newly built high school in Ga-Rankuwa. They will also visit the Omphile Community Creche in the same area in the north-west of Tshwane.
“The Gauteng provincial government, led by premier Panyaza Lesufi, will lead the school reopening programme to mark the start of the 2023 academic year,” the provincial government said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Members of the executive council [MECs] will participate in oversight visits at several schools across the province to observe the first day of teaching and learning and conduct oversight visits to early childhood development centres to gauge preparedness.”
During his briefing on the province’s state of readiness for the new school year on Tuesday, Chiloane said the provincial department of education will hand over four newly built brick-and-mortar schools this year, including Mapenane.
He did not give specific dates for when the new school will be open for teaching and learning. He did, however, indicate in that the Braamfisher Primary School in Soweto is 85% complete.
The Rebane Laka Secondary School in Mamelodi, east of Tshwane is 50% complete, while the Semphatho Secondary School in Soshanguve, north of Tshwane is 48% complete.
Lesufi and his nine MECs, including finance department boss Jacob Mamabolo; community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko; economic development, environment, agriculture and rural development MEC Tasneem Motara and transport and logistics MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela will be spread out across the province.
Each MEC will be at different schools and ECDs at different parts of the province at 7am, including the Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Midvaal, Soshanguve, and Ga-Rankuwa in the north of Tshwane.
Only the MEC of human settlements and infrastructure development Lebogang Maile will not be a part of the schools’ oversight visits. Lesufi’s spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga said Maile might be on leave or doing something else.
The Gauteng department of education is yet to place 1 394 pupils in schools with Matome reassuring parents and guardians that children will be placed in a school by the end of January.
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