Education
In relation to the Department’s decision to place a moratorium on the closure of schools:
(a) How many (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools would stay open as a result of the moratorium, (b) for how long does his Department expect the moratorium to be in place and (c) by when would the Department expect to have their own data-led policy formulated in this regard?
[a] [i] According to the national department’s framework for closing schools, which essentially says that if a school is a micro school and has multi-grade teaching, we must close it. This refers to primary schools with Learner Enrolment Figures [LEF] of fewer than 135 and secondary schools with LEF of fewer than 200. In the Western Cape, there are 130 micro primary schools with Learner Enrolment Figures of less than 135 learners. However, it must be stated that the Department did not have any plan in place to close all 130 schools before the moratorium was placed.
[ii] The Department of Basic Education [DBE] advised provincial education departments to close micro secondary schools. These are secondary schools with learner enrolment figures of less than 200. The Western Cape Education Department does not have any secondary schools with learner enrolment figures of less than 200. By implication, no secondary schools were closed before and/or after the moratorium was placed.
[b] & [c] The Department has not yet determined the timeline has not yet been determined.
