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The Star reports that nearly 1,400 public schools were closed in SA over the past 10 years. The country had 24,453 public schools in 2010, but the number has now declined to 23,076, showing a loss of 1,377 schools in 10 years for a country that is battling serious overcrowding in many schools.
The closures appear to have been the result of the Basic Education Department’s so-called rationalisation programme. This largely entailed the shutting down of smaller, non-viable schools and merging them with others. The Eastern Cape (383) and Free State (337) had the largest numbers of closures. KwaZulu-Natal recorded 106 closures and Mpumalanga 159. The Western Cape closed the least number of schools, namely 10 over the past decade. Gauteng was the only province that recorded an increase in the number of schools by 56 to 2,071, but it was the province that recorded the largest growth in the learner population. In comment, a unionist in the Eastern Cape cautioned against classifying all closures as rational. “There are some officials who want to be seen to be doing something on the ground. They do this at the expense of the learners by closing down schools of the sons and daughters of the working class,” claimed Chris Mdingi of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Nkosi at The Star
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page