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TimesLIVE reports that Department of Basic Education (DBE) Minister Angie Motshekga confirmed during a media briefing on Sunday that, after a meeting with the nine MECs of education on Friday, it was decided that the October holidays would not be used to “to claw back lost time”.
This was after the July holidays were extended by a week after a spike in Covid-19 infections. The DBE’s initial proposal to do away with the holidays scheduled from 4 to 8 October was slammed by teacher unions, governing body associations and a principals’ association. The five teacher unions wrote to Motshekga earlier this month to express disappointment about not being consulted on her department’s “decision” to scrap the holidays. Motshekga said on Sunday that when the week was lost in July, they made a commitment that “we would claw back the time by looking at other measures and one of the measures was that we don’t have the October holidays”. She went on to indicate: “But after consultations, it was quite clear and for very valid reasons that we have to keep the calendar as it stands. We wish to really say we had to finally agree and concede as MECs that we should keep the calendar as it stands which means we won’t be using the October holidays to claw back time… If parents had plans for the October holidays, they should continue with those plans.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at TimesLIVE
- Read too, October school holidays won't be scrapped, despite loss of more than half of learning time last year, says Motshekga, at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page