Textbooks: Education Department chaos means deadline won't be met
As the day progresses it is becoming clear that the deadline for delivering textbooks to all schools in Limpopo will not be met today.
The Education Department's claim that over 95% of schools have received books is directly contradicted by information the DA is receiving from structures monitoring on-the-ground activity in all districts.
Of a sample of schools monitored in Polokwane and Modimolle alone, we have a growing list of at least 40 schools that have received no books or incomplete orders.
The DA is also monitoring activity at a district warehouse in Mopani. For an hour and a half this morning we observed no activity or security at the warehouse where more than 20 pallets of books are being housed.
Elsewhere, it appears that many of the schools that are receiving books are only getting incomplete orders, with many core textbooks outstanding.
The DA has 5 reports from schools in 2 districts that received only agriculture and life sciences books and nothing else.
A systemic problem in all schools with incomplete orders is that they are not receiving the maths and science books they need.
In Blouberg, in the Capricorn district, Kola Leboho Secondary Grade 10s only received life sciences and agricultural science textbooks.
Mmatsele Secondary School in the Capricorn district and four schools in the Mopani district have also only received partial orders.
However, the majority of the schools monitored this morning had received no books at all. In the Waterberg district for instance, Leseding High School, Mokolo Primary, Mahlasedi Primary and Meetsetshehla Primary had no books as of 12pm.
Information being received from DA structures across all education districts in Limpopo shows clearly that most schools have not been notified of textbook delivery today.
Many of the schools being monitored by DA structures are closed, with no one present at the school. In the Polokwane district for instance, delivery trucks arrived at Tom Naudé High school but had to be turned away because no one was notified by the Department that books were arriving.
Flora Park Comprehensive, a school that had been informed to expect delivery yesterday, waited the whole day but no trucks ever arrived.
In Vhembe district, Thohoyandou Secondary had received no new curriculum books for over 500 learners by 12pm today.
DA structures will continue monitoring the delivery of books throughout the day.
Statement issued by Desiree van der Walt, DA Limpopo Education spokesperson, June 27 2012
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