Gauteng Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Human Settlements, Tasneem Motara, is impressed with how the first term of the 2025 school calendar resumed in most schools in Gauteng.
Motara visited 15 schools in the City of Tshwane and in the Sedibeng Region. The MEC met with school senior managers, school governing bodies, councillors and officials from the Gauteng Department of Education at local level to understand challenges faced by each school and its community.
She said that despite the online application system for grades one and eight, the schools continue to experience late applications from parents who apply for their children on the first day of school.
“Our big challenge in Gauteng is that we have a high number of learners that did not enrol for the 2025 academic year last year. Schools now have to accommodate them on the first day. This causes disruptions and takes time for everybody to ease into the academic year.”
The MEC said the Province had a number of old schools that faced the challenge of aging infrastructure and had a limited budget.
“I want to high light that education and school facilities are part of the community and all of us have a responsibility and a role to play to be able to uplift our schools,” she said.
Motara said that in high school, parents and teachers also informed her about the challenge of drugs and teenage pregnancy. She said that the government social cluster will work close with law enforcement authorities to assist in solving the problem.
MEC Motara congratulated the schools that performed well and wished the class of 2025 best of luck with their studies this year.