The provincial government of the Eastern Cape has condemned the ongoing disruption to schooling and the slow pace of service delivery in the province.
Eastern Cape Premier Phumlo Masaulle met with the provincial executive in Bisho on Wednesday to discuss a number of issues affecting governance in the province.
Provincial government spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said the executive council expressed concerns regarding the continued disruption of schooling in the northern areas of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
“All parties involved are urged to allow the culture of learning and teaching to continue while their complaints are being attended by the provincial government and education department,” said Kupelo.
Parents in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas have continued to keep their children out of school this week. This is the second week since schools opened, but learning has not yet commenced at schools in the area.
Kupelo said that the department of education would ensure by March 1 all schools had appointed permanent principals across the province.
Kupelo added that the department had also been instructed to take action against educators who take sick leave while “running private business and remained on the government’s pay roll”.
“Teachers who are on prolonged sick leave have been identified as contributing to the negative developments in the schooling and teaching system,” he said.
Kupelo said that there was a slow pace of implementing executive decisions by government departments, which in turn led to a lack of service delivery, despite the allocation of resources.
The Eastern Cape was again the worst performing province when last year’s matric results were announced.
– African News Agency (ANA)
