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The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape claims that thousands of workbooks are being returned by schools to the Education Department's warehouse in Port Elizabeth.
That's allegedly because seSotho workbooks were apparantly sent to isiXhosa learners.
DA MPL, Edmund van Vuuren, says he witnessed hundreds of boxes of books being returned to the warehouse because schools had received the wrong language textbooks.
"In many cases isiXhosa learners had been ordered seSotho workbooks by the Department. Afrikaans and English speaking learners had received isiXhosa workbooks," he said.
Van Vuuren said a lack of consultation from the national Department's side and a chaotic workbook delivery process by the provincial Department has led to hundreds of schools in the PE district alone being left without any literacy and numeracy workbooks for children in Grades R - 7.
"According to the Department's database for the PE district, there are now 25 370 literacy workbooks and 15 500 numeracy workbooks outstanding in the area. The problem is province-wide, however, meaning that tens of thousands more learners in other districts are also affected," he added.
"Once again the Education Department has put the future of thousands of children at risk through this blatant disregard for their education needs," said Van Vuuren.
He said the books that have been ordered are only applicable for this year, meaning that public money will also go to waste.
"The DA calls for a full investigation into the ordering process that led to this. We will also be submitting questions to the provincial education ministry to establish the full extent of the problem," said Van Vuuren.
Eastern Cape Education Department spokesperson, Loyiso Pulumani, says the delivery of workbooks is the responsibility of the national department of basic education.
However, he says he is aware of problems related to wrong textbooks procured for some schools.
Pulumani says the Bhisho Education Department procures textbooks for Section 20 schools only.
