The Western Cape Education Department has announced that all schools are set to resume full operations on Monday, following disruptions caused by the recent strike organised by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco).
Last week’s strike led to significant challenges, affecting over 852 000 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who were unable to attend classes. Moreover, 17 000 staff members were unable to report to work during this period.
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The closure of schools and the subsequent phased approach to the school timetable due to the pandemic had already contributed to a decline in academic performance across multiple grade levels.
Recognising this challenge, the Western Cape region had previously allocated R1.3 billion over a three-year span to enhance educational outcomes. However, the recent disruption caused by the strike has regrettably set this progress back, ultimately affecting students’ learning experiences.
The department’s #BackonTrack initiatives, which aim to provide additional support and lessons to help students recover from the learning setbacks caused by the pandemic, were also negatively impacted by the taxi strike. The disruption resulted in the cancellation of weekend tutoring programmes that assist more than 14 000 students.
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David Maynier, the department’s provincial MEC, has appealed to parents and guardians to ensure their children return to school promptly. He emphasised the importance of getting students back into the classroom following the resolution of the taxi strike, as any further delay in teaching and learning could have detrimental effects on their educational progress.
‘We know this has been a challenging time. But now that the taxi strike has been called off, we must get our children back to school, so we appeal to parents to please work with us and ensure your children go back to school. We simply cannot afford to lose one more day of teaching and learning at our schools.’
Minister Maynier expressed his appreciation for the exceptional efforts made by educators and staff members who went above and beyond to fill in for their colleagues during the strike-induced absences.
He underscored the collective dedication of the Western Cape Education Department to working towards the shared goal of providing high-quality education to every child in every classroom across all schools in the province.
‘It once again shows that we are a team in the Western Cape Education Department who are all driven by our vision for quality education for every child, in every classroom, in every school in the province!’
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