Over 128 000 WC learners missed school for 2 days, following SANTACO strike
The Western Cape’s Education Department (WCED) said that more than 128 000 learners did not attend school on Monday or Tuesday, due to the taxi strike.
SANTACO embarked on a two-day
strike as they were unhappy about Government’s subsidy for the taxi industry;
government’s by-laws on taxis; as well as the termination of the Blue Dot taxi
project.
MEC David Maynier said school
staff were also negatively affected, with 4 400 people missing work on Monday
and Tuesday.
‘’On Monday, 128 699 learners
in Grades 1 to 11 missed school, and on Tuesday, 128 747 missed school. What
this means is that the strike cost 11% of the Grade 1 to 11 learners of the
Western Cape two days of schooling.’’
‘’School staff were also
negatively affected, with 2 435 missing work on Monday, and 1 965 on Tuesday.
Most crucially, many schools had to reschedule exams, disrupting the
end-of-year revision, marking, and administrative processes at our schools,’’
he added.
Maynier said despite this, candidates
writing the 2022 NSC exams, in the province were all able to write their exams
this week.
‘’On Monday, [out of 32 490], 354
Life Sciences candidates were affected by the strike, of which 297 wrote at
alternate exam centres, and 57 arrived late at their designated centre but were
nonetheless afforded the full time allocation for their exam.’’
‘’On Tuesday, [out of 27 055] 415
Geography candidates were affected by the strike, with 358 writing at an
alternate exam centre, and 57 arrived late to their designated centre, and were
also afforded the full time allocation for their exam,’’ he added.
MEC Maynier said that members
have the right to strike, but said, other options should have been explored
that would not have had such a disruptive impact on learners.
‘’The best interests of the
children of the Western Cape should always come first,’’ he concluded.
Done By: Mitchum George
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