The portfolio committee on basic education paid a visit to schools in the Free State as part of assessing the readiness of schools, as learning has started in inland provinces.
These visits started Monday morning in the North West Province.
Committee Chair, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba said:
We are quite happy, there are just some the issues of concerns such as your learner transport, that is a challenge and it's not being really dealt with in a manner that is satisfactory.
Mbinqo-Gigaba confirmed that some schools had an issue of learning materials not reaching schools as yet.
The parliamentary committee confirmed that infrastructure is a prevalent issue in these schools and it all starts with the lack of maintenance of these school structures.
She further added that these matters must be dealt with by the Department of Education and Transport on an urgent basis.
The committee closely monitored social distancing in the schools.
As there are still learners who haven’t been placed in schools as yet, Mbinqo-Gigaba said the department needs to make sure that they are placed quickly.
However, it was highlighted that increasing the budget for infrastructure is one thing that the North West Province got right.
