The 2023 school year will begin on Wednesday, 11 January 2023 with schools in several provinces opening their doors for teaching and learning. These schools are located in South Africa’s inland provinces which include the Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West provinces.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has wished learners well for the upcoming academic year.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga visited several schools on Wednesday to monitor their readiness to administer the 2023 school year. The minister encouraged parents to play an active role in their children's education this year.
“I wish you a successful academic year. This is the most important phase in our education. When you get home, you must assist our learners and check if they have done their homework. When we assist each other with the teacher and school governing body, nothing will defeat us,” said Motshekga.
While many learners will be attending school for the first time in 2023, thousands of learners in Gauteng are yet to learn which school they will attend this year. This comes after it was revealed that 1,394 learners remain unplaced in the province.
Gauteng Department of Education (GED) MEC Matome Chiloane says the provincial education department is working tirelessly to place the remaining 1,394 unplaced learners. This comes after the department received 294,145 applications for grades one and eight.
Chilone says the department is finding innovative ways to ensure learners have a place at schools. In an effort to mitigate the capacity challenges at some schools, the department procured three mobile classroom units and has engaged a church to host school learners.
The MEC said GDE were faced with a choice of having overcrowded schools or having learners not attend school.
They explained, “Some of our schools will be overcrowded or we are going to have a situation where we have some of our learners or we will have our children at home, not being in school.”
“So we have to make a choice there and we're making a choice that every child must be in a school, we will deal with everything else when a child is wearing a uniform” declared Chilone.
Schools located in coastal provinces will open on Wednesday, 18 January 2022.
