Western Cape spends R62.6m on textbooks for 2023

10 January 2023 - 12:09
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According to the Western Cape education department, the province spent more than R62 million on textbooks for 2023.
TEXTBOOK BEHAVIOUR According to the Western Cape education department, the province spent more than R62 million on textbooks for 2023.
Image: Franco Megannon

School textbooks worth R62.6 m have been delivered to Western Cape schools ahead of the start of the new school year next week , the Western Cape education department announced on Tuesday.

Spokesperson for the department Bronagh Hammond said it had “prepared well for the start of the new school year with the aim to ensure that teaching and learning begin from day one”. Teachers and other staff will return to school next Monday to finalise timetables, class lists and curriculum plans.

“For example, schools were provided with the opportunity to order top-up textbooks for the 2023 school year as early as May 2022. The orders were fully delivered to schools by October 28. This amounted to R62.6m,” Hammond said.

“Looking back, the 2022 school year was one where schools returned to some sense of normalcy, with the school year starting on rotation and certain Covid-19 restrictions still in place. These restrictions were gradually lifted, with the last restriction of masks being lifted at the end of the second term. The focus last year was to ‘Get Back on Track’ with, among other initiatives, additional hours being invested in reading and mathematics at school each week, to reverse learning losses in grades 1 to 3.”

Hammond said the department starts the 2023 school year afresh with a “sense of optimism and hope and with renewed energy”.

“Our focus will continue to be on recovering the learning losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the improvement of quality education for every learner, in every classroom, in every school in the province. We acknowledge that the recovery period will take some time, but we are certainly working hard to ensure gains in each grade.

“We also look forward to the release of the National and Provincial National Senior Certificate results on January 19, with learners receiving their results at schools the following day. Next week will certainly be a busy and exciting time in education and we look forward to making the 2023 school year a success.”

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