The adoption of the Matric Catch-up Programme in the form of Saturday and Sunday classes appears to be a final resort for education districts to recover teaching time lost as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Director-General for the Department of Basic Education, Mr Hubert Mathanzima Mweli, continued with his school oversight visits to 20 schools in Umkhanyakude and Ugu Education Districts in the KwaZulu-Natal Province from 3 to 4 October 2020. Despite the rainy conditions experienced across various parts of South Africa over the past weekend, teachers in that province remained duty-bound as they strived to cover as much curriculum content as possible. In 25 days, the Grade12 learners will be sitting for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) Examinations. It is therefore pivotal for teachers to address possible learning gaps detected through the Preliminary Examinations, recently written by Grade 12 learners.

During his visit, Mr Mweli expressed his excitement to see learners attending in large numbers, and positively responding to the Programme organised by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education.  In his briefing session with the district officials, it was reported that the Saturday and Sunday classes differ from school to school. In some schools, the number of learners in attendance range from 300 to a maximum of 600. Mr Mweli was delighted that the KwaZulu-Natal Province made resources available to schools for achieving compliance to physical distancing measures. 

In response to the DG’s visit, Mr Motha, District Director for the Umkhanyakude Education District, confirmed that most of his schools have received adequate learning material, aimed at assisting teachers in strengthening effective curriculum coverage.