The Minister and Deputy Minister of Basic Education will kickstart the 2016 academic year by visiting schools around the country from Wednesday 13 January 2016 to assess readiness. Headlined by the Departments’ flagship ‘’Lead to Read’’ Campaign, the Basic Education Ministry aims to encourage learners and communities to entrench the culture of reading from the first day of school.

The Minister and Deputy Minister will focus amongst others on the state of readiness; adherence to teaching and learning from the 1^st day of school, encourage school management teams to minimize disruptions and appeal to communities to refrain from using schools as bargaining tools during protest and other civil actions as this negatively affects the education system.

With a dual calendar in place for 2016, all schools across the country, both inland and coastal will open their doors of learning from tomorrow, 13 January 2016.

Members of the media are invited to attend the Ministerial school visits across the country as follows:

Department of Basic Education Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga 

Date:                Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Time:               06h30
Venue:             Albert Luthuli Primary School, Daveyton, Ekhuruleni, Gauteng

Date:                Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Time:               10h30
Venue:             Ribane Laka Secondary School, Mamelodi, Gauteng 

Department of Basic Education Deputy Minister, Mr Enver Surty 

Date:                Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Time:               07h00
Venue:             Little Flower and Dilizintaba Senior Secondary Schools in Qumbu, Eastern Cape 

Enquiries:        Elijah Mhlanga – 083 580 8275 | Troy Martens – 079 899 3070