Tembisa - Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe has given Tshepisa Primary School in Tembisa the thumbs-up for a successful first day.
The MEC said she was happy with the "effective teaching" on the first day of school. Schools in the inland provinces opened today.
Mekgwe, who visited the township school as part of the Gauteng provincial government's back-to-school campaign, said: "We are happy to see effective teaching and learning on the first day of our schools reopening this academic year.
"We are glad that it is all systems go at our schools and this gives us hope that come end of the year, we will get good results."
The MEC donated uniforms to 20 needy Grade 1 and 2 learners before addressing about 740 learners about the importance of education.
School principal Martin Kekena told BuaNews that while the MEC's visit boosted their morale, they still faced some challenges. "As you can see, our school building is quite old. We really need new and modern classrooms."
He said the piece of land next to the school, which is currently being used as a dumping site by residents, should be used to erect recreational facilities for the learners.
Mekgwe said she would report the issue of the recreational facilities to the provincial Department of Education.
"We want to appeal to parents and guardians to be involved and be part of the education system of their kids. We want them to be fully supportive and offer solutions to the challenges that their respective schools might be experiencing," she said.
School Governing Body chairperson, David Madiba, said: "We are delighted by the MEC's visit to our school but we are worried that we never got an opportunity to brief her about our ageing infrastructure."
The school has 24 classrooms and 20 teachers.
Mekgwe also visited Kingsway Primary School in Benoni. She commended both schools for ensuring there wasn't a rush of late registrations or late delivery of stationery.
"We are also happy that these schools also made prior arrangements to ensure that there is a smooth running of the nutrition programme on the first day of school this academic year."
Mekgwe was also expected to visit Thuto-ke-Matla Comprehensive in Tembisa to continue distributing school uniform and packs of toiletries to underprivileged learners.
The initiative, Bana Pele (Putting Children First), by the provincial government, aims to motivate learners to excel in their studies and to improve access to education in disadvantaged communities.
