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The Democratic Alliance in the Free State has submitted a list of schools that have not received textbooks eight months into the year to the Public Protector.

The Public Protector is currently investigating the non-delivery of books in the province and elsewhere.

This is despite the Education Department’s unequivocal announcement at the beginning of the year that textbooks were delivered to all schools in the Free State.

The MEC for Education yesterday announced in the media that the Free State does not have a crisis with textbooks.

However, a survey conducted at 46 schools across the province indicates that, of these schools:
24 schools do not have textbooks for every subject for every learner; and
19 schools had received only partial orders of stationery and books.
A further six schools identified by the DA have not received any or very few CAPS books.

Clearly the department has misled us about the delivery of textbooks and is still doing so.

Where the DA governs we try to ensure that all books ordered in the previous year are delivered prior to the start of the new school year. The Western Cape education department is fulfilling its commitment to ensure that each child has textbooks in the core subjects in line with the implementation of the CAPS. We expect nothing less from education departments in provinces where the ANC governs.