As part of the Free State Education Department’s school readiness initiative, the provincial Education MEC, Tate Makgoe, will visit two primary schools in Bloemfontein on Monday morning. Makgoe’s visit to Nozala and Marang Primary Schools will see each school showcase their talking walls and state of readiness for the 2021 school year. According to the department's spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, while recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic shock, the department is confident and better equipped to deal with any foreseeable eventualities to ensure learning and teaching runs smoothly.

In a statement supplied by the department, Ndaba says, “the talking walls is the departmental initiative to beautify schools, encourage creativity and learning through play. The walls display various mathematical, language and topical subjects,” he says. The province is ready for a high number of learners, specifically in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 11th and 12th grade, expected to attend school on a daily basis and not on a rotational schedule as other grades, adds Ndaba. The department expects zero disruptions and nothing less than the commencement of learning and teaching on the first day and return of students.

OFM News/Blaine Jones