Wendy Matsemale says a group of people in the province already want to disrupt schools' re-phasing in of other grades.

This, as the province on Monday welcomes back 116 873 pupils, which include 68 384 Grade 6 and 48 489 Grade 11 learners.

This follows a month after 102,000 of Grade 12 and 7 pupils returned to school. On Friday, the department reported that three classrooms prepared for the phasing in of Grade 10 and 11 learners were set alight at Ramaine-A-Phetlhu Secondary School at Magogoe a Koikoi village in Mafikeng on Wednesday.

It's not yet clear if this was a direct attack on the phasing in of more schools' pupils in the province following a number of reported coronavirus cases in schools across the North West.

Meanwhile, according to the latest statistics by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, the province has 5,162 active cases after 865 patients recovered from the virus, and 36 deaths were recorded from the 6,063 reported cases.

Matsemela says the number of those returning back to school in the second phase excludes 50 360 Grade R learners.

"School principals and parents will be informed of the return date for Grade Rs, as the province made a considerable assessment of its readiness and opted to halt the return of Grade R learners," she adds.

She says the aim is to avoid an influx of grades returning to school on Monday and to save lives.

OFM News