Several protests have disrupted schooling in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and North West. 

"Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, is gravely concerned about the ongoing school disruptions taking place in several parts of the country," the statement said.

In Zebediela, Limpopo, community members were protesting over lack of basic services and road infrastructure, while in KwaZulu-Natal, protesters prevented candidates from writing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Senior Certificate examinations in parts of the provinces including Ugu and Mgungundlovu districts.

In the Ratlou Municipality areas of the North West Province learning and teaching was also disrupted earlier due to service delivery related protests.

“These learners are missing out on critical examinations which are very key towards their final NSC coming up in a few months. It saddens me that their future is compromised by service delivery issues that have nothing or very little to do with them," Motshekga said. 

"We appeal to communities to assist us by not allowing education and our children’s future to be jeopardised by protests.”

The Minister is in the process of making contact with MECs of education in the affected provinces to find an immediate solution and implement a recovery plan for the learners to catch up on lost time, and write their mid-year examinations, the department said.

“We are extremely concerned because those candidates who are writing the matric exams now are those who previously didn’t perform well and now wish to upgrade their marks.

"Those who were out of school without a matric certificate are having their lives disrupted yet again through no fault of their even as they try to pass matric,” Minister Motshekga said.

The minister will also work to ensure that education services are restored in the provinces, the department said.

African News Agency (ANA)