Question NW779 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

1. The Department is aware of the role domestic migration plays in the large number of learners who wish to register not only in the Western Cape school system but in all big cities of all our provinces. The relevant details of the Western Cape are provided in the table below as follows:

Table 1: Number of learners to the Western Cape

FROM	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	TOTAL
Eastern Cape	20.990	22.286	21.283	20.200	14.291	99.050
Free State	351	400	506	608	258	2.123
Gauteng	1.609	1.499	1.704	1.698	780	7.290
Kwa-Zulu-Natal	365	390	589	490	572	2.406
Limpopo	139	136	225	173	75	748
Mpumalanga	171	191	236	185	79	862
North-West	155	165	187	229	102	838
Northern Cape	795	788	834	744	421	3.582
Other Country	2.033	2.100	1.812	2.053	1.397	9.395
Total	26.608	27.955	27.376	26.380	17.975	126.294

The table below indicates the number of learners moving from province to province:

Table 2: Number of learners from one province to another, by province, in 2016

Province	Previous Province
	Eastern Cape	Free State	Gauteng	Kwazulu-Natal	Limpopo	Mpumalanga	North West	Northern Cape	Western Cape	Grand Total
Eastern Cape		1 068	6 259	3 678	159	406	701	445	10 310	23 026
Free State	1 980		6 581	1 004	341	719	1 732	1 161	740	14 258
Gauteng	6 964	3 102		6 368	10 151	23 872	21 481	589	3 560	76 087
Kwazulu-Natal	4 715	614	7 291		248	1 993	3 267	126	923	19 177
Limpopo	172	325	9 536	162		2 877	3 091	70	146	16 379
Mpumalanga	679	470	6 249	2 350	11 205		3 314	113	237	24 617
North West	1 599	1 344	9 370	362	1 793	784		1 261	192	16 705
Northern Cape	462	741	1 161	86	157	173	2 425		1 547	6 752
Western Cape	77 952	1 871	8 054	2 012	653	853	728	3 085		95 208
Grand Total	94 523	9 535	54 501	16 022	24 707	31 677	36 739	6 850	17 655	292 209

Source: 2016 LURITS

2. (a) The impact that the high number of learners who move to any province including the Western Cape is that the majority of the learners arrive late in such provinces, often between January and March. They place a huge pressure on the receiving province to accommodate them and provide all the necessary resources and support. The financial impact and cost to the Provincial Education Department is huge as this is not factored into the norms and standards allocation.

(ii) The impact on provinces from which learners migrate is that provincial departments in rural provinces are forced to merge or close some of the schools and teachers deployed to where their services are required.