About 70 percent of workbooks for the 2012 academic year have been delivered to the country's public schools, the department of basic education said on Monday.
“The department has always scheduled to complete delivery of the workbooks by the third week of the first term in all provinces,” it said in a statement.
“This year there (was) a massive increase in the number of workbooks for learners from 24 million distributed in 2011, to 54 million – to 26 000 schools – in 2012.”
Workbooks were meant to supplement textbooks, to strengthen learning and teaching in the classroom.
“They are not a replacement for textbooks... ,” the department said.
It was responding to a report in the Mail & Guardian on Friday, which claimed that 70 percent of public schools countrywide were without workbooks.
“All workbooks are being delivered to provinces according to the agreed to schedules,” the department said.
“Provincial departments of education have informed schools of the revised delivery schedules.”
In some parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga delivery had been disrupted by flash floods, it said. – Sapa