GDE TWINNING OF SCHOOLS

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and Youth Development officially launched the twinning of schools today the 28th of August 2019.

Amongst the schools that were officially twinned today were Mikateka Primary School (Ivory Park) and Halfway House Primary School (Midrand).

Twinning of Schools in Gauteng aims to ‘merge’ schools from previously disadvantaged backgrounds with schools that are in more affluent areas with more resources. It seeks to merge so called ‘township ‘ schools with ‘model c’ schools.

The wider strategic framework is the GDE’s strategy of “Re-organization of schools”.

“The objectives of the Twinning Programme are to improve learner outcomes and foster social cohesion in nurturing holistic learner development by creating an environment for cultural exchange through sharing expertise and resources across suburban schools and township schools. The programme also ensures that learners are exposed to peers from socio-economic backgrounds, improving equality of access to high-quality education and strengthen the quality of education delivered”. The Department said in a statement.

Other schools that have been twinned include:

? Alexandra Secondary School (Alexandra) and Sandown High School (Sandton)

? Bovet Primary and Lyndhurst Primary.

?Unity Secondary (Daveyton) and Wordsworth High (Benoni)

?Reiner Park Secondary and Sunward Park High.

These pairs of schools have demonstrated that through twinning, the resources can be shared between schools, learners and educators can participate in shared teaching and learning activities.

The MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi added that “It is important to note that, this programme offers opportunities to SGBs to re-think the opportunities for change embedded in twinning “