All school communities are asked to join the 100% Textbook Retrieval Campaign.
As the 2024 academic year is steadily drawing to its close, the Northern Cape Department of Education is reminding all learners to return all textbooks for the benefit of other learners in the province for the 2025 academic year, said Geoffrey van der Merwe, media spokesperson of the department.
The lifespan of the textbook is five years if it is taken good care of, and Van der Merwe said it remains the learners’ responsibility to return the books in a favourable condition.
For this reason, learners are encouraged at the beginning of the academic year to cover their textbooks as part of ensuring that it remains in a good condition for a longer period.
While the management of the textbook retrieval and retention process remains the responsibility of the school governing body (SGB), the cooperation of teachers, learners, and parents remains key for the success of this campaign.
“With the current budget cuts, schools can save a lot of money by retrieving all their textbooks and procure supplementary learning materials if needs be,” Van der Merwe said.
In addition to this, parents of Gr. 10, Gr. 11 and Gr. 12 learners are reminded to make sure that these learners return their Edu-tablets (electronic gadgets) to their school. The tablets will be re-issued to learners at the start of the 2025 academic year.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to fulfil their parental responsibility by ensuring that all learners return the textbooks before the end of the 2024 academic year.
