​Thembisa Shologu
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane explained the department's interventions on the sinkhole at Relebogile Secondary School in Khutsong. 
In a statement on Sunday, Chiloane said the situation came to the department's attention in February, with several interventions undertaken to minimise the negative impact of the disaster on learners and education at the school. 
"The first step was to ensure that we protect the lives of all who use the school by immediately evacuating and stopping classes so that we do not risk our learners and officials' lives. 
"Once that was done, we ensured that Relebogile learners were accommodated at a neighbouring school as an interim measure, with their classes taking place between 12h00 and 17h00 daily," Chiloane said. 
 MEC Chiloane added that the school, working with the district, was also implementing a catch-up programme for learners while waiting for a permanent solution.
About 28 mobile classes have been delivered to an identified site to accommodate affected learners. Plans are also afoot to finalise water connectivity so that learners can occupy the mobile units as soon as reasonably possible.
Furthermore, plans are in progress to accommodate all Grade 12 learners at a camp in due course, with the intention of assisting them before their final examination.
The MEC's statement follows recent media reports quoting Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Education, Khume Ramulifho, who indicated that he will report MEC Chiloane to the Human Rights Commission for failing to ensure the education of learners at the school was not negatively impacted by this natural disaster. 
Meanwhile, MEC Chiloane also reprimanded Ramulifhe for deliberately misinterpreting the department's information on the number of drop-outs in the province. 
The provincial data shows that the 110 000 learners referred to were learners lost to the system in the last 12 years, from 2010 to 2022.
"To claim that more than 110 000 children dropped out of our schools last year shows how little Ramulifhe understands Gauteng's complex schooling system. 
"Those learners are not in the system for various reasons, including, but not limited to, moving to private schools or out of the province; some failed and migrated to other countries," he added.