The question is about the catch-up programme in Limpopo and Northern Cape. I can respond by saying yes, indeed, the catch-up plans developed for these provinces were successfully implemented. We had teams from both the national and provincial departments to oversee the programmes.
In Limpopo we developed a catch-up plan only for the Grade 10 learners, and I will give and explain the reason for this to the House. In the Northern Cape we also had a programme which was to deal with the catch-up problem; and again I will explain the difficulties that we encountered.
What we did in Limpopo was that we gave out newspaper supplements, there were radio programmes and face-to-face classes and we monitored the spring catch-up plan. However, hon Makhubele, what actually happened with this catch-up plan is that, as I indicated for Grades 1, 2 and 3, where there were delays in supplying books, we had agreed with the stakeholders that there was no need for a catch-up plan because there were adequate workbooks which were in line with the curriculum.
With regard to Grade 10, the difference between the textbooks that were delayed and those which were already in schools from the previous curriculum was only about 3%; hence we were able to do this quite successfully. So we were able to do that.
However, in the Northern Cape, when we saw that we were running out of time and unable to contain the strike that was going on there, we decided to move the Grade-12 learners to a camp. About 376 learners were taken from their respective schools to the camp. Out of all the learners from the 62 schools that were there, only 20 learners didn't write the matric exams because their parents, in writing, withdrew them.
In terms of the internal grades, as part of our recovery plan, we supported them by letting them write the Annual National Assessment, Ana. I spoke to the MEC and told him that even next year there would be a need for us to monitor quite closely the deficits that would have accumulated over this year and which will need to be made up in the coming year.
However, Mr Makhubele, I can report that in both provinces we did our best to make sure that we could close the gap that had been created by the delays in delivering textbooks in Limpopo and the difficulties that were experienced in the Northern Cape.