Report of the Select Committee on Education and Recreation (Arts and Culture, Science and Technology, Sport and Recreation) on Oversight Visit to Eastern Cape Province 8-12 November 2004:
1. Introduction
The Select Committee on Education and Recreation (Arts and Culture, Science and Technology, Sport and Recreation) undertook an over sight visit to the Eastern Cape Province between 8 – 12 November 2004. The visit to was also in line with the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP) Vision 2009 document, which seeks to expand the role of the Council to monitoring service delivery by the Provinces in order to ensure continued progress and furthering of the visible advances of the first decade of freedom in South Africa. The Committee reports as follows:
2. Objective of the study tour
The main objective of the study tour to the Eastern Cape Province was to ascertain the state of the implementation of the following programmes of the Department of Education:
The National School Nutrition Programme.
School sanitation and water supply.
Early Childhood Development.
Adult Basic Education and Training.
Further Education and Training.
Education for Learners with Special Educational Needs.
Functionality of School Governing Bodies.
Programmes on HIV and AIDS.
School vandalism.
School staffing and availability of classes.
Teacher and learner abuses.
3. Delegation
The following Members of the Committee formed part of the delegation to the Eastern Cape Province: The Hon. Mr. B. J. Tolo, Mpumalanga Province (As the Leader of the delegation).
The Hon. Mr. M. Thetjeng, Limpopo Province.
The Hon. Mr. J. O. Tlhagale, North West Province.
The Hon. Ms J. Vilakazi, KwaZulu-Natal Province.
The Hon. Ms. J. M. Masilo, North West Province.
The Hon. Ms M. Madlala-Magubane, Gauteng Province.
The Hon. Ms A. N. D. Qikani, Eastern Cape Province.
The Hon. Ms H. Lamoela, Western Cape Province.
The Hon. Mr. M. A. Sulliman, Northern Cape Province.
The following Parliamentary support staff accompanied the delegation to the study tour:
Mr. T. Madima, Control Committee Secretary (He joined the Committee on 10 November 2004).
Mr. Z. A. Mvulane, Parliamentary and Committee Researcher.
During the study tour, provincial and district managers accompanied the delegation.
4. Briefing by the MEC for Education On the first day of the study tour, the MEC for Education in the Eastern Cape Province, the Hon. Mr. M. Matomela (MPL), briefed the delegation on the state of various education programmes in the Province and progress of the Department in ensuring that the programmes are effectively and efficiently implemented. Mr Matomela briefed the delegation as follows: 4.1 Mud structures in schools The Eastern Cape Province has among the highest number of schools with mud structures in the country. Over 500 schools in the Province have mud structures. The Province does not have any learners who study under trees, but in mud structures, churches, community halls and people’s houses. In winter, some of these structures are not conducive for effective learning and often dangerous for the learners. It is in such situation that the community will then offer their churches and houses for the learners.
4.2 Over-expenditure The major challenge that is facing the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape Province is over-expenditure. The Department is paying more than R3.5 million per month in interests to service its over-expenditure. By March 2004, it had paid over R15 million in interest. The over expenditure depletes the budget available to the Department and limit its ability to address some of the major challenges facing education in the Province.
A major concern about the over-expenditure is that it is in personnel. It has been established that the main causes of this is poor budgetary systems. The over-expenditure is also caused by backlogs in salaries and retirement funds for retired teachers. Some of the retired teachers were not paid for over a long period and the Department is compelled to pay them despite the shortage of funds.
Generally, the Department has a history of poor management and administration systems. It has a shortage of adequately trained personnel, especially in management positions and key strategic positions like financial management and planning. It also has a vacancy of rate of over 60% posts in critical positions. In some instances this limits its ability to implement and monitor government policies effectively.
However, measures have been put in place to address many of the challenges that are facing the Department and education in the Province, particularly in improving the administration and management structure of the Department. In order to ensure that the Department has the necessary personnel, systems and structures to address some of the weaknesses, the Department has prioritised the Finance and Corporate Services Section and filling critical posts, particularly in management positions. The national Department of Education, through the Interim Management Team, is also assisting the Department in finding means to address the issues associated with over-expenditure and poor performance of staff.
4.3 Infrastructure backlogs The Eastern Cape Province is facing massive backlogs in infrastructure in schools. This include new classrooms, the renovation of old classrooms and school structures, administrative blocks, kitchens, and laboratories. However, the Province does not receive any budget from the National Treasury (Department of Finance) to address this backlogs. As a result, it budgets backwards every year, which means it has to budget for infrastructure backlogs of previous years.
However, this issue has been raised with the National Treasury and with the national Department of Education for urgent interventions. There are indications that measures will be put in place to address the Province’s backlogs in the next financial year.
The Eastern Cape Province is in a process of reorganising its schooling system. The Province still has a large supply of junior primary and secondary schools that were inherited from the homeland education system. The Department is also planning to ensure that all new schools have the necessary infrastructures and systems necessary for effective education.
The influx of learners in some areas, particularly learners who move from poor performing schools to better schools, has exacerbated the issue of a shortage of classrooms in some schools. The Department is devising more options in order to address the issue of lack of classrooms in the schools.
The problem of learners studying under dangerous conditions is a major issue in the Province. Department is devising mechanisms to cater for the needs of these, particularly those studying under mad and collapsing dangerous structures that were largely built by communities. It is also planning to amalgamate some schools where the number of learners has declined substantially and to create hostels where learners have to travel long distances.
4.4 Departmental leadership From a leadership perspective, the provincial Department of Education has been among the unstable departments in the Province. Since 1994 it has had 9 Heads of Department (Superintendent-Generals) and six MEC’s. Some people in critical posts in the Department do not know their job descriptions and functions, which affect the ability of the Department to deliver services effectively.
However, proper systems have been put in place to address most of these challenges. The Interim Management Team from the National Department of Education is assisting the Department to address some of the challenges, particularly those associated with personnel matters. Thus far, there are indications that the situation is stabilising and improving. A new departmental structure with properly defined roles and responsibilities has been established. This will ensure that people understand their job descriptions and responsibilities in delivering quality services to the people. Displaced employees within the structure will be placed in positions that match their competencies and where they will be able to perform optimally.
4.5 The National School Nutrition Programme
The current budget for the School Nutrition Programme in the Eastern Cape Province is just over R177 million. This amount has proven inadequate to cover all the needy schools in the Province. The Department has had problems with the Programme since taking it over from the Department of Health early in 2004. The tender process is in dispute.
Despite poor infrastructure and the lack of personnel to administer the Programme effectively, the Department was compelled to take over from the Department of Health. Few months after taking over the Programme, it was discovered that the Proof of Delivery system, which was used by the Department of Health was fraught with corruption and mismanagement. As a result the Department initiated the Goods Receive Vouchers system to ensure that goods are accounted for during delivery. This system ensures that the school keeps a record of the delivery of food, the date it was delivered and the person who received the food on behalf of the school.
However, Goods Receive Vouchers system has resulted in a lot of paper work for the Department, particularly at district level. For each feeding day at school, there is large number of invoices for the districts officials to process. The paper work tends to cause delays in the payment of the service providers. As it stands, the Department has a huge backlog of paper work relating to payments and purchases of food in schools.
The suppliers of the food in schools are also major contributors to the challenges faced by the Department in administering the Programme effectively. They frequently do not claim in time and some suppliers do not deliver the food to schools as required.
Many schools in the Province have reported problems on the current operation and structure of the Programme. As a result, the Department is reviewing the Programme to improve it. Several options are considered, including that of the Northern Cape, as proposed by the Select Committee on Education and Recreation in 2004.
There are indications that some of the problems associated with the Programme could be addressed if it is decentralised. However, the Department needs to carefully investigate the effectiveness and challenges of decentralising the Programme so that when it is decentralised there are no interruptions.
The Department is planning to implement the new model for the Programme in the coming new financial year. In all the options that are considered, there is strong indication that there is a need for effective provincial monitoring systems for the Programme. The new model for the Programme should ensure that the Department focuses more on educational issues rather than seeking ways to improve administrative systems, as is currently the situation.
4.6 Vacancy rate in schools
The Eastern Cape Province has a supply of over 600 000 teachers. The teacher to administrator ratio in the Province is 93:7 rather than the national norm of 80:20. Despite the large supply of teachers, the Province appears not to have enough teachers in certain areas, particularly in the rural parts of the Province. This is mainly because the redeployment of teachers has been slow. As a result, temporary educators have had to be employed in many schools.
The Department plans to deploy 6 000 teachers to schools where they are needed, specifically to rural schools. It is also devising a strategy to address the issue of temporary teachers and acting principals. In some instances there have been reported fatalities when people are not appointed to the posts that they have filled in an acting capacity for some time.
A major challenge in the redeployment process in the Province is that teachers do not like to be redeployed to other areas, particularly to rural schools. This has resulted in a large supply of teachers in the urban areas and a limited supply of teachers in areas where they are needed most like in rural schools.
4.7 Non-performing schools
The Eastern Cape Province has a large supply of non-performing schools or schools that achieve a pass rate below 20%. The Province also has a very low pass rate in Grade 12, particularly in schools located in disadvantaged communities. The problem is mainly attributed to the fact that some schools push learners to do Standard Grade subjects.
The Province also has a very low supply of Mathematics and Science educators. Thus, teacher-upgrading, particularly in Mathematics and Science subjects needs to be followed up in order to ensure that it is in line with the curriculum needs of schools.
4.8 Subsidised scholar transport
Generally, scholar transport is a major issue in the Eastern Cape Province. This has been exacerbated by the influx of learners from former disadvantages areas to urban areas where most of the performing schools with proper infrastructure are located.
The lack of a subsidised scholar system in many schools in the Province is mainly as a result of budgetary control measures in order to curb over expenditure. The geographic set up of some areas makes it difficult cars to reach schools. In some areas learners have to walk long distances, particularly in summer where heavy rains damage roads.
The Province also has a system of a large supply of dangerous scholar transport like bakkies, which are not permissible to transport people. Some of these vehicles are not road worthy and are not maintained and serviced by their owners. There have been several fatal accidents of bakkies transporting learners to school. The Department of Education is working with the provincial Department of Transport to device a proper and safe scholar transport system for the Province.
5. Oversight Visit to Schools
The delegation visited the following schools in the Province:
5.1 Langalethu Junior Secondary School
This school was established in 1981. In 1988, a transformation programme was established to create a proper identity for the school. One of the main objectives of the transformation process was to change the learning culture at the school. After the implementation of the process, the culture of teaching and learning changed completely. The school is now among the top performing public schools in the Province.
In 2002, the school had an enrolment of 2 144 learners. This number has decreased to 1 331 in 2003 and 1 393 in 2004. There are indications that this is a problem facing all schools in the Province.
The school has 29 educators. It has managed to be the first in music and sport in the Province. The Principal plays a key role in motivating the learners and educators to do better academically and in all provincial competitions and events. Educators in the school work up to 10 hours a day instead of the norm of 7 hours a day.
5.1.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Poverty
A major challenge facing the school is the high poverty rate in the area. Most of the learners at the school are from poor families. This results in some parents not being able to pay schools fees for their children.
b) The National School Nutrition Programme
There is late delivery of food for the Nutrition Programme at the school. In some instances, the supplier supplies insufficient food products. The school has a school garden, but because it is not fenced some members of the community steal the vegetables. c) Vandalism
As the school is not fenced, it experiences a high incidence of vandalism and burglary.
d) Lack of Classrooms
The school has eleven classrooms. This has resulted in the overcrowding of learners in all grades.
e) Lack of computers
The school does not have computers. The learners are eager to learn about computers, but the budget of the school does not allow the school to purchase even one computer.
f) Water and sanitation
Although the school has water, the supply is infrequent. In some instances, it does not get water for a week. The toilets at the school need renovation.
g) Impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic
The school has a high number of learners affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. However, due to lack of resources, there is very little that the school can do to assist the learners or their parents. The school does offer HIV and AIDS education and works with the local clinic to offer health education to the learners. One classroom at the school has been converted to a clinic. This assists the school in raising awareness about the disease at the school. Some teachers use the class to teach learners about first aid. The class is equipped with a first aid box donated by a local clinic, which also assists in stocking it.
h) Abuse of learners
There are high incidences of learner-to-learner abuse at the school. The school tries to find means to address it. In some instances parents are not keen to take matters of learner-to-leaner abuse further. They leave them solely to the school. For an example a group of learners tried to rape a learner. The parents of the learner were asked to report the matter to the police, but they never did. The school informed the police of the incident and the learners were arrested. However, the parents are still not keen to take the matter any further.
There are also incidences of bullying by some learners. The school, however, takes matters of bullying very seriously.
i) Learner Support Materials
The school uses old and outdated Learner Support Materials. There has not been any delivery of new books to the school. Teachers buy new textbooks with their own funds and share them with the learners.
j) Substance abuse
The school experiences incidences of substance abuse by some learners. Although, most of them try to hide the fact that they smoke marijuana, teachers have caught a few smoking on the premises.
5.1.2 Committee recommendations
The Committee recommends the following with regard to Langalethu Junior Secondary School:
The Department should take urgent intervention measures to ensure that learners at the school eat every school day.
Tenders for the school nutrition programme should be awarded to local people.
The school should follow up on learners applying for grants.
The Department of Education should invite the Department of Home Affairs to the school to assist with birth certificates for the learners.
The Department should ensure that the school is fenced.
The school governing body should look at other sources of revenue for funds to fence the school and address some of its challenging.
Psychologists or councillors should be invited to the school to assist learners with social problems.
The toilets at the school should be renovated.
5.2 Lindokuhle Junior Secondary School
The community established this school in 1984. It has 442 learners and 11 teachers. It starts from Grade R to Grade 9. All the teachers at the school are employed permanently, but one teacher is temporary and has not been paid by the Department since January 2004 and another one, who teaches Grade R, who is volunteering and is not paid at all by the Department. Although she shows serious commitment to teach the learners voluntarily, the school feels that she should be compensated because she does a very good job and shows commitment to the education of the learners. However, the school is unable pay the teacher because of shortage of funds.
The school has three mud class structures. The roof in two classrooms is falling down. When it rains, the learners attend classes in houses in the community. This interrupts the teaching programme of the school, especially in winter.
Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of classrooms
The school has one proper functioning classroom. The other classes are conducted under trees and sometimes in community houses and churches. Because the classrooms do not have doors, goats sleep in them. The learners have to clean their classes everyday before they resume their lessons. b) Water and sanitation
The school uses water from a nearby river. There are pit toilets that are not working. The learners go the bush for toilet.
c) Scholar transport
The school does not have subsidised scholar transport. The learners walk an average distance of five kilometres a day to and from the school.
d) Poor road infrastructure
The school is located at the top of a hill and has a very poor road infrastructure. When it rains it becomes difficult for the educators and learners to get to the school.
e) Fencing
The school is not fenced. Sometimes, mentally disturbed people from the community walk to the school to disturb learners.
f) The National School Nutrition Programme
The school receives only bread, which is delivered in a bulk once or twice a week. This results in learners eating stale bread and unhealthy foodstuff. Sometimes the school does not get bread for weeks.
5.2.2 Committee recommendations
There is an urgent need for the Department of Education to intervene at the school.
The condition of the school is very bad. There is an urgent need for mobile classes at the school.
The Department needs to ensure that the learners get learners support materials.
The Department needs to provide scholar transport to the school.
The Department should ensure that the teacher, who teaches Grade R, is paid at least a stipend salary.
5.3 Ikhwezi Junior Secondary School
This school was established in 1985. It has ten grades with 488 learners and a total of 12 teachers. Nine of the teachers are permanent and three are temporary. Among these teachers is an educator, who volunteers to teach the ECD class. Some of the temporary educators have been temporary for almost a year.
The school has a serious problem of overcrowding. It is unable to accommodate all the learners in the five classrooms that are currently available in the school. In order to accommodate the learners, the school uses multi-grading of classes, with two teachers teaching various grades. This affects the learning ability of the learners.
5.3.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Water and sanitation
The school does not have access to water. Water is fetched from a nearby dam and sometimes when it rains from tanks. The use of the water from the dam results in the Principal of the school having to take learners to hospital every week. The school has ten pit toilets for the learners and five for the educators.
b) Telephone
The school does not have a telephone. Even cell phones do not work where the school is located. This makes it difficult for the principal to keep in touch with the circuit and the Department. Sometimes the Principal misses crucial meetings because invitations arrive late. If the Principal has to make a phone call, he has to walk four kilometres for cell phone coverage.
c) Education for Learners with Special Education Needs
The school does not have educators with specialised knowledge of dealing with learners with special educational needs. The school devices its own means of catering for learners with special educational needs. Even the structures of the school are not conducive to learners with special educational needs.
d) Non-payment of school fees
Because of the high poverty in the area, most parents struggle to pay school fees. In order for the school to survive, it needs to increase the fees for the learners who are able to pay.
e) The National School Nutrition Programme
The nutrition programme at the school is infrequent. This affects the general attendance of the learners. Some learners only attend school on feeding days. The principal has sought help from the Circuit and District offices, but nothing is being done to improve the situation.
It is very difficult for the school not to feed other grades as learners at the school are from poor families. Even the ones in senior classes deserve to eat because the young ones keep some of their food from them or their siblings at home.
5.3.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should ensure that learners eat every school day.
The educators at the school should be trained to deal with learners with special educational needs.
The Department should ensure that the school is supplied with water.
The Department should ensure that the learners are transported to school.
Rather than the Department contracting people from Mtata and other distanced areas, local contractors should be contracted to supply food to the school.
5.4 Vukuzenzele Junior Secondary School
Vukuzenzele Junior Secondary School caters for learners with special educational needs. It is located in the Bizana District area. The 150 learners at the school reside in hostels at the school. Most of the facilities at the school are functioning.
However, the supply of water is infrequent. This results in school toilets being in a bad condition. Some learners, as result of their disability, are not able to use toilets properly, which creates more work when there is no water. Some educators at the school have not received their special school allowances for 3 years.
5.4.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of critical staff
The school lacks critical staff like psychologists, nurses and therapists.
b) Lack of a proper sanitation system
The sanitation system at the school has been blocked for two years. Funds for it to be renovated were approved in 2003 but nothing has been done to address the situation.
c) Scholar transport
The school does not get any provision for scholar transport, particularly when closing for vacations. It struggles to transport the learners to their families, who are unable to pay for their transport.
d) Lack of support from the district
The school does not get support from the district office, as there is no support staff member responsible for learners with special educational needs.
e) Insufficient budget
The budget give to the school is insufficient. The school is not given a special budget to meet the special needs of the learners.
5.4.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure that there is water in the school.
The Department should assist the school to hire at least two people who will assist with cleaning and to take care of the disabled learners in the school.
The school should be provided with a mobile clinic.
The Department should assist the school to transport the learners to the school.
The Department should make provisions for the school to meet the special needs of the learners.
The Department should review its funding to special schools. Because of the nature of their learners, special schools tend to have more needs that are associated with the nature of the learners.
5.5 Nompumalanga Special School
This school was established in 1988. It is located in the same premises with Vukuzenzele Junior Secondary School. It trains learners with special educational needs with basic skills. Some of the learners at the school are slightly educable and, thus, the school teaches them the normal curriculum. Some of the learners have learnt to read and write since arriving at the school.
Those learners who rely on their creative skills, make very creative works like leather clothes, and other crafts. Some of the learners run a cooking company and cook for events and functions. Some of the learners do gardening. They sell their products to the community. The school has started a major project to give employment to 40 of them. Fifty percent of the learners at the school get disability grants.
5.5.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of critical staff
The school lacks critical staff like psychologists, nurses and therapists. The only psychologist, who comes to the school when needed, is located 150 kilometres away from the school.
b) Lack of a proper sanitation system
The sanitation system at the school has been blocked for two years. Funds for it to be renovated were approved in 2003 but nothing has been done to address the situation.
c) Scholar transport
The school does not get any provision for scholar transport, particularly when closing for vacations. It struggles to transport the learners to their families, who are unable to pay for their transport.
d) Lack of support from the District Office
The school does not get support from the district office, as there is no support staff member responsible for learners with special educational needs.
e) Insufficient budget
The budget give to the school is insufficient. The school is not given a special budget to meet the special needs of the learners.
5.5.2 Committee recommendations
The needs of the school should be prioritised, particularly the renovation of toilets.
The Department should assist the school to transport the learners to the school.
The Department should make provisions for the school to meet the special needs of the learners.
A mobile clinic should visit the school at every week.
The Department of Social Development should be invited to ensure that all the learners get disability grants.
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure that there is water in the school.
The Department should assist the school to hire at least two people who will assist with cleaning and care of the learners in the school.
5.6 Xuraview Junior Secondary School
The community established the school in 1976. The reason for establishing the school was because the learners were studying in schools across the river. When it rained, learners were unable to go to school. In some instances there were reported fatalities in the river. The community decided that there was a need to establish the school.
The school has 590 learners and 15 educators. The school has a functioning School Governing Body. The school has insufficient classrooms. Pre Grade R and Grade R are combined into one classroom.
5.6.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of classrooms and overcrowding
The school has 8 proper classrooms and needs another 8 to accommodate all its learners. The classrooms are not conducive to learning.
b) Water and Sanitation
Water supply at the school is infrequent. The toilets for learners at the school are in a very bad state. Some of them have been closed because they are irreparable and hazardous to the learners.
c) Electricity
Although, the school has electricity, it needs to be upgraded.
d) Telephone
The school does not have a telephone. This makes communicating with other schools very difficult.
5.6.2 Committee Recommendations
The Department needs to assist the school in renovating the classes and make them conducive to teaching and learning.
The Department needs to work with the Municipality to ensure that the school gets water.
The school needs to be renovated.
Public works needs to be invited to inspect the school.
5.7 Hillbrow Senior Secondary
The school has 1258 learners and 36 educators. There are 15 vacancies for educators. The School Governing Body at the school is effective and assists in many matters concerning school management and administration. Senior certificate or matric examination results at the school have moved from below the average in 1997 (28.6%) to 66% in 2003. This is attributed to the commitment of both the learners and teachers at the school. The school has a well-resourced computer centre with 43 computers. However, only 23 of the computers are working. The rest need to be upgraded and fixed. The school has a laboratory wit basic infrastructure.
The facilitators in Grade R were paid R1000 and have not been paid since 2003. One structure of the school was built in 1936. It is now dangerous to keep learners under such a structure.
5.7.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Water and Sanitation
Although, the school has water, it is irregular. There water tanks but because the school is not properly fenced, the community uses the water.
b) Education for Learners with Special Education Needs
Although, the school has education with special educational needs, there is very poor support that be given to the learners.
c) Teenage Pregnancies
The school has a very high number of teenage pregnancies.
d) Scholar transport
The school does not have a scholar transport. The reason from the Department has been that learners from the township are excluded from getting scholar transport. But some of the learners are coming from far away communities. They struggle to get to the school and are often late or miss classes.
e) Sporting facilities
The school does not have sporting facilities. Although some of the learners are keen to play sport, they are prevented by the lack of infrastructure at the school.
f) The National School Nutrition Programme
Although the school does have a nutrition programme, the menu needs to be revised. The school is also prevented from having a say in the menu and type of food given to learners.
5.7.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should work with the school to organise councillors to council the learners on teenage pregnancies and safe sex.
The Department should involve the school in determining the menu for the learners.
The Department should assist the learners who are from more than 5 kilometres away from the school with subsidised transport.
The Department should engage with the Department of Sport and Recreation and the local municipality to ensure that the school has sporting facilities.
The Department should assist the school in identifying learners with special educational needs and assisting them with their special educational needs.
The Department should ensure that some of the teachers in the school are trained in assessing and addressing the needs of learners with special educational needs.
5.8 D. D. Siwisa Primary School
The school has a total enrolment of 658 learners. There is overcrowding in the foundation phase, as the ratio of teacher to learner is 1:60. The situation is better in the intermediate phases where the ratio is 1:38.
5.8.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Shortage of classrooms
There is a shortage of classrooms in the school, particularly for the foundation phase.
b) Inadequacy of the School Nutrition Programme
Although the school has a nutrition programme, the learners are fed only three times a week. The school only feeds learners up to Grade 4, while learners in Grades 5 to 7 are not fed. This is a major challenge for the school since some of the learners come from the same poor families but because of the inadequacy of the Programme, the school is compelled to only feed learners up to Grade 4 and only for three days.
The inadequacy of the Programme also affects the attendance of learners to school. There is a much higher attendance of learners on the days when there is feeding than when there is no feeding.
c) Poor attendance of Parents to School Governing Body’s meeting
There is very poor attendance of parents to School Governing Body’s meeting. This affects the functionality of the School Governing Body and the ability of the school to devise proper and affective mechanisms to address some of the challenges that are facing the school.
5.8.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure that the learners in the school are fed every school day.
The Department should assist the school in devising mechanisms that will ensure that parents take part in the education of their children.
The Department should devise alternative measures like mobile classrooms to accommodate the learners.
5.9 Roodeblom Farm School
This is a small farm school with about 40 learners and has two teachers. Although, the learners stay far more than five kilometres away from the school, there is no subsidised scholar transport. The principal wakes up early in the morning and collect those staying more further from the school.
Most of the learners in the school are from very poor families, who earn very low salaries. As a result their parents cannot afford to buy them school uniforms. Some of them wear their normal clothes and some wear old uniforms.
The school has a Nutrition Programme, however, the learners are fed biscuits and scheme milk everyday. The school does not have electricity. This affects learning and teaching, particularly in winter when there is poor visibility.
5.9.1 Committee recommendations
The Department should device urgent mechanisms to ensure that the learners who stay far more than five kilometres away from the school get subsidised scholar transport.
The Department should exempt all the learners from paying school fees because school fees have become a major barrier to the learners in the farm.
The Department should assist the school in establishing a healthy menu rather than just feeding the learners biscuits and milk.
The Department should ensure that the school is electrified.
5.10 Thembalesizwe Primary School
The school is located in a very poor area. Only about 40% of the parents are able to pay school fees. The school has a Nutrition Programme and feeds learner every school day. This has proven really helpful in attracting more learners to the school. The surplus food from the Programme is given to the more needy learners to take with them to home everyday. There are 2 volunteers who cook and prepare the food for the learners. Although they come from very poor households, the school is unable to pay them the stipulated stipend for assisting with the preparation of the food.
5.10.1 Challenges
The school is facing some of the following key challenges:
a) Lack of sporting facilities
The school does not have any facilities for school sport. As a result the learners are not able to participate in any school sport competitions. There is an open space nearby the school, which could be used as a play field. The Principal of the school has made numerous requests to the Department to prepare the open space to be used as a play field for the learners. Up to date there has not been any response from the Department.
b) Toilets not conducive for use by Grade R learners
Although the school has pit toilets, they are not conducive for use by the Grade R learners. The toilets are normally not a good state and too big for the Grade R learners.
5.10.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should engage with the Department of Sport and Recreation and the farmer to ensure that the available space is upgraded and prepared for sporting activities.
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure the school has proper toilets, particularly for the Grade R learners.
The Department should ensure that the volunteers who prepare the food for the learners are paid the stipulated stipend.
5.11 Masiphathisane High school
This is one of the Dinaledi schools in the Province. It has an enrolment of 1347 learners with 40 teachers. The learners pay a school fee of R200 and there have been no incidences of non-payment of school fee. Most parents bring their children to the school because of the quality of learning that takes place in the school.
In 2004, the school had 251 matric students and 151 of them were doing Maths and Science subjects on Higher Grade.
Success of the school is also as a result of the committed and hard working teachers and learners. The co-operation of parents in the education of the learners is also vital in ensuring that the learners are performing very well and always do their homework. The school also puts more emphasis on social behaviour and social guidance.
5.11.1 Committee recommendations
This school should be used as model for assisting other schools in the Province.
All the learners in the school should be encouraged to do Maths and Sciences subjects because of the potential and attitude of the school and the learners towards these subjects.
5.12 West-end Primary School
The school has 940 learners and 25 educators. There is a decline in the number of learners at school. This is largely due to the high rate of poverty in the area.
5.12. 1 Challenges
The school is also facing the following challenges:
a) Centralisation of education administration in the District
The school is facing major challenges that are resulting from the centralisation of administration in the district that constantly interrupt the effectiveness of the school. For an example, when a teacher gets sick, the school is unable to replace him or her or hire a replacement because the approval has to be obtained from Bisho. Sometimes it takes over a month for Bisho to approve the appointment of temporary teachers. This means that the learners will come to school but do not get any lessons because there is no teacher. Often learners without teachers are combined with other same grades but this result in the overcrowding of classes.
The maintenance of the school is also contracted from Bisho. It takes a long time for Bisho to respond to issues of maintenance. In some cases an incident can go for month without any response.
b) Delivery of Learner Support Material
The delivery of Leaner Support Material to the school is always late. In some instances support material in delivered weeks after lessons have started.
c) School Governing Body
The School Governing Body is not well vested with issues pertaining to school management. It needs to be trained.
d) Insufficiency of the School Nutrition Programme
Although the school has a Nutrition Programme, it is insufficient and is therefore only given to the most needy students despite that government policy indicates that it has to be up to Grade 4.
e) Lack of subsidised scholar transport
Some learners from the school come from as far as more than five kilometres away from the school. However, they do not get subsidised scholar transport. When some their parents cannot afford to pay for scholar transport, the learners miss school or are often late because they are forced to walk long distances.
f) Lack of training for teachers to deal with Learners with Special Educational Needs.
Although some of the learners at the school have Special Educational Needs, teachers cannot cater for their needs because they are not properly trained to understand their needs.
5.12.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure that at least all the learners up to Grade 4 are fed.
The Department should ensure that Learner Support Material is delivered and given to the learners at least before the start of the school calendar.
The Department should ensure that teachers at the school are trained to assess and understand the educational needs of learners with special educational needs.
The Department should ensure that learners who come as far as more than five kilometres away from the school are assisted with subsidised scholar transport.
The Department should ensure that the School Governing Body is properly trained to effectively manage the school and play a key role in the administration of the school.
5. 13 Fanti Gaqa Primary School
This is a good example of a well-managed and functioning school. The success of the school is attributed to the cooperation between all stakeholders including teachers, parents, learners and the community. Due to parents involvement the school managed to buy computers and establish a computer laboratory. Generally, the environment of the school shows discipline and commitment from both teachers and the learners. The school has 834 learners with 19 educators.
5.13.1 Challenges
The school is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of classrooms
The school has a problem of overcrowding of classrooms because of lack of classrooms.
b) No Nutrition Programme
Although some of the learners in the school are from poor families, they do not get any food because the school is classified as not needy.
5.13.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should take urgent measures to ensure that all the needy learners at the school are fed.
The Department should devise temporary measures like mobile classrooms to ensure that the learners are accommodated.
5.14 Kuswus Laerskool
This is a former model C Afrikaans school. In 1994 it had 135 learners and all white Afrikaans speaking. At present the school has 525 learners and about 157 are from Afrikaans speaking families and thought in Afrikaans. The rest are from nearby areas and former disadvantaged communities are thought in English. The school has 19 educators.
The school fee is R260 and 53 learners are exempted from paying school fees while 100 have partial exemption.
Only 47 of the learners are fed every school day. If there is surplus it is given to the most needy learners to take home.
6. Oversight Visit to FET Colleges
The Committee visited the following FET colleges throughout the Eastern Cape province:
6.1 King Hintsa Public FET College
The King Hintsa Public FET College is located within the boundaries of two Mbhashe and Mnquma municipalities. The College was formed after the merger of three Technical Colleges: Teko in Butterworth, HB in Tsengwa at Willowvale and Centane Technical at Centane, which has resulted in three campuses. There are also plans to build two more campuses in the areas where there is a need for the College. The main campus of the College is at Teko. The enrolment at the College depends on the quarters from 500 to 1500 learners per year.
A Student Governance Council (SGC) was set up to assist the College with all institutional challenges. The Council has been effective in guiding the administration and management of the College. It has been trained on school governance and management. The Council has also played a key role in securing land for an administration block for the College.
6.1.1 Challenges
King Hintsa Public FET College is facing the following challenges:
a) Lack of administration block
The College does not have an administration block. It occupies a building that is owned by the Department of Agriculture. This has major shortcomings in terms of expanding the College and managing its student and administrative affairs. The Department of Education has promised to assist the College in building a R6 million administration centre.
b) Lack of fulltime staff
Although, the College is supposed to have 99 fulltime staff members, the Principal is the only fulltime member of the College. The Heads of Departments from the previous colleges were seconded to assist in the management of the College, but none of them is employed in a permanent position. The College does not have Registrars, which makes dealing with the administrative and academic affairs of the College a major challenge.
c) Curriculum
The curriculum needs to be reviewed and aligned with the needs of the learners in the areas it serves. Currently, it is located next to a technikon, which has an advanced curriculum and academic programmes. This has resulted in lower enrolments in the College. Students are moving to technikons where they feel they will acquire skills that will enable them to get jobs. The College does not have the infrastructure to offer engineering yet there are learners in the area who would like to do engineering work because it is the only major source of employment in the Province.
d) Lack of other sources of funding
The College depends solely on the Department of Education for funding. Parents in the area are too poor to pay for their children’s academic fees. There is a substantial number of learners who are unable to buy even the basic materials required in their courses.
e) Lack of a resource centre
The College does not have a resource centre. This has resulted in the use of an office in the administration block to keep some of the College’s learner support materials.
f) Lack of communications facilities
The communication facilities in the College are not reliable. An e-mail system, which was installed in September 2004, is no longer functioning. This prevents the College from looking for other sources of funding (for example international donors). Some campuses do not have telephones, which makes communication a challenge.
g) Poor living infrastructure
Some of the hostels in the College are in a very bad state. They need to be renovated and are a serious health danger to the learners. However, the College is not able to close them down because it would mean that the learners from distant areas would not have accommodation.
h) Water and sanitation
Although the College does have water, it is not reliable. Construction companies continuously interrupt the water. If the matter is reported to the municipality, it takes more than a month to attend to such interruptions. The sanitation system at the College is very old and needs to be changed. The College experiences blockages every now and then.
i) Electricity
Although the College does have electricity, there are continuous electricity failures. It takes a while for Eskom to address such interruptions because they have to be reported to the East London office. The plumbing of the College is very old and needs to be upgraded.
j) Health inspectors
The College does not have health inspectors. The Principal has taken over the duty of inspecting the health conditions of the College.
k) Laboratories
The College does not have a laboratory. It uses workshops for all its work. Some of these workshops are in a very bad state and dangerous to the learners.
l) Library
The College does not have a library. However, there are plans to set up a main library for all the campuses.
m) Administrative staff
The College does not have a permanent administration. It does not have even a secretary. It relies of the services of students and other former students who are currently unemployed.
6.1.2 Committee recommendations
There is a need for urgent intervention by the Department to assist the College in improving the health conditions of the hostels.
The Council needs to approach other corporations for funding in order to address some of its challenges.
The alignment of the curriculum of the College with the needs of the learners should be prioritised.
The Council should approach some of the car manufacturing companies in the Province to assist with training some of its learners.
The Department should approach the Department of Health for health inspectors to visit the College at least once a month.
6.2 Buffalo City Public FET College
The Buffalo City Public FET College has three campuses situated in East London and Mdantsane areas (the East London, John Knox Bokwe and St Marks Campuses). The College offers a wide range of part-time and full time programmes as well as short courses at its Business Skills Centre. The College has well-established infrastructure and systems. This is a result of its long history as a well-managed College in the entire Eastern Cape Province. It has networks and links with international cities, donors and other colleges.
6.2.1 Challenges
However, the main challenges confronting the College are a high vacancy rate and acting staff. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the only full-time staff member of the College. All the Programme Directors are employed part-time and on acting capacities. This creates a problem of instability within the administration of the College.
6.2.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should ensure that the vacancies in the College are filled.
The Department should ensure that learners from poor families in the College receive financial assistance like bursaries or study loans.
The Department should ensure that the College also admits learners from the rural parts of the Province.
6.3. Grahamstown FET College
The process of amalgamation with other two FET’s in the Grahamstown FET College is in progress. The CEO of the three merging FET’s consults with the leaders of the other two campuses.
6.3.1 Challenges
The College is facing the following challenges:
Lack of institutional policies
There is a lack of institutional policies to guide the merging of the College, while the amalgamation is moving at a very fast paste. The current policies in the new institution are fragmented. The various campuses are still implementing their own old policies.
Staff vacancies
The College has about 28 staff vacancies. Most of the staff in the college is working on part-time basis.
Lack of updated computer facilities
The College uses outdated computers with old computer programmes. Most of the computers need to be replaced.
Dilapidating buildings
The R40 000 yearly maintenance budget for the College has proven to be very insufficient. As a result many of the campus buildings are dilapidating. The building of the College belongs to the Department of Public Works, however, it is not maintained. The College does not even have boarding facilities, which is a major challenge for attracting learners from far way areas, particularly those from rural areas.
Lack of bursaries for poor learners
Although, the College has a very high turnover rate of poor learners, it has very limited bursaries. Some of the learners drop out before completing their courses because of financial problems.
6.3.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should put a task team to assist the College to establish institutional policies to guide the merger process.
The Department should assist the College in getting sponsorships for new computers.
The Department should ensure that the College building are renovated and maintained.
The Department should ensure that the staff vacancies in the College are filled.
6.4 Highland Campus Public FET
The Highland Campus Public FET is in a process of reorganising its curriculum and institutional structure. The College intends to restructure its three campuses to specialise in different fields i.e. Grahamstown campus to deal with business courses, tourism and hospitality; Uitenhage campus to specialise in engineering and the Graff-Reinette campus to specialise in agriculture and game farming.
The aim of restructuring the curriculum structure of the College is to produce students with more entrepreneurial skills to create more work for other unemployed people. The College has also started offering learnerships.
6.4.1 Challenges
The College is facing the following challenges:
a) Structure of the learnerships
The structure of the learnerships is a major problem for most Colleges in the Province. Since the learnerships are under the Department of Labour and the colleges are under the Department of Education, the colleges are unable to use their staff because this is seen as double-deeping or some form of moonlighting.
b) Insufficient budget
About 82% of the budget of the College is spent on salaries. As a result on only about 18% of the budget is used for other functions. This has often resulted in the College running over-expenditure.
c) Inflexibility of the college structure
In general, there is inflexibility with the College structure. Because of the condition of service of colleges, they are unable to offer courses on Saturdays, despite the fact that there is clearly a need for the College to offer some of its colleges on Saturdays.
d) No building maintenance of the College
There is no building maintenance taking place in the College. This has been attributed to the fact that the Education Department is not paying the Department of Public Works for maintenance of the colleges.
e) Lack of administrative block at Uitenhage campus
The Uitenhage campus urgently needs R2 million to complete its administration block.
f) Graff-Reinette campus not conducive for teaching and learning
The Graff-Reinette campus was originally an army base and is not conducive for teaching and learning.
6.4.2 Committee recommendations
The Department should assist the College to complete its administration block since this impact negatively to the administration of the College.
The Department should ensure that the College is maintained.
The current structure of the learnerships needs to be review to enable Colleges the flexibility to expand and rich more learners, particularly those who can only be able attend classes on weekends.
7. Meetings with District Offices
The delegation met with the following District Offices:
7.1 Mdantsane District Office
At Mdantsane there are a variety of schools. There are those that are performing very well and managed effectively and those that are not performing well at all. The major challenge facing the district is the high rate of poverty. In some schools teachers and learners are robbed of their properties.
The main of the District is to ensure that all the deserving schools have access to the Nutrition Programme. However, because of the large number of learners from poor families and the insufficiency of the budget, the District targets learners from Grade 0 – 4 and in some schools it the learners who are considered most needy that are given food.
The District has a poor scholar transport system. There have been several fatal accidents of learners who are transported in bakkies that are not road worthy and sometimes overloaded in bakkies. The District is working with the provincial Department of Education to devise a more proper and safe transport system.
The filling of posts in some schools, particularly those of acting principals are temporary teachers has not been done for over two years. This is mainly because the provincial Department has not issued a circular for these posts. In some instances the large supply of acting principals creates uncertainties in the education system in the District because acting principals and teachers are note sure whether they will be employed for the posts.
7.2 East London District Office
The District Office briefed the delegation on the following issues
7.2.1 ABET Centres
There are 31 ABET Centres in the East London District Offices. The Centres are not properly monitored due to lack of transport. Most of the Centres in the District do not function optimally because of lack of infrastructure and insufficient financial resources. Teachers in ABET Centres in the District are not motivated because of the poor conditions of service. In some instances they get their salaries way after month end. The salaries of ABET teachers is very poor since they are employed as part-time teachers.
7.2.2 School Nutrition Programme
The School Nutrition Programme in the District is not functioning properly. There are 206 schools that qualify for the Programme but 197 of them get the Programme. In most of these schools the learners are fed three days and sometimes the Programme will disappear for a while and then restart again. There are two schools, which were never allocated suppliers although the provincial Department was informed of the schools.
There are several reported problems with the suppliers of the food to schools. Some would supply jam and margarine without bread to a school. In some instances the suppliers delivered the food in people’s houses early in the morning before the opening of the schools. This has been raised with the provincial Department for interventions but there has not been any solution.
The serious challenge is that the administration of the Programme is centralised to the provincial Department. This leads to delays in the payment of service providers.
There is no manager responsible for School Nutrition in the District. The Programme is done on an ad hoc basis. The Programme has two staff that are also responsible for other issues besides school nutrition. There are two unplaced lecturers and 1 displaced principal working for the Programme. But because of lack of familiarity and working on ad hoc basis, they do not seem to effectively address the challenges that are facing school nutrition in the District.
7.3 Bizana District Office
The delegation visited the Bizana District Office, where a District Manager was short few days before the visit by a disgruntled principal who was not appointed after acting in a post for almost a year. The delegation also met wit the staff of the District to brief them about their findings during the study tour the processes that will be undertaken to ensure that the Province put in place effective administrative measures and address the issue of acting principals and temporary teachers.
8. Overall committee recommendations
The Department should look at transferring the budget of the School Nutrition Programme to schools.
Special schools should be prioritised. The Department needs to ensure that they have the entire necessary infrastructure.
The Department should ensure that teachers who are volunteering, particularly those teaching Grade R in the Province, are paid at least a stipend salary.
A proper employee training and development programme should accompany the new financial control systems in the Department.
The Department should work with teacher unions in order to device an effective Teacher Deployment Plan.
Schools with dangerous mud structures, for an example Lindokuhle, should be prioritised in the next financial year.
As a matter of urgency, the Department should distribute mobile classes to schools with dangerous mud structures, and in schools where learners are located in people’s houses.
The Department should ensure that tenders for leaner support materials are, at least, finalised by October so that the distribution of the materials to school can start as early as November. The material should be delivered to schools and given to the learners at least before the start of the school calendar.
The Department should establish Norms for the purchase of Leaner Support Materials. The Norms should outline the exact date for the finalisation of orders and the dates for the delivery of the material to schools.
The Department should finalise the appointment of staff in FET Colleges in the Province.
The Department should review its funding to special schools. Because of the nature of their learners, special schools tend to have more needs that are associated with the nature of the learners.
The Department should assist schools where there is a low participation of parents in school activities in devising mechanisms that will ensure that parents take part in the education of their children.
In schools where there is overcrowding, the Department should devise alternative measures like mobile classrooms to accommodate the learners.
The Department should ensure that teachers at the school are trained to assess and understand the educational needs of learners with special educational needs.
The Department should work the Department of Social Development to ensure that children with disabilities who are not getting the disability grant are assisted and proper follow up measures should be implemented to check whether the children get the grants.
As a follow up mechanism the Committee recommends that the Department submit a written progress report on the issues identified and recommendations made a thirty days after the adoption of the report.
9. Conclusion
In the five days in the Province, the Committee visited thirteen schools, three Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges and three district offices in the three regions of the Province. The Committee also had a briefing by Honourable Mr. M. Matomela on the first day of the study tour and a debriefing on the last day of the study tour.
The Committee is of the opinion that although schools visited may not be necessary a representative sample of all the schools and colleges in the Eastern Cape Province. However, they provided a framework for the Committee to better comprehend the state of education in the Province. Most of the issues that were identified by the schools were also highlighted by the MEC for Education as key challenges that are facing the Province during the briefing and debriefing sessions. This reaffirms the findings that were made by the Committee. It gives the Committee assurance that most of the challenges will be addressed in order to ensure that schools in the Province offer better and quality education and have the optimal support of the administration at district, regional and provincial levels.
Despite the challenges facing the Province, the Committee would like to express its appreciation to the enthusiasm, commitment and zeal that was displayed by both the learners and teachers in the schools that were visited. In most of the schools the delegation was met with jubilation and witness a strong sense of commitment from both the educators and learners. Some schools have devised creative measures to ensure that they get education everyday, despite their challenging conditions. The strong sense of humanity displayed by the educators and the principals reassured us that the situation could only get better with better resources and administrative support.
It is apparent that tightening the belt at Head Office level, does not address the challenges facing schools in the Province. It only transfers the challenges to the learners and teachers at school level. If the Department, is not filling vacant posts, appointing educators, principals and administrators, and seek better solutions to ensure effective and efficient administration at Head Office, it is the learners and educators who suffer.