REPORT FOR THE OVERSIGHT VISIT BY SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND RECREATION, TO GAUTENG PROVINCE: 27 August – 01 September 2006

A. INTRODUCTION

The SC on Education undertook a provincial visit to Gauteng. The main purpose of the visit was an oversight and monitoring role of committees. It was also an initiative to achieve the 70/30 target as outlined in the Programme 2009 of the NCOP

The committee had an interest on issues highlighted below:

Progress on implementation of the memorandum of understanding on school sports.
Scholar Transport
National School Nutrition Programme
Water and Sanitation in schools
Education for learners with Special Education Needs (ELSEN)
Governance in schools (Schools Governing Bodies)
Programmes on HIV/Aids
School staffing and availability of classes.
General challenges facing the schools.

B. DELEGATION:

Delegation constituted the following Honourable Members:

Mr BJ Tolo- Mpumalanga, Chairperson
Mr M Sulliman- Northern Cape
Ms M Madlala-Magubane, Gauteng
Ms NF Mazibuko, Gauteng
Ms JM Masilo- North West
Mr JO Thlagale- North West
Ms J Vilakazi- KwaZulu Natal
Ms AND Qikani- Eastern Cape
Mr M Thetjeng- Limpopo

Ms C Gcasamba, Committee Secretary and Ms C Sheldon, Committee Assistant accompanied the delegation


C. APPROACH:

The visit was scheduled for a week in which during the first day the committee met with the education MEC for a briefing on the overview of Education in the province. In the briefing session, the second phase constituted site visits, in which eight schools from four districts were visited. The visit was concluded by a debriefing session with the MEC. The committee reported on its findings and matters that needed immediate attention.

D.MEETING WITH THE EDUCATION MEC, HON Ms A MOTSHEKGA

The Hon Ms Motshekga reported as follows:

That she had a long week meeting with the top management of the department to register a huge disappointment in the manner in which the department handled various issues affecting the department. These included the non payment of bus operators, findings on ghost educator, the dispute with SADTU on the suspension of district official in Johannesburg South District on allegations of fraud and corruption, the chaotic march by COSAS and the delay in the transfer of school allocation funds for this year

Non payment of bus operators

Last year the department commissioned a forensic report on the state of the scholar transport after receiving disturbing reports on the huge over expenditure on scholar transport and the alleged corruption within the system. Jointly with the Gauteng Shared Service centre, a forensic company was appointed to investigate all matters related to scholar transport. The department also appointed a task team to verify all routes as well as the number of learners utilizing the scholar transport service. The Gauteng Premier also requested the MEC for Public Safety to conduct an audit on the roadworthiness of all scholar transport busses

From the reports, it emerged that indeed there was serious financial mismanagement of the scholar transport budget. A decision to relieve the current Senior Manager responsible for scholar transport of the responsibilities to manage scholar transport and handed over the responsibility to a new branch with higher level manager due to the need to urgently clean the administration and management of scholar transport. The management of Scholar transport will henceforth be managed by a DDG who has almost 35 years of experience within the education department. Various managers who were for scholar transport within head office, district offices and some school principals are about to be suspended immediately pending the administrative procedures that need to be followed by the labour relations and legal units. A criminal charge with SAPS Johannesburg central has been opened with and intention of bringing to book all bus operators who defrauded the system.

The dispute with South African Bus Operators Association, is now resolved as the service is now almost normal except few bus operators that still believe that they are owed by the department.


Investigation on ghost posts

As part of routine check system early this year, the department picked up irregular appointments of personnel with the system without proper documentation with incomplete documents and those appointed without mandates. The Gauteng Shared Services was notified and investigation instituted and the irregularities were confirmed. The findings confirmed there is personnel appointed without following due processes leading to the appointment of at least 15 ghost staff members at the cost of R835 766 58. The media reports that the ghosts employees costed the department R7M are untrue and baseless. The systems have been rectified and the police are also at an advanced stage to bring to book all affected culprits

Suspension of senior officials in the Johannesburg District

Early in July disturbing payments trends were observed in one of the districts in Johannesburg. Upon inspection, financial irregularities that involved awarding of tenders were picked up. Four members of the staff were suspended immediately. The suspension was reviewed and lifted except that one of the Acting Senior Manager. Members of SADTU registered a total dissatisfaction in the manner that the department handled the suspensions. SADTU targeted the Chief Director for districts, Mr Thami Mali by publishing serious untested and disturbing allegations and threatened any official coming closer to Mr Mali with violence. Since then members of SADTU attempted to disrupt two meetings of District Directors and School Principals and they also threatened to disrupt the forthcoming examinations and other academic activities.

On the meeting held with SADTU Provincial leadership it was resolved that the disciplinary hearing against those implicated in fraud and misconduct will go ahead as speedily as possible. If SADTU is aggrieved in the manner in which their members were suspended, SADTU has committed to itself to lodge a grievance through normal processes. All letters sent to SADTU leaders in Central Region concerning their possible dismissal, will be withdrawn immediately on condition SADTU refrain disrupting schools and academic activities immediately. A new senior manager will be sent to act at Johannesburg South District until the MEC has filled the post. All media statements will be jointly coordinated.

Disturbing behaviour by COSAS

In July a group of COSAS staged a march to the Premiers Office to protest against lack of scholar transport. It was difficult to accept the genuinness of these concerns because the office of the MEC was in discussion with another COSAS on the matter

Delay in the transfer of school allocations

The MEC office noted the concerns from schools that their annual financial allocations were delayed, thus affecting the smooth running of some schools. The delay was mainly caused by the need to wait for the election of new School Governing Bodies since they become they official custodians of public funds. The information has been communicated to all the district that funds will be transferred during the last week of August 2006. Already some schools have received their allocations.

E. FURTHER BRIEFINGS BY DIFFERENT DIRECTORATES

1.Gauteng School Nutrition Programme

1.1Human resources Capacity

A Project Manager currently oversees the management and implementation of the programme with support from 6 Senior Administration Clerks, 1 Assistant (Adhoc administration support), 1 Assistant Director, Sustainable Food Production Programme which a National DoE appointee

At district level, 12 Coordinators (who belong to the other units in the district) are responsible for the monitoring programme. 94 interns currently on a 1 month contract monitor, train and guide educators and helper in the implementation process

At school level, a total of 1 142 nominated school coordinators are responsible for the implementation of the programmes at schools. They ensure that goods are received in good order and are responsible for the daily feeding of learners. 1 745 voluntary food handlers drawn from a community of unemployed parents assist with preparation and serving of food


1.3 Procurements procedures

The school nutrition directorate sources goods and services through an open tender system. A new contract has recently been awarded to 11 contractors (service providers) with effect from July 2006. The model used also takes into account the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment by engaging the Small Micro Medium Enterprise as a distribution network, that is, whilst the eleven main suppliers have been selected in terms of capacity to deliver, the SMMEs assist in the distribution of food to schools

1.4 Financial Management

Conditional Grant Performance 2006 : School Nutrition Programme

1.5 Infrastructure Development and Quality Improvement

In October 2005, the National Treasury allocated extra funds to a total sum of R18m as a "once of" grant. A business plan was approved towards improving the quality of food and serving areas so as to enhance the healthy conditions at schools.

The following budget items were set aside and procurement process finalised towards sourcing goods and services:

Distribution of fruit for 3 months (January – March 2006) as a pilot project

A package of gardens tools and water tanks

Marine containers to be converted into kitchens

A package of kitchen utensil (gas stoves, pots, plates , cups and cutlery)

The first two items were reported to be have been achieved. Some items have not been distributed as yet, the approval by the Departmental Acquisition Council is an achievement considering the often long winded procurement process. A submission for the installation of marine containers has also been approved recently for the Directorate: Facilities Management to provide technical assistance and implementation

Of the R18m, R8m was spent at the end of the financial year (March 2006) and remaining R10m rolled over to the current financial year.

1.6 Sustainable food production programme:

1.6.1 Monitoring:

The directorate has made inroads in contracting interns to monitor daily the implementation of the programme at schools, which previously pronounced itself as a key challenge for the Gauteng Department of Education. Approximately 94 interns, are currently distributed throughout the 12 districts making a difference in the following areas:

Quality control with no deviations
Training of voluntary food handlers (helpers)
On time delivery of goods
Improved and healthy conditions (preparation areas)
Overall performance of service providers (compliance)
Self /skills development (theory and practise) of interns
In comparison, an increased number of schools monitored monthly

The selection criteria for interns was restricted to qualification in Food Science, Technology and Environmental Health with the view towards value added input and contribution to the programme

1.7 Intersectoral Collaboration/ Partnerships

The Directorate has developed working relationships with the following stakeholders:

Bana Pele Programme- an inter collaboration between the departments of Health and Social Development to integrate systems/ services towards the most vulnerable children

Joint Aids Management (JAM), a non –governmental initiative that provides complementary meals to learners in selected poor communities

DOLE and Johannesburg Fruit Produce Market – an initiative towards nutrition education and promoting healthy lifestyles

PLACER DOME and South Deep mining company with the initiative of providing complementary meals to learners in the schools serving the surrounding mining community in the south Gauteng

1.8 KEY CHALLENGES:

Capacity at district and school level is partial as district coordinators are not fully dedicated to the programme

On that note, the department plans to include in the next business plan (2007/8) a budget item of fully dedicated district coordinators on contract


Interns are on a short term contract with a very high staff turnover as they only enter this programme while seeking full time employment. There is a high demand for interns in some districts
Therefore, further recruitment of interns in collaboration with the HR Directorate is necessary

Quality assurance of food items is not a competency of Gauteng Department of Education, the department relies on Health department

Close collaboration with the department of Health to assist with health, hygiene and food safety regulations.

2. INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT AND PLANNING

Following the establishment of the single Gauteng Department of Education from separate education structures in 1995, there has been a commitment to equity and redress and development of quality education for all learners in the Province.

The number of learners had increased consistently since 1995 in public ordinary schools with a decrease in 2001 as a result of the admission policy for grade 1 learners. There was an average increase of 2% with over 3.5% increase between 1996 and 2000. This increase and subsequent increases saw a growth of learners numbers from 1.3 million in s1995 to 1.6 million in 2006 for public ordinary schools. There has been a large increase in learner numbers in secondary schools.

A similar a pattern is also seen in the LSEN sector. The enrolment has increased since 2001 from 27 135 to 33 772. One of the reasons for this increase is the establishment of schools of focus learning, which have been grouped as special schools.

At the time of the establishment of the Gauteng Department of Education, a major backlog in both the provision and maintenance of school infrastructure was noted. The disparities between suburban mainly white schools and all other public schools was highly significant, where the average number of learner per classroom in an suburban secondary school was 1 :28, whilst in all other secondary schools the number varied from 45 to 90 learners in a single secondary classroom. In primary schools the disparity was even greater, as in suburban schools the average number of learners in a public school classroom was 20, in schools outside the suburbs, the average number of learners in a primary school classroom started at 40.

The backlog of infrastructure needs indicated by this disparity was extremely high. The situation was further complicated by the lack of an effective programme of maintenance for the non-suburban schools, further compounded by the fact that these schools had often been sited on land that was generally unsuitable for building purposes. Many schools have been built on dolomitic land, wetland areas, old mining land and other inappropriate sites. In 2001, a total of 384 schools were identified as needing urgent attention. Of this number, 162 were placed in the high risk category regarding structural problems including faults resulting from dolomitic land. The remaining 222 schools were classified as medium risk schools with structural defects which could pose a distinct danger to those in the institutions. This was 20% of all Public Schools (1909 institutions). This serious maintenance backlog has not yet been given focused attention, and remains an urgent priority.


The lack of proper maintenance has also negatively impacted on infrastructure provision. The approximate average age of the infrastructure within this Department is between 40 and 45 years old. The currently published information on the state of repair of school buildings can be extracted from the 2003 Education Management System and the 2000 School Register of Needs as complied by the National Department of Education. Information from current audits of state of infrastructure is being awaited. On a seven point scale, 50% of school buildings need repairs. Only 530 (25%) of school buildings were considered to be in good condition then (6 years ago)

The information given above is currently being verified independently, as the available figures indicate that to be able to replace or repair this infrastructure will cost an estimated R9 billion.

The overcrowding of schools has placed extreme pressure on sanitation services, The water supply to schools is frequently inadequate, and the sewer lines cannot cope with 200-300 additional learners on a site planned to accommodate 800 children.

The following verified, but as yet, incomplete information about the state of school buildings is currently available:

Current condition of School Buildings in Gauteng Province

2.1 Goals and Objectives of Infrastructure Ownership

The recent development of the concept of Public Private Partnerships has now provided alternative process for the provisioning of infrastructure for Public Schooling, which is a Constitutional right for the people of South Africa. Prior to this development, state ownership of school buildings has been the only possibility for the provision of facilities in which public schooling can take place.

The limited instances where public schools are on private property (usually farm schools), maintenance of complex agreements and access to the buildings has been problematic.

The current state of transformation of education requires that stringent minimum norms and standards for buildings are implemented to address matters of inequality, and hence ownership was the only option prior to Public Private Partnership options.

Amongst the key challenges faced by the Department is a shortage of classroom space in those areas experiencing and influx of learners from within and outside the province. This shortage in classroom space is both in terms of the number of available classrooms, and the size of classrooms.

The personnel budget allows for 40 children in a primary school classroom, and 35 learners in a secondary school classroom. This is translating into actual learners of 45-48 in a primary school classroom; and 38 -40 learners in a secondary school classroom., and in certain areas as many as 60 learners per classroom.

The revitalization of city centres also requires that immediate attention be given to the provision of public schools in the inner cities.

An additional challenge is to provide facilities which address the needs of the new curriculum. In secondary schools, provision must be made for the three specialist learning fields: Arts and Culture which must make provision for visual and dramatic arts as well as music; Services requires provision for facilities to allow tuition in hotel keeping and catering; Engineering and technology requires specialised workshops. Primary schools which are to be built are required to make provision for Grade R classes. The inclusion of Human Movement in all phases of schooling as a critical response to health issues, particularly obesity, requires facilities in which learners can change clothes, as well as the minimum of one levelled, grassed playing field.

A further challenge faced by the Education Department, is the risk assessment of the alienation of land and facilities in areas where the population has aged, and school buildings are currently no longer required; the patterns and cycles of urban renewal are unpredictable, and valuable assets could be lost. The provincial densification of residential areas has a major impact on decisions taken about alienation of properties.

The essential foundations for effective learning and teaching in all Provincial Public Schools include the following
* ensuring that resourcing of all schools is equitable and optimal, this will require redress measures
* ensuring that there are no schools without the basic amenities of safe structures, water, electricity and sanitation
* schools provided in those geographic places which are easily and safely accessible for children; the need for scholar transport must be limited. This will include the provision of boarding facilities in the limited areas identified as rural pockets, eg. Magaliesberg environment.
Plan Framework

Provision for District Offices also requires attention. Local Government has indicated the possibility of the donation of land in three areas. This would then allow for the building of an appropriate building which will meet the needs of the communities whom we serve in terms of local accessibility and parking for principals and educators when they are required to attend meeting at the various District Offices.

Furniture for schools, addressing backlogs and making provision for the new school buildings, is an essential often forgotten aspect of infrastructure provisioning.

The protracted procurement procedures, and the financial requirement placed on emerging contractors by CIDB requirements coupled with delayed payments due to the extended line function between GSSC and the Gauteng Department, results in delays which are translated into extensions of contractions and associated variation orders. The inability to pay on time because of complex processes, also leads to cancellation of contracts in certain instances

The limited co-operation between Departments and local government which has only been addressed this year, has resulted in the development of housing settlements without the necessary schools (Diepsloot remains a site of this major concern).

The complex requirements for the management of building sites as required by the various professional associations and relevant legislation, results in extensive consultant fees, which unfortunately do not always result in quality buildings, as the legislated remuneration structures often result in poor supervision by the consultants.

2.2 Financial projections and management

The planning and delivery cycle for school infrastructure is on average 18 months. The legislated 12 month Financial Management cycle as part of Treasury requirements, will therefore reflect periods of underspending as the planning cycle is initiated. Once the cycle has been established, a consistent spending pattern should emerge with tight monitoring of contractors.

As GDE, this cycle of management will be introduce for the first time, with effect from October 2006

3. GOVERNANCE IN RURAL SCHOOLS

A total of 149 rural schools have elected the School Governing Bodies and also attended orientation and induction programme on Governance at a glance.

4. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON SCHOOL SPORTS

The Gauteng Departments of Education and Sport are collaborating smoothly on the issues of schools sport based on the existing MOU which is currently being reviewed. Since the beginning of the current academic year, all school sport programmes are running under the auspices of Gauteng Government.

Coordinating and management is the responsibility of both is the responsibility of both GDE and SRAC with involvement of other important stakeholders such as the civil society (USSASA), teacher, unions, SGBs and Federations. This is an interim arrangement as the permanent on would be ushered in after the signing of the reworked MOU. School sport in the province is coordinated by a team from both departments through line managers.

From GDE it is through the Social Plan directorate. In terms of the current arrangement, the GDE is responsible for school sports from school, cluster, district and provincial level. Whereas SRAC is responsible form provincial to the national and international level. The two departments have contributed by sharing responsibilities for all school sport events in the current financial year. The province has successfully coordinated Athletics, Aquatics, Farm School Games, and Winter Games without any problem

5.SCHOLAR TRANSPORT

The Gauteng Department of Education introduced the scholar transport programme to increase learner access to education and address learner safety related matters, targeting in particular those in rural areas and from poor communities in which the nearest school was in excess of 5km to the nearby school.

Some of the learners particularly in farm areas had a poor attendance because of long distance they had to travel to the nearest school. Poor accessibility to education led to high failure and dropout rate amongst learners from these communities. Despite the social background of such learners the Gauteng Department of Education remained with a great responsibility of providing quality public education to all learners in order to comply with the Constitutional imperatives. Hence, accessibility of schools and quality education remained the fundamental basis for provision of scholar transport for all learners in these communities.

In order to curb spiralling costs, the Department undertook a full audit in all twelve Districts to clean up the administration process of the scholar transport programme with regard:

The numbers of learners transported and the kilometres travelled per route
Determining the authenticity of routes
Terminating those routes deemed unnecessary, through the necessary community communication strategies and compliance with the due contractual legal processes, and
Determining the eligibility of learners by submitting all learners presently accessing scholar transport to eligibility test

Following the scholar transport audit conducted in 2005, several routes and pick up points were found to be non-compliant with scholar transport policy and had to be terminated at the end of the year. The main reasons for non-compliance were travelling distance being less than 5km as per policy and learners being transported away from their residential areas with schools to distant schools

The scholar transport audit apart from non compliant routes also revealed the existence of fictitious routes and pick-up points as well as the prevalence of inflated learner numbers and kilometres which the districts and schools did nothing about. Another important discovery made was that they are servicing their routes contrary to the conditions spelt out in the contract. After informing the service providers concerned, contracts were awarded to the owners of the busses.

A speedy implementation of the recommendations could contribute meaningfully toward saving the department much needed funds for further expansion of scholar transport in areas of need. This process will result in significant reduction of the scholar transport budget in the district, safe and reliable transport for learners without overloading and the elimination of subcontracting. This process obviously will require that new contracts for all routes in Ekurhuleni West District are entered into with all service providers to reflect the changes.

6. HIV /Aids PROGRAMMES

This summary is focusing only on programmes for learners in the learning sites

The Government began implementing in November 1999, an integrated strategy for HIV and AIDS through the social services departments (Education, Health and Social Development) in the 2000 budget. The strategy focuses on care and support of children and youth infected, and affected with HIV/ AIDS. Gauteng Department of Education received an amount of R17 486m for the financial year 2002-3 of which R15 905m was spent and a rollover of R1 577m was granted. In 2003-4 an amount of R19 050m including rollover was available for the province an amount of R17 493 was spent. In 2004-5 an amount of R17 486 has been approved for the province, R18 800 is approved for 2005 and a Roll-over R2.2m which increased the allocation to R21m


6.1 CHALLENGES POSED BY HIV AND AIDS IN THE SYSTEM CONTINUOSLY

Challenges posed by the impact of HIV and AIDS
Parental literacy/education and involvement
Intensified girl-learner programmes
Poverty alleviation
Child-headed households
Increase in number of orphans
Data for children in distress not readily available and updated

6.2 MAINSTREAMING OF HIV AND AIDS INTO CURRICULUM

The response to HIV and AIDS is a strategic priority for the province. This is reflected in the Department’s strategic plans. The existing HIV and AIDS programmes focus on the following main components

To deliver a curriculum-based Life Skills and HIV/AIDS education programme in primary and secondary school through the HIV and AIDS Conditional grant (National Integrated Plan for children affected and infected with HIV and AIDS)

6.3 Achievements thus far

Mainstreaming in the foundation phase with Life Skills learning programme as the focus.
Mainstreaming in the Intersen Phase with Life Orientation as the focus Learning Area.
Mainstreaming in FET in the Life Orientation LA

6.4 Challenges

There is no mainstreaming yet across Learning Areas.

6.5 Corrective measures
A module has been developed and in printers for training of educators.

6.6 Development, Procurement and Distribution of age appropriate and relevant Teacher and Learner Support Material (LTSM) for 2005/6

There is a need for the material that is aligned to either RNCS or NCS as per phase. A lot of material was developed in the inception years of which the challenge is to align it now. The department has managed with FET; mediate the material with educators and procure/print for grade 10-12.

A module for ECD phase has been developed. It is on the learning Outcome Health promotion.
The Senior Phase integrated module was also developed.
Parenting skills module developed..
School –based journals for learners were printed.
1 500 kits for schools in the Province and for newly identified ECD sites.
Gender module for both learners and educators was developed


6.7 Development and Implementation of Peer Educator programme for learners (include methodology/resource/service providers used)

6.7.1 Peer Education Programme
The HIV/AIDS AND Life Skills programme implements peer education as a supplement to the curriculum delivered by teachers in a Life Orientation LA. Peers are trained to educate and give informal support to their peers on the basis of the same curriculum and at times convenient to the learners at their free time. Learners from all the districts were trained on morale regeneration issues (teenage pregnancy & suicide, drug and substance abuse, leadership and HIV & AIDS related issues. Camps on girl and boy learner programme were conducted at a small scale.

6.8 Nodal Areas (3 000 learners reached)
This programme was initiated as a 10:90 model to reach more learners in schools. It was a recommendation from the peer education survey which was conducted in 43 sites n the previous year across the province.
These young people do have information especially on drugs but other issues are hampering behavior change and development. The areas that needed more work are Gender, Teen Suicide, teen pregnancy, substance abuse and HIV and AIDS. The department further work shopped 90 learners in each school on HIV and AIDS, Gender and other skills like Project Management and also Life Skills concepts. The learners are expected to go back to their schools and start community projects and further help SBST with referrals.

6.9 Further Education and Training Colleges
The programme has also extended to FETs because of the age group which is being admitted. There are 9 colleges and 33 campuses. Workshops on Peer education with 810 learners for three days on Substance Abuse, Teenage Pregnancy and Gender as per their request, were held. There are still challenges like they still debate precautionary measures. The department is unable to reach a lot of learners because of budget. The other challenge is that the department cannot develop their lectures.

6.10 Care and Support for Learners & Educators

The level of the pandemic calls for further development of educators on care and support issues. This program started in all districts with 10% of Schools in 2003. A total of 675 Master trainers were trained. Master trainers were a provincial mandate. The districts were responsible for the participants in training. Schools had to cascade in their schools. Two-day training manual was developed for all schools.

6.11 Health and Wellness strategy

A total of 1 920 educators were developed on basic counseling skills and art therapy and 1 000 educators developed on care and support.

6. 12 Life Skills External Evaluation

The tender on Impact of Life Skills was advertised and short-listed the service provider will start by September 2006

6.13 Critical issues arising out of the work of the section/unit/sub-directorate

The level of knowledge of HIV AND AIDS issues amongst principals and SGB` as per observation, is still low. That is a concern since the department is expecting the leadership role from them. The monitoring of implementation in school based programmes still need to be strengthened.

In schools, reports on sick learners are increasing especially in the foundation phase. The disclosure of the status is still a problem. Orphans in schools are increasing. The referral system takes long to help. Learner pregnancy is in the increase in other areas. There is a need for an audit in order to have a provincial picture. As per the Youth behaviour Survey conducted by National Department of Health mental wellness for learners is a problem.

7. SPECIAL NEEDS PROVISIONING IN THE PROVINCE

Progress report
7.1 Roll-out of White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System

In terms of the first phase of the roll-out, four Primary Schools have been identified for conversion into Full Service Schools. Four Special Schools have been identified for the conversion into Special Schools as Resource Centres. In the four identified districts, the District Based Support Teams Support Teams (DBST’s) have been established.

7.2 Human Resource Development and Feasibility Study

The full staff compliment of the eights schools referred to above were all trained over the last school holidays. The training was done by the nationally appointed Sisonke Consortium, and was co-facilitated by the DBST’s of the identified districts. Schools are currently undertaking portfolio work with the support of DBST’s and service providers in preparation for follow up training in September.

The baseline study and survey on the availability of assistive devices and support material have been conducted in all identified schools as part of the above tender.

7.3 Infrastructure and assistive devices

M C Weiler Primary in Alexandra has been identified as the Primary School to be physically upgraded for accessibility into a full service school. The Professional Team that will manage physical upgrade of the school has been appointed and trained by the nationally appointed project team led by the CSIR. A timetable for the work to be done is being finalised by the Professional Team.

The Gauteng Department of Education has participated fully in the planning of building the new school building for Nokhutula Special School by the Alexandra Renewal Project, as the school is temporarily housed in a converted warehouse. This presents an opportunity to build the first Special School as Resource Centre as envisioned in White Paper 6 and therefore the participation of NDoE, GDE’s Directorate Physical Infrastructure, and the full DBST’s and the participation of the school itself is facilitated in the process.

7.4 Special Schools in Gauteng
Allocations to schools, Top slice / Redress and provisioning of assistive devices allocations

The progress on the allocations provided to schools should be dealt with by the IDS GET Directorate where the budget is located.

7.4.1 National Audit and Strengthening of Special Schools

On the basis of the audit done into special schools, twenty special schools in disadvantaged areas within Gauteng have been identified for intervention. A ring fenced allocation to intervene in the infrastructure/ maintenance of the school, provision of assistive devices and support material, transport and the assessment of learners have been granted.


7.4.2 Special Schools in Gauteng receiving adverse media coverage

Two Special Schools in Gauteng has been receiving adverse media coverage in the recent months:

J W Luckhoff School of Industry

In response to the Court Order against the Gauteng Department of Education the following actions have been undertaken:

Sleeping bags have been provided
Repair and Maintenance work has been undertaken and the plans for providing fencing and access control has been submitted to Court as outlined in the Order.
A post for the appointment of a School Social worker has been created. The district is being assisted in the filling of the School Social Worker, Psychologist, and supervisor post for Child and Youth Care Workers.
A provincial team has started the Developmental Assessment of all learners
A service provider has been appointed and the first session in the Developmental Quality Assurance has started in conjunction with the Department of Social Development. The school has been orientated and provided with the instruments for Self Assessment

Dough Whitehead Special School

A team has been appointed by the MEC to deal with the situation at this school headed by the Acting DDG Districts. Whereas this is not a formal report from that team some of the interventions that are underway include:

The learners at Dough Whitehead Special School are back in class after attempts to declare the school unsafe, lock staff and children out and vandalising of the toilets and other infrastructure.
Infrastructural work has been undertaken to ensure the safety of learners.
Interventions have been made into both the School Governing Body and School management team to stabalise the situation in the school.

7.5 NCS training

Within the roll out of the NCS for both GET and FET training considerations for the accommodation of special needs provisioning has been made in line with the changes to national frameworks. All special schools were required to participate in training. This is an area in which educators and schools have indicated a need of further support and follow up.

7.6 ICT provisioning in Special Schools in Gauteng

Note need to be taken of the Gauteng Online’s intervention into Special Schools have provided for a full suite of hardware and software accommodations for learners in all Special Schools. Educators training have been trained to make optimum use of the specialised resource.

7.7 Provisioning within ordinary schools

7.7.1 Aid and Special Classes

Learners within ordinary schools presenting with mild to moderate learning difficulties are currently being provided for in Aid and Special Classes. Currently the 236 Aid Class post posts equitably distributed to all districts are fully utilised with requests for additional posts coming in. A team has been established to look at the transformation of this service to be in line with the NCS.

7.8 School Based Support Teams (SBST’s)

SBST’s have been established in all schools. These teams assist with the identification and addressing of learning breakdown at a school level. Educators are required to report all learning breakdown on support forms with a referral process to the SBST. Learners cannot be retained in any grade within the GET band without evidence of school based intervention by the SBST. A Circular is in place with district and a provincial team to manage the assessment and identification of support needs and facilitate the placement of learners in appropriate programmes or Special Schools.

The SBST is the node for intersectoral collaboration at a site level especially around addressing the psycho-social support needs of vulnerable children and orphans.

The human resource capacity of the DBST’s is due to be increased with the recent budget allocated for the appointment of additional district based Psycho -social support workers.

F. SITES VISITS

1. Kudung Middle School

Kudung is a quintile one rural school on a private land , with 747 learners, 24 educators and 22 classes. The school is served by two scholar transport routes. One route comes from the farm areas south of the school and is very small (22 learners). The other route transports around 580 learners from the Ratanda Township to the school. This route is temporary, and will be terminated once the new school for extension 23 in Ratanda is completed. Both routes are said to be functioning well

1.1 School Nutrition Programme

188 learners were identified as needy learners are catered for in this programme. The quality of food is acceptable. One educator also supplies learners with food. Another educator has arranged with Pick’n’Pay to donate food to learners every Thursday. There are grade 12 learners who get food parcels from a shop owner.

1.2 Water and Sanitation

The school uses the mobile toilets and water from the boreholes. The school sanitation system is inadequate given the number of learners. The current system is a health hazard to children and pollution. Thieves always target the school pump.

1.3 ELSEN

The school doesn’t have ELSEN classes. A need exists to establish ELSEN classes at this school since it is located in rural areas and learners with special educational needs cannot be placed at the existing ELSEN class in Shalimar Ridge Primary School, due to the distance and the lack of transport to Shalimar Ridge Primary.

At Kudung, only six learners out of a total of eighty learners were recommended for retention during the ratification of the possible retention schedules.


1.4 School governing bodies

The SGB Elections went well and all stakeholders participated. The election of Office Bearers took place after the elections and all portfolios were filled.

1.5 Programmes on HIV/Aids

The learners and educators in the school have been involved in different programmes organised by the district. The school has also identified its own programmes for 2006

1.6 School staffing and availability of classes

The school has a staff compliment of 30 government employees, twenty four educators and six public staff. One educator post is vacant. The school has 16 classrooms, two of which are dilapidated. There are boarding facilities run by parents, in the school

1.7 Challenges

The school does not have enough equipment and a gas cylinder is needed in order to implement a cooking menu

The school needs a proper kitchen and storeroom for the food

The attendance of meetings is poor, parents stay far away from the school

The school is on a private land and development is hampered

The night watchman has no one to relieve him. As a result of that, some of the general workers are being used as night watchman in order to relieve him.

Some learners live with grandparents, who receive social grants

Some learners in Grade 12 head households. They have part time work, resulting in them only attending school once a week.

The school exemption policy is not properly implemented

2. Masizakhe Primary School

The school is served by a scholar transport route from the surrounding farms towards the school. After the termination of routes during the Head Office intervention, the learners from Rensburg area 17 learners have been left without transport. Head Office gave permission for the inclusion of these learners but the district, after having explored several possibilities, could not secure a service provider , as the tarrif of 0.25c per kilometre is not sufficiently attractive. Negotiations with the existing service provider are in the process.

2.1 School Nutrition Programme

The school has 155 learners on the scheme. The quality of food provided is good and the school does not deviate or add to the menu. The school has one food handler. The stock is delivered adequately and on time.

2.2 Water and Sanitation in schools

The farm owner has been providing water as far back as 1989, at no cost. He has always been involved in maintaining the schools water tanks, ensuring the school always has clean water.

The department delivered to the school but it was discovered that it had maggots.

The school has only five flushing toilets, both for boys and girls. More toilets are needed for the learners and staff members

2.3 ELSEN

The school has one severe LSEN learner, whose problems are being are being addressed by social workers. The learner has been reported to the District Support Team. The school does not have a specialised educator to deal with LSEN learners.

2.4 School governing body (SGB)

The SGB elections went well. The handover process was successfully completed. The newly elected SGB members seem to be energetic, and sponsorships from businesses for food and clothing for the learners have been secured by them.


2.5 Programmes on HIV/Aids

Workshops on helping the child in crisis and on HIV/Aids and law were conducted. Other workshops for orphans and vulnerable learners are produced and will be conducted during the September holiday.


2.6 School staffing and availability of classes

The school has three educators, a principal and a Head of department. Currently, all educators teach multi-grade classes. The school has sufficient classrooms from Grade R to Grade 7.


2.7 Challenges

The school does not have enough equipment for the nutrition programme

The school needs clean running water

The water supplied by the farmer is not sufficient so they cannot cultivate their own garden

The school does not have a specialised teacher to deal with LSEN learner

The attendance of meetings is poor because 80% of the parents stay more than 30km away from the school

Due to lack of resources such as transport, the neighbouring communities find it difficult to attend workshops offered by the school

Because of the shortage of teachers some classes are combined into multigrade teaching, which makes it difficult to address all nine learning areas

Most parents are unemployed. Others hold part time jobs, while those working earn a very low salary

There are also learners that are orphaned and some do not have birth certificates in order to apply for social grants

No proper fencing of the school and people have started squatting within school premises

3. Meeting with the district officials at Sebokeng College of Education

The district director reported that the district expected three more secondary schools to be built, which were on top of the priority list.

The district is working in partnership with Mittal Steel in assisting learners from 12 Secondary school with Maths and Science studies

There is no multigrading except for farm schools

The district has submitted the recommendations for some schools to be "no fee schools".

3.1 RAMOLLELE SECONDARY SCHOOL

3.1.1 Scholar Transport

The programme caters for 327 learners. Most learners come from Bophelong, making use of interim transport. A secondary school was promised but has not been started yet, therefore learners are bussed. When the interim transport stops, Ramollele will fall in enrolment to less than 250. What is needed is a route from Polokong for Secondary School learners. The school for Boitumelo has also not been started yet.

3.1.2 Water and sanitation

The school is fully connected

3.1.3 ELSEN

Structural support is established (school based support team) for identification of barriers to learning and level 1 and 2 intervention

3.1.4 Governance

Successful elections have been held and executive is in place

3.1.5 Programmes on HIV/Aids

Structural support has been established to deal with the pandemic through awareness campaign and education

School based support team has been trained on care and support programme

Educators are trained on Lifeskills Programme: Management and Prevention of learner pregnancy

Peer Mediator Teams have been established, amongst learners

School staffing and availability of classes

Staffing is at full complement and there are no shortages of classes


3.1.6 CHALLENGES

The Gauteng online lab is a white elephant, computers were stolen in 2003.

Most learners are household heads

Vandalism is rife since the school is far from houses

4. EMFULENI PRIMARY SCHOOL

4.1 Scholar Transport

Learners who should be in Muvhango are bussed to schools Parksig and Motlolo because there is a need for another primary

A new school should have been built for Mfuleni, but has not been started. Even when a new school is built, learners currently going to the other two schools will have to be accommodated in vacated mobiles on the present site of Emfuleni (340 learners at Parksig and 53 at Motlolo)

4.2 School Nutrition Programme

100% of learners benefit from the National School Nutrition Programme. The school is on menu one and has two nutrition helpers. The school has received garden tools to start food gardening to support vulnerable learners. Food storage is needed as well as a proper kitchen to enable the school to benefit from menu two of the programme.

4.3 Water and sanitation

The school is fully connected

4.4 ELSEN

Structural support is established for identification of barriers to learning and level 1 and 2 interventions. Intersectoral Collaboration has been established with Health, Welfare, NGOs (FAMSA) and SANCA AND local government to support orphans and vulnerable children

AID class has been placed at Mqiniswa Primary School, which services four primary schools in the area. At the moment only one learner from Emfuleni is placed at the AID class. 16 learners from foundation phase two learners from senior phase with barriers to learning and development have been identified and are being assisted at the school intervention

4.5 School Governing Body

SGB elections took place successfully

4.6 Programmes on HIV/Aids

Structural support established to deal with the pandemic through awareness campaign and education. School based support team has been trained on care and support programme. Educators are trained on Lifeskill Programmes: Management and Prevention of Learner Pregnancy

4.7 School staffing and availability of classes

Staffing is at full complement. Where the availability of classes is concerned, there are no secure storage areas, machines are kept at Ikokobetseng primary. No electricity in classes.

4.8 Challenges

The level of vandalism is very high.

Lack of security at night as a result computers are kept in another school

Resources are limited due to insufficient allocation of funds

5. Mphethuto Primary School

This school is located in Magaliesburg in a rural area. Most of the learners come from farms around the area. There is a township that has been recently built- the houses are built by the government on the Reconstruction Development Programme so as to accommodate families who mostly moved from farms and others that were evacuated from farms. There is still a shortage of these houses so most of these families are still living in shacks

5.1 Primary School Nutrition Programme

There is feeding scheme at the school where learners are getting two slices of bread with peanut butter, jam or butter and a glass of juice.

The school also has a vegetable garden which provides vegetables to most of the needy learners. These vegetables are the best meal for some of the learners.

5.2 Scholar Transport

70 learners benefit from the scheme. Some learners walk very long distances to get to school. Parents cannot afford to transport them as they are unemployed. There is one bus transporting learners from other areas but only benefits learners travelling more than five kilometres from school.
Scholar transport has improved school attendance

5.3 Challenges

Parents of the majority of the learners are unemployed, other learners live with their grandparents as they have lost their parents through death caused by HIV/Aids related illnesses

Shortage of classrooms, the school is making use of additional mobile classes

There are no sport facilities

The school needs a laboratory

School fee exemption policy is not properly implemented

6 .MAGALIES STATE SCHOOL

6.1 Scholar Transport

The school is sharing the transport with feeder schools. This causes a great concern in terms of overloading. The service is reported to have improved a lot in terms of time. There is lesser late coming than before

6.2 School governing body

The SGB has been elected. The old SGB has resolved that parents who cannot afford to pay school fees should be given odd jobs by the school when possible.

6.3 Primary School Nutrition Programme

945 learners benefit from the scheme. Although it cannot cater for every child it tries its best to feed the orphans and needy learners regularly. A food garden has been started an the school is in partnership with other business people who are interested in our school. The school also has companies like Spar Magaliesburg who donate 20 loaves of bread, Lions Club Magaliesburg eggs and relish and Arttoney Langa who donate bread Thursday. The school is looking for other donors who can also participate.

6.4 School staffing and availability of classes

The school has 23 classrooms consisting of 4 mobile and 19 brick and mortar classrooms. The school has six feeder primary schools.

The school has 26 educators of which 4 of them are temporarily appointed. All departments such as Economics, Social Sciences, Life orientation have their Heads of department.

6.5 Challenges

The school is overcrowded

The school has no proper exemption policy in place

7. Meeting Gauteng North district officials

The district director reported that as much as it one of the smallest districts, it is also the most rural in the province. Due to provincial re-demarcation and elimination of cross boarder municipalities, the settlement of Enkangala and Nokeng Tsa Taemane Local Municipalities

The District has a total of 58 public schools. Besides the above institutions, the district also caters fro pre and post formal (Grade R) and ABET (Adult Basic Education and Training) in total there are 46 grade R sites, 3 registered and 5 satellites ABET centres

The District will inherit new schools and ABET centres as per elimination of cross boarder municipalities. In total the district we will get 5 new secondary, 8 primary, 3 ABET and Grade R centres. In total the district will inherit a learner population of 11 600.

In line with provincial restructuring programme which aims at equitable distribution of schools among districts, 50 more schools will be inherited.

The area has a high poverty ranking. 34 of the 58 schools are in quintile 1 and 2.

There are no major industries for economic activities in the district. The small to medium industries and other employment opportunities available, are shared with communities within the boarders of our district e.g Mpumalanga areas and informal settlements around Mamelodi and Ekurhuleni.

Schools in the District have tap water and toilet facilities, albeit pit latrines in some instances. All farm schools use borehole water system. This system depends on natural phenomenon for optimal function. Once the level of water supply drops, the supply becomes inadequate for the needs of the school and manual supply of water has to be arranged by the department.

Due to an unprecedented influx of learners into the schools in the districts, the district had to supply 16 new mobile classes to offset overcrowding at various schools. However, not all the schools have sufficient and educationally effective accommodation.

7.1 Sporting Facilities

Except for the surburban schools in the districts, none of the other schools have developed sporting facilities of any kind. The rural schools depend on town school for facilities.

7.2 Assembly Halls, Staff rooms, Libraries and Laboratories

None of the Ex DET schools, more than two thirds of all the schools in the districts, have assembly halls, libraries or laboratory facilities. The township schools all have staff rooms and administration blocks. In many of the farm schools, the principal office serves as the administration block where all the schools documentation is kept and there are no staff room facilities

7.3 The District Office

The district office is situated in Pretoria, approximately 30km from its nearest school and approximately 160 kms from its furthest school, Mphumelomuhle just outside the borders of the Mpumalanga Province. This has a negative effect on the service delivery.

There is a need to relocate the district offices to Bronkhorspruit, to be able to service the school efficiently

8. WOZANIBONE SENIOR SECONDARY

Wozanibone is a section 21 school, with 525 learners and 17 educators. The school is built on a land that belongs to a church.

8.1 Scholar Transport

The school depends on scholar transport as 377 learners out of 525 utilize the service. The need for such a service is due to the fact that the school is the only secondary school in the area that has seven primary schools that are its feeder schools. The distance travelled by learners, ranges from 9km to 50 kms per single trip. Due to remoteness of some settlements in relation to accessing the main road, some learners still have to walk a distance before reaching the pick-up point for their transport.

8.2 Water and Sanitation

The school uses a borehole water supply system. This system depends on the natural phenomenon for optimal function, that is, the level of water supply becomes inadequate for the needs of the school and manual supply of water has to be arranged by the GDE. The school has flushing toilet system. The toilets are insufficient for both learners and educators

8.3 Education for learners with special needs

The school is supported through the District SBTs and ESS Pyschological Service Unit

8.4 School governing bodies

A newly SGB had been elected and inducted by the district
The challenge is the literacy level in terms of policy development and interpretation

8.5 Programmes on HIV/Aids

The district in collaboration with other stakeholders, Dept of Health, Social Services and local municipality of Kungwini conducts information sessions and awareness campaigns to advocate the program

8.6 Challenges

The sizes of some classrooms are not in line with the departmental standards and are poorly ventilated
There is also a challenge in relation to organise parents meeting due to the lack of public transport that result in low participation of parents which also has an impact on fund raising activities

9. KNOPPIESFONTEIN PRIMARY SCHOOL

This is a school with 143 learners and 5 educators. The learner enrolment has dropped due to the termination of scholar transport from Emaphupheni. The school is built on a privately owned land and the owner has agreed to donate the land to the department. The district is investigating the possibility of merging the school with Ematsheni Primary School with effect from 1 January 2007. Negotiations with stakeholders is underway

9.1 Scholar Transport

The school is utilising Scholar Transport Service. Out of 143 learners, 49 are using subsidized scholar transport, 70 are using own transport and 24 are within walking distance. THE reason for 70 learners using own transport is due to the fact that these learners are travelling from outside the feeder zone because of parental choice.

9.2 National School Nutrition Programme

All 143 learners are on the programme

9.3 Water and Sanitation

The school uses a borehole drawn system which is solely utilised for domestic purpose, that is, consumption, irrigation and cleaning

The school uses a pit toilet system.


9.4 ELSEN

The school is supported through the District School Based Team and ESS psychological service unit

9.5 Governance in the school

A new SGB has been elected and inducted by the district
The challenge is the literacy level in terms of policy development and interpretation

9.5 Programmes on HIV/Aids

The school integrates their programme of HIV/Aids awareness with the community one. The curricular planning and teaching also accommodate HIV/Aids awareness lessons

9.6 School staffing and availability of classes

The school has four classes accommodating Grade R-7. There are five educators. The school practises multi grade teaching. The school has one teacher volunteering his services.

Challenges

Multigrading that result into overcrowding in classes

The toilets, although sufficient for learner population, are not up to the required standards.

G. DEBRIEFING SESSION WITH THE MEC

A meeting was held where the committee discussed the general findings with MEC and her team

FINDINGS:

Exemption policy: The policy in schools is not properly implemented and in some schools it is not implemented at all. It has been noted that the department does not help enough to educate schools about existing policies.

Multi-grading: Most schools visited have multi grade classes which leads to overcrowding and posses challenges in terms of language of instruction

Teacher : Pupil Ratio: The formula used in rural schools for provision of educators should not be the same as in urban schools

Mother toungue should be emphasized in the formative years

Scholar transport: 17 Learners in Mfuleni are no longer attending school because of the route being closed

There are no sport facilities in schools

Quintile ranking: The quintile ranks of schools need to be reviewed. Knoppiesfontein is placed in quintile two whereas it should be on quintile one

Security in schools needs to be beefed up as many cases of burglary have been reported, especially on Gauteng Online laboratories

School Nutrition Programme: The committee feels that all farm and rural schools should benefit from the programme and the process of adopting the Northern Cape model be sped up.

There is poor communication between the districts and schools on policy issues

Illiteracy is very high in farms meaning that the ABET programme needs to be strengthened

Learners do not have essential documentation such birth certificates.

Prostitution very rife among girl learners and there is alos a tendency of male learners not going back to school after they are from the initiation school


RECOMMENDATIONS:

Based on the above findings, the committee recommends the following:


Multi grading to be scrapped off to avoid overcrowding in schools

Implementation of exemption policy should be emphasised

The policy for provisioning of educators to rural and farm schools should be revised

Security in schools needs to be beefed up as many cases of burglary have been reported, especially on Gauteng Online laboratories

Report to be considered.