Report of the Portfolio Committee on Education on Provincial Oversight Visit to schools in Northwest and Limpopo Provinces

A. INTRODUCTION

The Portfolio Committee on Education having undertaken an oversight visit to schools, reports as follows:

As part of its oversight function over schools, the Portfolio Committee took a decision to conduct its visits to the Limpopo and North West Provinces, in 31 July- 4 August 2006.

B. LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

The Portfolio Committee Members divided themselves into two teams of multi party delegations.

The delegation to North West Province led by Prof SM Mayatula (ANC) included Ms PR Mashangoane (ANC), Adv. AD Gaum (ANC) and Mr I Mfundisi. Mr Bhoola (MF) who was part of the delegation did not turn up. The delegation was accompanied by Ms Phumza Mpoyiya Committee Secretary and Ms Nonzwakazi Stemele, Committee Assistant.

In the North West Province the delegation was joined by, the Chairperson of the Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Education, Mr B Mahlangu, together with Committee Members: Mr M R Matlholwa, Ms Mothibi, Ms V Kekesi, and Ms L Molema.

The National Department of Education was represented by, Mr Ncedo Hoyi (Finance), Ms Cynthia Mgijima (NSNP), Ms Marie-Louise Samuels (ECD) and Mr Peter Legong (Governance), the Director-General’s office was represented by Mr S Mlambo and Ms E Sedibe.

The delegation to Limpopo Province led by Mr. B Mthembu ANC (Leader of delegation), included Mr. R Van der Heever (ANC), Mr. G Mosala (ANC), Ms L Maloney (ANC), Mr. G Boinamo (DA). The delegation was accompanied by Ms. N Borotho (as Committee Secretary) and Ms C Adams (Committee Assistant)

In the Limpopo Province the delegation was joined by, the Chairperson of the Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Education, as well as the National Department of Education.

C. TERMS OF REFERENCE

The theme of the committee visit was “Towards the provision of quality education in the second decade of democracy”.

The main purpose of the visit was to assess the extent to which quality education is provided, with specific reference to the following issues:

· Early Childhood Development [ECD];

· National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP);

· Infrastructure development, Education for Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN);

· Whether teachers are properly trained for the new curriculum;

· Provision of human resources at the provincial, district, circuit and school levels;

· Funding, Implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS);

· Implementation of no fee schools, Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET);

· Functioning of School Governing Bodies (SGB);

· Scholar Transport;

· Discipline management, and other issues.

The proposed theme rests firstly, on the assumption that considerable progress has been made during the first decade of democracy to make education accessible to all. Although there are still challenges in achieving 100% universal primary education, we should begin to focus more on the provision of quality education in the second decade. Secondly, the theme rests on the assumption that achieving quality education is a process that needs to be continuously and consciously monitored to determined progress and challenges, hence the expression “Towards the provisioning of quality education”. Thirdly, but also equally important, quality education is determined by numerous variables but there are those inputs that are considered to be critical in the provision of quality education. There is general consensus that the inputs (issues of focus noted above) are critical in the provision of quality education.

The provision of education is based on certain minimum standards and norms set by the Education Department or that are considered to be educational and necessary for quality education.

Therefore in assessing the provision of quality education, the committee used a standard questionnaire, which looked at the various focus areas throughout the schools. In order to get a good sample, the delegation visited a sample of schools covering the different categories, across the respective provinces i.e. ECD, High Schools categorised as Section 21 and section 20, which have best performance and poor performance; the Special Schools; Combined schools and Farm schools.

D. FINDINGS

1. REPORT ON VISIT TO NORTH WEST PROVINCE

The Status report from the Provincial Department covered the following focal areas:

On the 31 July, the Committee received reports on status of schools with reference to the following programmes:

1.1 Early Childhood Development (ECD)

Ms A Pedro and her team led the presentation on brief overview on progress made by the Province in response to legislation.

In order to incorporate grade R into ordinary school, the province used the services of Price Water Coopers to conduct audit on the state of ECD. The consultants were appointed through a Tender Committee and are required to compile a comprehensive report on their findings and further develop an implementation plan for the Province.

1.1.1 The achievements of ECD are as follows:

· A preliminary Audit Report on the state of readiness of Grade R in the province has been presented at the 5^th Steering committee meeting which was held on 14 July 2006

· Relevant stakeholders will prepare recommendations for a workshop scheduled for August 2006 in order to finalise the Audit Report.

· The 0-4 years (EPWP) plan has been approved by the Acting Superintendent General and the Tender Committee.

· The Acting-Superintendent- General has approved the budget for employment of 28 staff component for the Directorate.

· The 330 Practitioners & 300 Caregivers will receive training NQF level 4 qualifications, from the Orbit FET College (service provider) and the Vuselela College.

1.1.2 The noted challenges however for ECD, were the lack of capacity and in ability to meet tight timeframes.

1.2 Implementation of New Curriculum Strategy (NCS) State of Readiness

This presentation was led by Mr Reichel, Mr Phillipose together with his team.

The report focused on brief background on orientation provided for Provincial Training Team (PCTT) as well as monitoring mechanisms.

The provincial Department has plans to offer further training for educators on the new content in the new financial year. In order to sustain support there will be subject specialists within the regions to provide continuous support to teachers through the professional support forums (PSF).

1.2.1 Challenges

· Non appointment of curriculum Coordinators for crucial subjects such as Mathematics/Maths. Literacy, Information Technology, Services and African Languages.

· GET has only 3 out of 12 posts. As a result FET personnel are assisting them. This causes an over load on them. They are unable to meet their own responsibilities.

· In the regions there is no separation of GET and FET for most subjects. Some subject specialists cater for grade 4 to 12.

· Budget allocated to FET is exhausted now. As a result planned programmes cannot be done.

· There is an outcry of transport problems in the regions.

· 75% of the posts are vacant.

· Principals refuse to release teachers for training.

The committee expressed serious concern about the excessive amount of R1, 7 million used to provide meals for the educators during training. While R 200 000 was used for distribution materials. The total cost of the training could not be confirmed as educators still have to submit claims for their transport costs to attend the workshops.

1.3 Adult Basic Education and Training

Ms Mekgwe gave an overview and reference to the provisional vision for 2007/08.

The ABET has been established with clear links with the training objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). It serves as a complete establishment and with a structure and adequate budget to effect the “T” i.e. training part in ABET
which provides viable skills in Public Adult Learning Centres. Adult Basic Education & Training seeks to improve literacy and reduce illiteracy in the province. It has to further provide for satisfactory conditions of Service for Educators and ensure stability with a stable cadre of ABET qualified Educators (through Learnerships etc.)

1.3.1 Achievements

The province, currently has 240 established Public Adult Learning Centres, with 2050 Educators who facilitate training to 24 892 learners in formal ABET programmes. The
programmes are run in collaboration with host schools, through partnerships with other Government Departments and NGOs.

The Department has a complete Directorate, responsible for offering skills programmes in Centres of Excellence. The Directorate has 200 volunteer Facilitators, who offer 200 Literacy units. The facilitators are paid a stipend on a monthly basis as part of poverty alleviation and contribution to reduction of unemployment. So far the skills programmes have established 21 Centres of Excellence to improve delivery of Adult Basic Education.

1.3.2 Success Indicators

Despite the above circumstances, the Directorate has been successful in providing skills training and development for rural and community development projects. The Department has been successful in offering learnership in bricklaying, plumbing and carpentry through the Expanded Public Works Programme

1.3.4 Poverty Alleviation and unemployment reduction

The Department in collaboration with the Provincial Youth Commission and the ETDP-SETA, as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme for poverty alleviation will offer training to 150 unemployed matriculants who are in rural areas through learnership.

1.3.5 The noted challenges were the high turnover of Educators, due to unclear conditions of service and this makes the structure incomplete and unable to function effectively.

1.4 Life skills and HIV/AIDS Programme

Mr Eric Ganz, Provincial Co-ordinator for Life Skills and HIV/AIDS, gave an overview of the Department programme, highlighting the mission, vision and strategies employed by the Department in implementing the programme.

1.4.1 The challenges for the HIV/AIDS programme were noted as follows:

HIV/AIDS Co-ordinators are stationed at Regional Offices as part of Inclusive Education Programme. However it is difficult to coordinate the programme at District Level, due to shortage of staff at strategic levels.

1.5 Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS)

Ms D Mohube led a brief report on progress made on implementation processes of IQMS.

1.5.1 The challenges for IQMS were noted as follows:

In small schools specifically in some rural and farm schools, the multi-grade classes still pose a serious challenge with regard to the first four Performance Standards – Lesson Observation.
For Educators who teach more than one learning subject there is no clarity on which score to appear on the score sheet, especially during Summative Evaluation.
The shortage of educators for technical subjects, pose a serious challenge with regard to establishment of DSG.
In cases where there is a vacancy for a Principal, it becomes a challenge to conduct an evaluation when the post has not been filled.
There is concern that the Development Support Groups (DSGs) allocate high marks for the educators, and this creates an impression that further development is not necessary for educators.
There is concern that the high scores do not correlate with the overall performance of the school.
The Internal support structures in Regions are not adequate to deal with moderation of the scores of educators.
Capturing of the date after completion of appraisal – PGPs and Scores to develop educators’ profiles – establishment of an integrated education human resource management information systems can assist.
The end of the cycle, as the collective agreement dictates, coincides with the hectic time of examinations at the end of the year.
The province is one year behind with the process; fast-tracking the Summative Evaluation for 2006, for payment July 2007 is recommended.

1.6 National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

The National School Nutrition Programme has walked a long journey since its transfer based on the Cabinet Resolution of 18 September 2002; the Department of Education has the mandate to manage the National School Nutrition Programme, with effect from 01 April 2004. To date the Department has registered tremendous progress in terms of its mandate to deliver 100% of nutritionally balanced meals in all the targeted schools. It also experienced both external and internal challenges that affected the implementation of the mandate.

The success of the programme was attributed to the memorandum of cooperation between the MEC, Rev. OJ Tselapedi and Mr Mayisela MEC for Health.

1.6.1 The following successes of the NSN Programme were highlighted:

At the beginning of the programme, only grade 0-4 and 1-5 benefited from the scheme in a school, and we were only feeding for four days. From the beginning of the year, January 2006, all the learners in the targeted schools benefited from the programme i.e. from grade 0-7. The number of learners has increased from 380 385 to 488 654 in five regions (Province).

Through this programme (NSNP), we have created employment opportunities for 4720 women to feed (cook) for our learners at the respective schools. They were contracted through a tendering process.

Also, 35 youth have been employed on contract through the Learnership programme as Administrative assistants, to facilitate payment of service providers. The duration of these contracts depends on the availability of funds. The contract is one financial year (expires on the 31 March 2006/7).

In order to sustain the food production, an Assistant Director has been appointed to manage this programme in the Province.

A team has been established and consists of two selected officials from the regions, who consistently ensure that the programme is rolled out smoothly in all the participating schools. In terms of training, 179 educators have been capacitated on orange flashed sweet potato production and 210 schools received sweet potato cuttings for planting. Further 11 capacity building training workshops have been held for 257 schools, where in 26 government officials, 800 educators and 75 parents received training.

In terms of nutrition, at a strategic level the departments of Education and of health have developed a guide document on mandatory NSNP menu options and a rigorous quality assurance process for food products (industrial foods) intended for the use of NSNP. The latter control measure was necessitated by the proliferation of instant foods in the menus. However, health and hygiene at food preparation points are yet to be addressed through training. The department of education has capacitated fifteen (APO officials) monitors as master trainers to train groups of service providers/ groups of food handlers, starting in nodal regions. After the initial training of master trainers, the role of the department of education will be that of mentoring and quality assurance.

1.6.2 Challenges

With regard to feeding of learners

Initially schools in the programme were 1465, the latest statistics as per regional audit is 1394 this decline in figures can be attributed to various factors:- Some schools have merged; others have closed down; and others schools have been upgraded to high schools
Previously feeding was from the first five grades (grade 0-4 or grade 1-5) and targeted learners were 380 385 when eating utensils were budgeted for. This resulted in shortages of the utensils when all grades in primary schools were fed from January 2006. The number of learners increased from 380 385 to 488 654.
Learners from the same household at different levels (intermediate and the GET phase) do not all have access to the scheme, despite being needy from the same economic background.
Registered ECD centers are not clearly identified; we do not have reliable data. In terms of the cabinet memorandum, they must be included in the programme.
Farm schools with low enrolment often do not access this benefit because of minimal profit from the tender that does not entice prospective Service Providers
Unreliable learner statistics from schools
Payment problems are experienced in some schools due to incorrect filling of data by the Service Providers
Soliciting support from the communities to combat corruption, such as fronting, fraud and compliancy.
Employment of dieticians has not been effected.
Employment of an environmental official has not been effected.
Employment of a school nurse has not been effected.
Minimal monitoring and support at the regional and APO levels because of lack of transport. Although at corporate office transport is available, monitoring and support is minimal as administrative duties keep officials in most instances in office.

With regard to sustainable food product

· There is a need for permanent staff or officials to manage and monitor the programme in the regions.

· Unavailability of basic resources, fencing and garden implements in schools poses a serious problem in the implementation of the programme

· Minimal budget

· Lack of water in most schools

1.7 Chief Directorate Auxiliary Services: Report on Infrastructure Development Programmes

The Chief Directorate- Auxiliary Services, Mr Murugas and his team gave an overview covering performance and achievements for 2005 as response to schools infrastructure needs in the province.

1.7.1 Success and progress on Projects

It was reported that 13 new school projects have been completed, which included water supply, sanitation, fencing, alternative accommodation and office space for regional offices. Further other 13 new projects with the Department of Public Works have been completed.

In terms of 2006/07 infrastructure programme, the Directorate has projects for the Department, which include 19 new schools to be built this year. It is expected that 18 of them will be finalised by October this year. One school has a site problem and this is being attended to by the local municipality. The Department in partnership with business is involved in building of new schools i.e 2 with Vodacom and 1 with Impala Mines (1 school). It is hoped that these will be finalised by end of the year.

Other projects included water supply, fencing, sanitation, storm drainage and mobile classrooms. These will focus on 22 schools in the Bophirima Region, which was affected by floods. Lastly the Education Department and Public Works Department have further identified 36 other schools for minor and major renovations.

1.7.2 The following were identified as challenges

The National Treasury through the IDIP programme had committed to assist the Department in order to deliver projects on time. The concern of the Directorate is that, some communities tend to reject Contractors from outside their area and this has negative impact on completion of the project. While some BEE Contractors are experiencing cash flow problems and this causes further delays. The budget allocated to the Directorate Physical Resources Planning and Facilities Management has a shortfall of R297million for 2006/07. A request for additional funding has been submitted to Treasury. Further, the Directorate does not have works inspectors and physical planners, vacancies need to be filled.

The Directorate is under pressure in filling vacant posts as there is more work to be done. There is serious shortage of Inspectors and physical planners. This makes it difficult for sites to be visited timeously to make sure that sure that there is service delivery. Further there is a shortage of certain building materials e.g. Corrugated Irons, Window Frames and Door frames. It was also reported that some of the BEE Contractors are experiencing cash flow problems and this contributes to further delays.

The committee expressed concern that the report provided was too general. A request was made, that in order for the Committee to get better understanding of the challenges, the Directorate should provide submit to the committee a progress report on their projects per district with their budgets and challenges thereof.

1.8 Human Resource Management & Development Chief Directorate [HRM&D]

Mr Malaka and his team gave a brief structural overview of the Directorate and reflected on objectives of the programme as well as on relevant legislations.

1.8.1 Projects and achievements

In terms of the Provincial Growth & Development Strategy, the Directorate has done the following:

a) Signing of PELRC Collective Agreement No.1 of 2006 dealing with permanent appointment of temporary educators: Job Creation.

b) Skills Development programmes are implemented (5 Learnerships programmes are currently implemented).

c) In All 799 educators in excess in the entire province, are redeployed, only 12 remain in addition but are to be redeployed by the end of the 3rd quarter.

d) Functional analysis of the organogram & development of staffing norms is to be implemented; a tender advertisement was published to secure a service provider for the project.

1.8.2 Challenges for the Directorate were indicated as follows

The biggest problem for the province are financial constraints, the budget of R 38 million is not enough for the directorate to respond to its objectives. There are 21 IQMS posts available, but it is not possible to fill them, because the budget has not been received from the National Department.

The Directorate needs to develop staffing norms so as to be able to assess the impact of jobs performed in the office. A service provider still needs to make final findings and advise the department accordingly. Another is the serious shortage of graduates with degree who have practical experiences. These people need to be retrained. The organogram was approved in 2004, but no budget has been set aside, hence it is still difficult to implement policies.

Further in terms of implementation of IQMS policies, the Department is experiencing some challenges, as there are issues of concern that need to be ratified with the Teacher Unions across the country.

1.9 Special Schools and Inclusive Education

Ms Z. Sprang led the presentation gave a brief overview of the delivery mechanisms of the Directorate.

1.9.1 Achievements were noted as follows:

• Constructions are underway for a new Special School for the Blind and partially sighted learners.

• The directorate has submitted proposals for establishment of a CYC Centre for boys to cater for approx 85 learners designated by court order. The school will be established in 2007.

• The proposal submitted for Resource Centre for FET sector for learners who are sensory disabled was approved. The school will be established in 2007.

1.9.2 The following challenges were highlighted:

• The non-filling of specialist support staff posts at special schools, e.g. Therapist/Psychologist posts is hampering the addressing of severe barriers to learning experienced by learners.

• In ability to fill non-teaching staff posts at special schools.

• Severe infrastructural backlogs at special schools.

• Special schools to be fully included in all professional support services (with specific reference to curriculum support) provided to all learning institutions at regional, APO and cluster level. The revision and reformulation of the education budget to meet the needs of an IE system.

• Transport problems experienced by both learners and special schools.

• Equipment / Assistive devices and Material resources backlogs

• Expanding access and provision to accommodate the large number of out-of-school disabled children.

3. COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS

1. BOPHIRIMA REGION: VRYBURG AREA

3.1.1 The worst performing school: Huhudi High School

The Principal of this school was not able to confirm the actual budget of the school. The Department has not been able to transfer the funding on time and this impacted negatively on the electricity and water supply, as these could not be paid on time and remained overdue. The school only received their budget late in 2005 and this impacted on them being able to pay electricity account. As a result of non-payment the school services were over due, they operated without electricity for most of 2005.

It was also explained that the school was categorised as a quintile 5, and this implied that it did not qualify for funding. In the previous three years however, the school has been allocated a budget of less than R 20 000.

It is not possible for the school to attend to its problem s due to lack of funds. The classrooms do not have electricity, because many of the plugs are not working. Though the Department of Public Works has been contacted timeously, they have not been able to be of assistance to the school. Since 2004, the Department of Public Works could not attend to the school’s infrastructure problems because they are required to provide their own materials.

Another infrastructure problem is the drainage system. The school has opted to use pit latrine toilets for learners because they could not afford R 20, 000 required to fix the system. It was reported that these problems are brought to the Department of Education each year, but no assistance is forth coming.

It is not easy for the school to operate as many of the parents are not able to pay for the school fees. It is estimated that about 60% of the learners do not pay school fees and many who have left the school back in 2002 still have outstanding accounts. This is because many of the parents are not employed.

The school had serious discipline problems with many learners involved in drug and alcohol abuse. There is a high pregnancy rate among girl learners. Educators are not respected as learners ignore the formal discipline measures used for those who misbehave. The school management has tried to bring in motivational speakers to address the learners, but this still remains a challenge. It seems the management has lost control of the school.

Given that only one out of fifty two Grade 12 learners passed the June examinations, it is unlikely that the end of the year results will improve unless drastic measures are take.

The following were considered as the contributing factors:

a) A total of 7 educators have left the school in 2005.

b) The school operated without electricity and for the whole year in 2005.

c) In April 2005, the Principal was sued fro R 150 000 by two educators within the school. The case was finalised in February 2006. This had negative impact on the teacher morale. The principal was however discharged early in 2006.

d) The school did not have water supply and learners had to use pit latrine.

e) The school did not receive learner materials for 2005, only one text book received for use by the educator. This year, learners share text books.

f) In preparation for matric exams, only 4% of learners attended the vacation classes.

g) No learner transport for learners staying over five kilometres.

h) Have not yet received budget for 2006.

3.1.2 Bopaganang High School

The performance of this school has been fluctuating over the years. In terms of classification, the school is categorised as quintile 4, yet there are seven schools within the same vicinity which are classified differently. It was reported that 90% of the learners are from poor families and are unable to afford the school fees of R 110 per month. On this matter, the Circuit manger, who was part of the meeting, reported that a meeting has been arranged to revise the quintile system. It will be proposed that the school be classified as quintile 2.

The teacher pupil ratio is 1:29, yet there class sizes range from 35 and up to 50 learners. The school does not have a learner transport, yet there are more than 60 learners staying 20 km away from the school. These learners come to school by public transport and no high school available within their vicinity. There are also learners from Dithakwaneng High Schoool near Kuruman. A request for scholar transport has been submitted to the Provincial Department of Education.

The school and those around have a general problem of discipline about the learners. Al the mechanisms are followed, but those do not seem to work. The teachers believe that even though they give detention to learners, they (learners do not see it important to be at school on time. It was reported that, they had recently visited the school to motivate learners, the teachers do not think that learners take lessons form these either.

In terms of parental involvement on school matters the school has a serious problem because parents do not attend meetings. The school never had more than less than 100 parents in a given meeting. For election of the SGB, only 9 parents attended and these were appointed as members of the School Governing Body. As a result some of the educators have given up on trying instilling discipline as this has negative impact on the learners’ performance. It is believed that there is lack of parental control because some of these learners are not supervised by their parents.

Even though the educators did not confirm this matter, the delegation learnt that the school has a high pregnancy rate. It was in the previous week before the visits, a grade 12 leaner gave birth within the school premises.

Concerning, text books, the problem is shortage of text books, 68 grade 12 learners do not Julius Caesar and the school does not have money to buy these for learners. The challenge is that the past learners do not return the text book the following year. Some are borrowed for supplementary exams. Also for grade 9 learners a request for 360 learners was submitted and the Department only provided for half of those. The challenge is that the school has not been able to replace them. The delegation stated that the school needs to improve the retrieval system need to be improved in order for learners to return the books on time.

Regarding, inclusive education, the Bopaganag High School, tries to accommodate learners who are slow learners. The relevant school is in Klerksdorp and it is the only school in the province. It was reported that this school is due to be closed. Those parents who are unable to afford, their learners have to remain at home.

The school was advised to report to the department such cases.

The Delegation appealed to the educators to remain dedicated to their work given their working conditions. It was stated that educators have to continuously look for solutions to improve the school. The delegation further emphasised that introspection is need to be done by the educators for learners to understand the benefits of education.

The school expressed concern about the delays in the salary advices, these are not received timeously. It was reported that the salary advises for March this year were only received on 1 August 2006.

3.1.3 Mochware Primary School

This is school has an old building, which is poorly serviced, with two additional in additional to existing structure. The educators have one small room which was also converted to a computer room. The school is part of the nutrition programme with parents providing meals for the learners at stipulated times. They are supervised by the educators. The delegation was shown the new feeding utilities supplied by the Department. In order to sustain the programme, there is a school garden which is facilitated by the educators.

The school has not received their allocation and this could not be confirmed. The Deputy Principal reported on a number of shortages which impact on the conditions of the school. There is serious need for eight classrooms, of which two will be required for grade R learners. The school does not have a laboratory. There is no school library the text books are placed a storage room with the cooking utilities. The school has no Sports facilities. In addition the school needs an administration block, which will cater for toilets for learners and educators; a sick room; and also offices for the Principal, his Deputy, the Clerk Office; Principal’s office, the staff room as well as the Heads of the Departments.

The delegation noted that the school has one computer but is not linked to the Department’s system and that the school was advised to submit their needs through to the Department.

2. BOJANALA WEST REGION: RUSTENBURG AREA

3. 2 .1 Model C school: Bergsig Hoer Skool

The Bergsig High School is a well resourced, charges school fees at R395 per month. As reflected in the tabular report on schools above, the teachers are all white and of the 858 learners, only 25 are coloureds. The language of instruction is only Afrikaans. The school has taken a positive decision of starting dual medium classes. Unfortunately, the idea is to house the English medium classes in a separate section, away from the main stream classes. The Committee advised strongly against this move, recommending that the different medium classes must be located together.

The delegation expressed concern was raised about the policies of the school which seem to promote discrimination. The school policies are based on the assumption that those learners who may want to come to the school are those who speak English & Afrikaans. This view for the delegation result in more challenges once the school begins the transformation process. It seems the school has set polices which may not be changed.

The delegation noted school’s policy of excluding learners of different religious background. This shows the school is aware of the different religious groups in the society. However, concern was raised that in the process of making the school more inclusive, the school should rather play a role of brining more learners instead of considering previous achievements when considering learners for the school.

The delegation therefore recommended that the school should deal with the matter differently as this is not helping in promoting tolerance of different cultures and religious background.

In general the committee encouraged the school in the move it has taken to transform the school.

3. 2.2 Moedswil Comprehensive Farm School

This is a school project born of the merger of eleven farm schools around Moedswil into one comprehensive school with boarding facilities. The aim is to maximise accessibility of quality education to farm children. There are currently 38 educators as well as 20 other staff members.

It was noted that the school does not turn away learners and they continue take learners throughout the year. This has resulted in increasing numbers. In terms of language, all learners in grade 4 are taught in English, mother tongue is however used, for further explanations. The teachers are prepared to give full support to learners.

In terms of infrastructure the school has all the resources. The challenge however that is the cost of electricity is too high. Water is resourced from boreholes, with the renovations taking place, additional sources of water will be needed.

The Department does not offer learner transport, instead, learners are transported to school through local transport organised by the school.

The school has identified challenges, as follows:

· The No fee schools system policy does not allow schools to request for donations from parents. The school would like parents to make small contributions.

· The Department of Transport is reneging in its duty to provide scholar transport for those learners not staying in hostel.

· Need for proper facilities to integrate grade R learners for the coming year.

· The social, cultural and other implications of young children staying in hostels away from parental care.

3. 2. 3 Bafokeng High School

The focus of the Principal’s presentation was on a brief overview on the mechanisms used by the school to improve the performance of the school.

Learner support

In terns of learner support, this school has challenges with those learners that stay with grandparents. As way of addressing this, the school has introduced a mentorship system for these learners and the results are good. The school had a history of drug & alcohol abuse, which impacted negatively on the performance of learners: In order to address the challenge of drug and alcohol abuse. The management introduced a policy of keeping the school yard closed at all times. The success in turning the bad situation around is attributed to the role played by the Queen Mother and support received from the department and the dedication of educators in improving and maintains good performance.

General observations

The delegation was impressed with the dedication of the school management system in maintaining a strong relationship and ensuring commitment by parents and the learners in the education. This has positive effects on the behaviour and motivation of learners. The committee expressed great satisfaction in the dedication shown by the educators and management of the school.

The committee recommended that the Principal should share experiences with the Huhudi High School (the worst performing school). Both schools seem to have similar challenges and yet Bafokeng High has succeeded in turning the situation in favour of the learners and maintained a good image of the school.

3. SOUTHERN REGION: POTCHEFSTROOM AREA

3. 3. 1 Potchestroom Technical High School

The general observation was that the school is operating well and the educators have been able to deal with issues of discipline and retrieval of text books. As a quintile 5 school, it was noted that, 50% of the learners are unable to pay for the required school fees and only 30% of them are exempted from paying school fees. The school has a problem of dealing with huge electricity bill, which amounts to R80 00 per month. This is because much of it is consumed in the workshops.

The challenges are that, the Technical Courses need to be retained within the FET colleges’ band. There was concern that grade 10 learners, who do mechanical, will not benefit form the current curriculum.

The delegation expressed concern by not converting into FET Colleges, many of the opportunities that could benefit learners will be lost and the Technical Schools may have to close down. The delegation could not understand why the learners were charged and additional R 500 as a deposit to replace warn-out books.

The main challenge for the school was that the curriculum has changed to such an extent that many areas are left out. Five of the eight workshops are not used. This is considered as waste of resources.

3. 3.2 Ikalafeng (ELSEN) School

The school has had a vacancy for an occupational therapist since January 2006 as a result of a resignation in November 2005. Though this position plays a central role in stimulating learners and also plays an important role for special needs, it has not yet been filled.

The department also deployed two educators to fill the post in the school left vacant through the resignation of one and transfer of the other. Both new recruits felt uncomfortable with the environment and left.

Challenges

· The SGB is not involved in the appointment of educators.

· The school identified a suitable candidate for the position of an occupational therapist but the Department has not yet processed the application.

· RNCS is above the mental abilities of ELSEN learners.

· The LTSM supplied to the school is higher than the capacity of the learners.

· There is a need to accommodate the five year old learners in the school.

· There are disabled learners in the community who cannot attend because they cannot afford transport.

· Electricity transformer needs to be upgraded.

· The school needs a stand–by electric engine, for emergency cases.

· The school has a shortage of six classrooms.

· There are members of the support staff with long services but who are still casual.

3.3.3 Potchefstroom Gyamnasium

This is one of the well resourced schools, with proper facilities. The school fees cost R 4 200 and hostel accommodation at R 6 200 per annum. The accommodation policy does not accept learners from outside of the North West Province. In terms of accommodation, preference is given to those whose are from the Potcefstroom area. The delegation considered the practise to be discriminatory against the citizens of this country. The school management proposed that both the principal and the subject advisors should be involved in the IQMS. They believe that this would make the process more objective.

In this school all the educators are white and the delegation expressed concern that no attempt has been made to get black educators even though 60 of the learners are black.

4. CENTRAL REGION: MAFIKENG AREA

3.4.1 Onkgopotse Tiro Comprehensive School

This is a comprehensive school which integrates 15 farm schools, which started operating in 2005; it caters for grades 1-11 learners from the surrounding community. The school has submitted a proposal to include grade R within the premises, but does not have necessary infrastructure. The school was advised to consider plans of including grade R in line with the national policy.

In terms of inclusive education, it was noted that the school have learners who use crutches. The teachers however, could not confirm about learners with hearing or sight disabilities. The school was advised to make means of checking learners who might have disabilities and are not able to attend school.

Onkgopotse Tiro Comprehensive School is not part of the National School Nutrition Programme, because the learners are catered for through hostel system. The day learners are fed twice per day, while those in hostel receive meals four times per day.

The noted challenge for the school is that the level of education of learners does not match up with the required level of education. The school accepts learners with poor performance e.g. grade 7 learners have level 4of education. This makes it difficult to proceed with teaching. The delegation welcomes the dedication of the educators in addressing this matter. In order to improve performance for those in grades 10 & 11, the school provides extra morning and afternoon classes. The school has 22 classrooms and will need 4 extra classes in preparation for grade 12 for the coming year.

3.4.2 Montshioa Community Creche

This is a community Centre, which looks after 42 learners, out of which 20 are in grade R. These learners are supposed to qualify for subsidies from the Department of Education. The delegation noted that the centre does not have mechanisms to link the grade R learners with the neighbouring primary schools.

It was noted that the ECD educators receive training through an NGO on teaching methods as part of teacher development.

The National Department explained that, in terms of funding, the centres received conditional grant until 2004. It was found that some of the centres were not effectively audited and supervised. In order to address this concern, the services of Price Water Cooper to conduct an audit for all the education centres. A full report will be published in November. It is hoped that it will assist the Department in giving direction on how to deal with the centre.

Further considerations are underway to have clear roles and responsibilities of the respective departments i.e. Education, Social development & of Health. It was further explained to the delegation that the Community Education Centres are not registered, with the South African Schools Act. The educators are under social Development. This matter need to be clarified, because the Department of Social Development employs educators at a different level from Department of Education.

4. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

The original plan was to have a briefing session with the MEC and the top management; unfortunately, the delegation had to leave earlier to catch flight. The delegation met with the Acting Director General and some of the District Managers and gave an overall report on its visit. The purpose of this was to provide the provincial department a reflection on the findings of the committee and responses thereof:

The delegation reported on the noted observations:

4.1 School Governing Bodies

A significant majority of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) is not functional. In general, there is an absence of programmes at schools for broadening parents’ knowledge on educational matters and how to support their children meaningfully. The utilisation of SGB sub-committees is rated ineffective in the majority of schools.

4.2 Text books

There is general shortage of books in most schools because either they arrive late or learners do not return them the following year. The top- up system is not functioning properly because, the books are received in small portions and also the size of learners always fluctuates not easy to confirm numbers. The committee recommends that the retrieval system needs to be improved so that books can be returned on time. The school officials must monitor the availability of LTSM in the schools and report to the relevant authorities.

4.3 Schools Governance

There is a common trend that for the poor schools, funds are not transferred timeously. At Bergsig High School, the transformation process is noted. The Committee has observed that the white schools need to be constantly made aware of the possible ways of transformation. It seems that they focus on systems that maintain separate but equal. It has been noted that some of the poor school are not able to manage their budgets.

The cost of the electricity is cause for great concern, most of the school visited have huge budgets paid on electricity account.

The committee is concerned about the Integrated Farm Schools who provide hostel accommodation for 6 years old learners. The delegation however, could not compare the living conditions of these learners at hostels to their actual homes. There was general feeling that maybe the project could be extended to other provinces.

The gardening programme at Mochwari Primary School was noted. The overview is that all the schools were clean and they need to be encouraged to develop their own flags.

Regarding LSEN, the Department has not given much attention to this programme in the schools.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

There is general concern about the categorisation of schools into the quintile system, which impact on their funding. These matters should be brought to the attention of the MEC, for example Huhudi Schol, where 60% of the learners are unable to pay school fees is classified as quintile 5.

It was further recommended that the Department of Education need to have a person linked to the Department of Public Works, whose sole responsibility would be to see that infrastructure maters are being address quickly.

The committee noted with concern the lack of electricity in the classrooms while the administration block was fully electrified at Huhudi High School.

The delegation observed that issues of governance in this school are attended to by the School Management and that school governing body does not seem to be functioning effectively.

It was recommended that since as a community school, Huhudi High should establish close relations with the Ward Councillors in the area. The school needs to find ways of sustaining itself and take responsibility in ensuring that damage does not recur within the premises. In general the committee feels that it could not get true responses from the school management. It is recommended that the Region should visit and attend to real concerns. It was agreed that the Provincial Committee on Education should monitor the schools

In terms of the National School Nutrition Programme, it was reported and observed that all schools have received cooking utensils. The concern of the delegation however, was that there are farm schools which do not benefit: due to low number of learners in the school. It is recommended that in such cases, the Department should liaise with the relevant farmer for assistance to ensure that the learners are being fed. It was also noted that the greenery programme is not operating in the North West province, but is in place in Northern Cape. The provincial Department was advised to follow this mater up.

Concerning Ikalafeng School, the delegation noted that it does not have an exemption system, it uses its own discretion on who is to pay or not. .It is recommended that the school should develop a normal format, which exempts learners from paying school fees. As a special school, no fees should be paid by the learners, this matter should be considered by the MEC.

The school requires appropriate reading materials and the Department do not make these available. The committee has suggested that the school should develop mechanisms to request for relevant learning materials, suitable to the needs of the special schools. For a request for 2007, it was suggested that the school should send someone to the region to assist the school in identifying relevant materials.

The Ikalafeng School does not have grade R and is aware of about 10 learners within the area who receive support outside of the school. The committee stated that the school should make the department aware of the need for learners below 5 in 0-4 age band.

The committee was disturbed to hear that about 100 learners from Ikalafeng School use public transport to attend school. There is no scholar transport, some of the learners travel for 1 hour to school. The school has submitted the request for school transport to the Department; this has not yet been responded to.

At Bopaganang High School, the school has learners travelling for more than 40km away from school without learner transport. The Department needs to address this matter urgently.

The delegation, further recommends that this matter should be addressed by the MEC as it is the competency of the Department of Transport to provide scholar transport.

The Ikalafeng School receives food supply from Woolworths Stores. The school was advised to contact the Department in order for their menus to be evaluated.

The status of the Technical Schools needs to be attended to. The N- level courses offered in the schools have been phased out. The Technical School has an option to either become a general or FET School. The delegation recommends that Technical Forum (wherein 27 technical High Schools in the Province) should develop model to phase out the old system. The delegation noted that the legislation will have to be amended given that the Technical High School are governed by the SA School Act, while FET Colleges by FET Colleges Bill.

Concerning ECD Centre, the committee recommends that the Department should begin with the training process of grade R educators. They also have to be properly qualified to give training syllabus for educators. The Grade R educators the Centre should be registered with the South Africa Council of Educators in order for them to receive training benefits. Also in order for the grade R learners to benefit from the system, the Post-Provisioning Mechanism should be revised. Further, the province should implement the EPWP, in order to assist with the needs of grade R learners. Also the Chief Director should finalise the needs of ECD in line with the plans of the National Department.

The funding norms for grade R learners are different from those governing primary schools. This was noted as serious challenge because; the minimum requirement for grade R educators is equivalent to a level 4 qualification.

6. REPORT ON VISIT TO LIMPOPO PROVINCE

The Status report from the Provincial Department covered the following focal

areas:

6.1 Meeting with the Provincial Senior Management Team

The delegation met with the provincial department officials to determine education issues so that the delegation should be aware of exactly where the delegation needs to thread during the visit. The delegation sketched the objectives of the visit. Dr Nkadimeng, Acting HOD, apologized on behalf of the MEC who was attending the Language Conference in Cape Town.

The focus of the Department was on transformation of the department culture, organization, human resources, financial education system and philosophy. In the briefing, the delegation learnt that the department consists of head office, five districts and one hundred forty four circuits. The Provincial head office is mainly responsibly for policy co-ordination and analysis, monitoring of policy implementation and strategic management whereas district are responsible for policy interpretation and implementation.

6.1.1 Provision of Human Resources at District; Circuit and School levels

Re-structuring of the organizational structure

The organizational structures for Provincial, District and Circuit Offices were approved. The Job evaluation of all SMS posts has been finalized and the costing of the structure is accordance with the new grading levels.

The following were highlighted as challenges need to finalise job evaluation on the remaining posts on Levels 1 to 12. Need for budget to fund the implementation of the structure.

In order for authority to expedite service delivery, the HR delegations in both sectors education and public servants have been set in place.

Challenges

Capacitating managers to enable them to exercise the delegated powers.
Lack of staff in some critical posts militates against delegation.
Absence of human resource system

6.1.2 Provisioning of educators posts in line with the regulation

It was reported that the post establishments were issued in 2005 and were retained in 2006. All absorptions were completed at promotional post level only. The vacancies were advertised and filled as follows for Principals = 99 advertised, 76 filled. Deputy Principals = 511 advertised, 391 filled, HOD’s = 3 836 advertised, 3 268 filled. Of the 6 761 temporary educators have been absorbed permanently and there are still 1 890 vacancies.

Challenges

There is noted inaccuracy in statistical figures which precludes effective planning.

Implementing the Strategy to release funds tied up to institution-based educators in order to fund managerial and support posts in administration.

6.1.3 Curriculum for FET Colleges

There are 7 FET Colleges in 18 sites established and registered with 21 745 learners. The recapitalization programme for the colleges has been started, encompassing, development of relevant and responsive learning programmes as well as refurbishment of college infrastructure.

Challenges

Inadequate personnel to implement the recapitalization programme.
Lack of capacity to implement the new training programme, as most of the educators are under-qualified.
Inadequate capacity by colleges to manage the recapitalization funds.
Lack of a fully functional information management system.
Lack of funds.

6.1.4 Early Children Development

There are 99 044 learners enrolled in public primary schools in Grade R; while another 30 500 learners is enrolled in community ECD sites.

The noted challenge however is drop in the enrolments of Grade R learners in public ordinary school.

Concerning the National Curriculum Strategy (NCS), 7000 educators for grades 7 to 12 have been trained. The challenge however is inability to fill posts for Curriculum Advisors.

6.1.5 National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

The programme benefits 2 772 schools covering 1 140 521 learners (grade R-7) at a cost of R1, 10 per learner per day is R1, 10.The programme assist volunteers who are paid R1 00 per month. It uses services of 144 service providers engaged in the delivery of this programme.

Challenges

Shortage of water in many schools.
Farm school in game reserves cannot have gardening due to pests and insects.
Community participation in the programme not effective.
Lack of food storage at schools.
Involvement of local communities as suppliers and cook.

6.1.6 No Fee Schools

The province has only quintiles 1 and 2 schools that have been declared as follows: Q1=1268 schools and Q2=1042. Total=2310 schools.

The noted challenges for no fee schools were as follows

Learners were not given R703 per learner according to the national target
Learners have already paid school fees.
Disputes in the determination of the No fee schools.
Minimum threshold (R527) preferred due to affordability

6.1.7 Scholar Transport

There are only two districts that are benefiting from this programme i.e Waterberg and Mopani Districts. There are 16 transport providers involved, benefiting 3229 learners i.e. 2496 in Waterberg 733 in Mopani, with 10 providers in Waterberg 10 and 6 in Mopani.

Challenges

To increase the coverage of this programme to all districts
Increase the number of school in the programme
Locate the programme in one programme
To research the actual number of learners to benefit from scholar transport
Learners moving from schools near their home to far schools which are performing better.

6.1.8 Infrastructure Development

The mobile classrooms are utilized for over crowded schools and after these are transferred to other over crowded schools.

6.1. 9 In terms of the Life Skills, 690 educators were trained on HIV /AIDS programmes. The noted challenges are: shortage of staff to do training and monitor the program. Also only one progamme running and districts are not covered.

6.1.10 The District office support in schools

It was reported that Districts are supposed to visit every school at least twice per year. The District Officers have been seconded to act as circuit managers. The challenge however is that some Circuit Managers have to manage more than one District.

6.1. 11 Provincial Budget

The Department had overspent its budget of 90%. The challenges are that the department has been using a wrong formula. The overflow of educators also impacted in overspending. Also most educators are not qualified to educate mathematics and sciences.

The following issues were explained

The department explained that the issue of school under the tree had been resolved and there was no school under the trees.
The educators had been paid, permanent educators were paid on the 27^th and others were going to be paid on the 31^st.
There were 25 special schools with 6657 learners.
Yes, the department had the largest number of ghost educators and it was working in co-operation with the department of treasury to deal with the matter.
The service providers’ contract for nutrition food ends in February 2007. The department plans was to utilize parents as volunteers in feeding the learners. The parents would be given proper catering training.
The circuit managers was supposed to conduct two visits per week but every school is visited at least twice per year, because some circuit managers have to manager two circuits (at least twice per year sounds rather too low)
The department managed to enrol 30 500 learners in community ECD sites.
Lack of FET trainers was caused by lack of capacity to implement the new training programme, as most of the educators are under-qualified.
The department does call for people on the ground with expertise but some of them are old and don’t respond.

7. Report on meeting with representatives of the organized teacher formations

The delegation met with representatives of SADTU and NAPTOSA. The Unions briefed the delegation on challenges on following issues:

7.1 Issues of Provincial Leadership and Management

It was mentioned that the department management lack synergy and was riddled with inconsistence. The management is generally tired and unresponsive to the situation that they are being faced with. There was no space for provision of leadership and innovation. Most managers had been on acting capacity for many years, vacancies are unfilled and that compromises service delivery.

7.1.1 Human Resources

The working force is reported as stagnated in terms of skills development and concern is that the department is loosing personnel to other departments at a higher rate. The department needs to deskill its work force with technological skills.

7.1.2 The Education System

The system is still focused on the creation of work seekers than job creation. It was reported that the FET level is still more academic, with no intrusion of vocational skills. The educators are not equipped and more workshop and training should be conducted.

7.1.3 Implementation of New Curriculum Strategy (NCS) of State of Readiness

The department should make training a high priority and provide enough resources to make the programme realizable.

7.1.4 Provision of infrastructure, school transport and PSNP

Most schools have no toilets, furniture, electricity, security and sport facilities. Learners in rural areas are crossing rivers to school because of lack of bridges and school transport. The nutrition programme is functional but the concern is that learners are fed poor quality food. The department should form task teams at all levels to monitor corruption of primary school nutrition programme scheme.

7.1.5 Discipline and Management

The department should provide change management training for educators and

Parents have to deal with the challenge of discipline. The department should embrace:

a) Ethics and practice of management

b) Organizational development - developing and sustaining effective structures, systems and procedures of improved management.

c) People development empowering managers by building their professional competencies.

7.1.6 HIV AND AIDS: The department should provide training for educators on how to deal with issues of HIV/AIDS.

7.1.7 No- school fees: The criteria and policy used for no school fees should be revisited.

Challenges

· Shortage of staff

Recruitment process was stopped by the department with no reasons
Principals hold posts that were higher than lecturers
Delay of approvals by the department
Lack of accommodation for circuit managers
The new orgarnogram was done in 1997 and was sent to the department but still not approved.
Some schools had computers with no electricity
Lack of psychologist in schools
Some schools had first aid kit and others don’t
Lack of telephone lines in school

The following issues were explained

Issue of delay of exam papers was caused by shortage of staff and the vastness of the province
They had waited for 9 years for approval of new organogram
The key role of District Managers was:

- To ensure delivery of quality education by means of planning and implementation.

- To implement government policies.

- To advise head of the department of issues related to schools.

- To ensure proper utilization of government resources.

The school transport was provided.
There are 45% qualified educators for mathematics and science.

7.3 Report on meeting with Circuit Managers

The Circuit Managers briefed the delegation on their role and challenges in schools.

The role of Circuit Managers was:

- To support and assist schools with legislations in place.

- To assist schools in solving problems with management.

- To make recommendations for recruitment of educators

Challenges

There were circuit managers acting for more than eight years
Shortage of staff that leads to lack of schools visits, circuit managers are expected to do administration work
Lack of discipline in all levels, learners, educators, principals and circuit manager
Lack of leadership from the department
Lack of consultation, unions and other parties are consulted more effectively then circuit managers
Lack of definition of quality education
Transport was provided but not for all learners
Learners were not provided with nutrition food every day
Lack of communication systems
Lack of support structures and resources
Gap in circuit managers salaries
Workshops were conducted after work was done and affected the quality of education
Lack of office space and telephone lines in schools
Delay for approvals from the department

The delegation thanked and commended the circuit managers for the good work done despite the challenges. It was also mentioned that the department would be tabling its quarterly report to the provincial legislature soon and the output of this meeting would assist the members in dealing with these challenges.

8. REPORT ON VISIT TO SCHOOLS

8.1 Hoërskool Warmbad

Hoërskool Warmbad is a former model C school; Afrikaans was the only language of instruction until 1998. After 1998 English was introduced in a parallel medium. The school has intake of 664 learners, of which 354 are taught in Afrikaans and 310 use the English medium. In terms of performance, it has for five consecutive years received 100% pass rate for matric. In a period of eight years only one learner had failed matric.

In 2005 the school won two trophies, for best result in Waterberg region and best performance of former Model C School in the province. The school also obtained 65 distinctions from eighty-four candidates and 59% of all candidates obtained University exemption.

The following challenges were noted:

Infrastructure

· Lack of boundary fence and security

· Bathrooms are not adequate due to increase in learners

· Lack of furniture, request was sent to the department since 2004

· School buildings need minor repairs and paint

School transport

· Lack of transport for learners, most learners stay in school hostels

· Access roads with potholes is in very poor condition

The following issues were explained:

The school was still waiting for the response from the department regarding furniture and school transport (verify with school)
Yes the school was integrated and had no racial problem
The school educators who attended workshops for OBE and had clear systems in place to monitor OBE standards.
The school has exemption policy and learners who do not afford school fees were required to apply for exemption.
The issue of HIV/AIDS, the school has a priest who had a good relationship with learners and a psychologist from the clinic assisting the school with HIV/AIDS programmes.
The School Govern Body (SGB) assists the school in payment of people to maintain the cleanness of the school ground.

The delegation expressed appreciation on the excellent work done by educations and thanked the School Govern Body (SGB) for its participation in school, for achieving high passing rate.

8. 2 SPA Park Primary School

The school had eight hundred and one learners with 25 educators, one support staff and

nine volunteers. The average passing rate for the last five years was above 90%. The school was one of the leading schools in terms of educational performance in the province. The school link up with other stakeholders to improve COLTS in the school. The school was quintile four schools. They had two computer rooms with forty-three and thirty-nine computers. The school has remedial programme for four learners and one disable learner.

Infrastructure

The school had eight classrooms, five asbestos classes, and five mobile units, five classes outside the school and one in the tent. Rotary donated two rooms utilized as offices and a kitchen for nutrition purposes. Parents were involved in building the three storerooms. It is only permanent classes that have electricity. The school has twenty-four toilets for learners, three cisterns and four for staff and adults.

Human resources

The school post establishment was supposed to have eighteen post and sixteen was filled.

Curriculum, OBE, RNCS & NCS

Educators attended workshops and training for curriculum.
The school was one of the pilot studies for introduction of OBE.
Senior educators were currently trained in NCS.
The school had additional languages, Afrikaans, Sepedi and Setswana

Primary School Nutrition Programme

· The school had eight parents’ volunteers who render their services on a daily basis. The parents were paid R110 per month from the department.

HIV/AIDS: The school has an operating HIV/AIDS programme.

In terms of discipline, the school had educators in charge for discipline

Concerning school transport, there are learners walking a distance of 7km to school and the school does not have transport.

The challenges of the school included:

· Lack of space for school ground

· Shortage of classrooms.

· Lack of proper administration office and staff room

· Lack of proper fencing for sports field.

· Lack of electricity in mobile units

· NCS textbooks were not replaced annually.

· LTSM arrives late and top-ups never arrive at school

· Lack of discipline and support from parents.

· Lack of refresh courses for educators in NCS

· Lack of funds to pay for school services. One hundred and eighty-four learners were exempted from school fees and other learners were partially exempted.

· Understaffing of circuit office influence the implementation of IQMS negatively

· Lack of library books and equipment.

· The department has not paid school’s account.

Issue for clarification: The delegation was informed that the school and the circuit office have good working relations.

8.3 Albert Luthuli Primary School

The school was established in 1999 as a new Public Primary School in the township to address the demand for more schools. The school has enrollment of 749 learners with 60 educators. The average passing rate for the past five years was 80%. The school is categorized as quintile school.

Infrastructure

· The school has 2x4 classrooms and four mobile classrooms with no furniture

· The school had received donation of a computer, photocopier and typewriter.

· The school has three seats of toilets for educators and four seats for learners

· Lack of school grounds, the school was engaged in discussions with the municipality for the provision of the sports fields next to the school.

Curriculum

· The school offers mathematics and science

· Most educators were new in the school and had a challenge of implementing RNCS and NCS.

Human resources

· The school post establishment was for twelve educators in 2005. In February, 2005 the school received other three posts which have not yet been filled

· The school has no HOD and no Deputy Principal

On discipline, the school has a high rate of absenteeism both educators and learners

National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

There are two educators involved in the progamme with parent as volunteers. There is no school kitchen and food was prepared out side.

Challenges

· Lack of furniture and resources

· Lack of support staff

· Lack of classrooms and library

· Lack of kitchen, wood and pots

· Unemployment of parents, affecting the finance of the school

· Lack of commitment of parents in learner’s education

· Lack of administration office and telephone line

· Lack of summative evaluation and the role of DSG’S and SDT.

· Lack of capacity for SGB’s

· Lack of sport facilities

· Lack of complete management in school

· Lack of funds

The following issues were clarified

· The department had clarified the schools in different categories and this year the school qualify on the category of building a facility. The school believe that a sports field is needed.

· The circuit office was supportive but the challenge was lack of staff in the circuit office that was causing the delay.

· The school gets funding from the department for norms and standards and from school fees at R85 per learner per year.

· Absenteeism was caused by the high rate of educator’s sick leaves and the learner’s home responsibilities.

· The school did try to connect the line with telkom but due to financial constrains the process was delayed

· The SGB’s workshop was planned in 2005 on ‘Responsibilities and role of SGB’s’ but failed because of poor attendance.

Comments

It was emphasis that involvement of parents and SGB’s in schools was very critical. The principal gave the impression that he was working alone in the school with no assistant from SGB’s and SMT. The workshops for SGB’s and SMT should be conducted to ensure smooth running of the school.

8.4 Phemphe Primary School Farm School

The farm school was established in 1958 with three classrooms and 150 learners with 2 educators. The school enrollment had dropped to thirty- two learners for the past five years.

The school infrastructure, is not in god condition, has three classrooms with dilapidated roofs, no supply water since 1996, no electricity, no fencing, no educators accommodation, telephone and playgrounds.

The National School Nutrition Programme is in programme in place but with no volunteers, as most parents are farm workers.

Concerning Scholar transport, an application was submitted to the Department and the application was successful.

Challenges

· Merging of the school with Doornfontein School.

· The Circuit Manager gave the background and the progress on the merging process as follows:

The Doornfontein School was situated 2,2km away from Mphempe primary school with eighteen learners and two educators. The School had all facilities needed by a normal school. The two schools were merged in April 2004 but the merging process was not successful. The process continued in January 2005 and was successful, however necessary steps were not followed as result the Department was taken to court by Doornfontein School. The process was thereafter followed correctly and the MEC wrote a letter to confirm the matter. The department is thus waiting for the outcome/ response from the court.

8.5 Arkona Primary School

The school was an old Missionary Institution, which was established in 1877 with no running water, no borehole and no telephone. The school had nine dilapidated buildings. The principal was appointed in March 2006.

In terms of infrastructure, the school has nine old classrooms, one improved administration office, which was also heavily infected by termites. It was never renovated; the termites destroyed the school furniture, class door, library materials and cleaning materials. The school has toilets for boys and girls and for educators in which were not in a good condition.

National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

· The school has nutrition programme in place with two parent’s volunteers and has a vegetables garden. The food was kept in a storeroom and there was an improvised kitchen.

Curriculum: Some educators had attended NCS workshop.

Challenges

In terms of management of the school, the Principal is not well trained, no support from the Circuit Office. Also the school is not well resourced, the school has only one computer, lack of funds because most parents are unemployed. There is serous shortage of water supply, no proper sports facilities and high theft rate in the area. The department proposed merging of both schools Arkona with the school next to it.

The following issues were clarified:

· The merging was a solution but the challenge was the process that was stressful for the educators and parents.

· Yes, the school informed the department about the classrooms and the department visited the school. The department recommended that the school was dilapidated and proposed the merging.

· The circuit office assistance was not effective because of lack of staff.

· There was no existence of SMT in the school

· The school was classified as quintile two, but had not received the funds from the department for norms and standards.

· Yes, there was SGB’s in place and good participation of parents. Most funding was fundraised by SGB’s by selling vegetables.

· There school had no discipline problem and learners had lessons about HIV/AIDS information.

· The school had no cleaner and caretaker the parents were assisting with cleaning the school.

8.6 Bopedi Bapedi High School

Bopedi Bapedi High was established in 1956. It started with two teachers. In 2004 the Transnet Foundation renovated the school and donated 21 Computers and two printers. The school had had both boys’ and girls’ hostels. The boy’s hostels were erected by the department of Education and the girl’s hostel was financed by CIBA GEIGI Company. The school enrolment was eight hundred and fifty. The average pass matric rate for the pass five years was 90% and had been incorporated into Dinaledi Schools.

The school serves as a center where almost all academic activities such as workshops, meetings and academic seminars were held and also as venue for meetings of churches, political parties and examination center for UNISA.

In terms of school Infrastructure, there is no proper school fence and the hostel dining hall was extremely in poor condition. The school had four toilets for girls, four for boys and two for educators.

Concerning NS Curriculum, not all educators received training in the NCS. However those who received it are busy with implementation. The school encounter difficulties in obtaining learners support material in Electrical Technology and Engineering Graphics and Design

Discipline

· The school had a challenge of drug abuse and all the relevant stakeholders were involved to assist in addressing this problem.

Challenges

· Lack of toilets and proper school grounds.

· Lack of school fence and security. The school has been a victim of vandalism and housebreaking and nineteen computers have been stolen,

· Shortage of suitable qualified educators in Mathematics and Physical Science and Technology.

· Retraining of Educators in NCS

The following issues were clarified:

· The school had submitted the request for infrastructure and toilets to the department and still waiting for the response.

· The school experience disturbance only when there was a lack of communication about the activity.

· The school had no career guidance as a subject; educators were motivating the learners in class.

· The school has discipline problems with learners take drugs and parents and stakeholders were invited to address the learners.

· The school had health worker running the HIV/AIDS programme

· The school managed to achieve high passing rate because of dedication of educators and learners in their work. There were 31% learners who passed mathematics and 64% passed science. The challenge is that the learners who are taking commercial are not concentrating fully in mathematics.

· The school is at quintile 2 and has received funding from school fees that was R200 per learner per year.

· The school had a good relationship with Circuit Office and the Circuit Manager visits the school frequently.

· There is a displayed South African National Flag in the school.

Comment: On the issue of vandalism and security the delegation emphasized that the department should assist the school in dealing with the challenge.

8.7 Legaletlwa Secondary School

The school was established in 1977 with 8 classes and 197 learners with 3 educators. In 1999 the school had a new principal with twenty-three educators. The average passing rate from 2001 was 18, 2% and improved to 87, 8% in 2005.

The school Infrastructure, there are nine electrified classrooms and five mobile classrooms with five hundred desks supplied by the department. The mobile classrooms were utilized for staff room, library, laboratory and principal office. There were ten pit toilets, two for educators, four boys and four for girl learners. The school does not have proper running waster, they make use of borehole and does not have proper sports facilities.

In terms of the New Curriculum Strategy, not all educators received training

There is shortage of LSM in some learning areas and in grade 10 the all learner received the Learner Support Materials.

Challenges

The school is generally not well resourced and under supplied with sanitation, no proper library, science laboratory and computer. There are no qualified teachers for NCS, administration personnel, office and necessary equipments. The is no proper security fence and sports facilities.

The following issues were clarified:

· The schools building plans included a laboratory and library which were to be built before 2009. An application for more classrooms as been submitted to the Department and a response was awaited.

· Some parent’s were supportive and the school had a good relationship with the SGB’S

· The school was waiting for the HOD post to be filled so that they would deal with the issue of water

· The school experience on discipline was late coming of learners and was involving parents to come to school and explain. They had no experience of HIV/AIDS in school

· The school would like to have more workshops on IQMS.

· The school establishment was eighteen and went down to sixteen

· The overall of number of learners taking mathematics is 57% and 82.4% for science.

Comments

It was emphasized that schools should have national symbols to reflect that it represents the Nation.

8.8 Thengwe Secondary School

The school was established in 1965 as Mutale Secondary School. In 1966 was relocated to the current premises after Chief Nethengwe had donated land for its erection. The first Matriculation was introduced in 1976. Students at the school actively participated in the 1976 student uprisings. It has school establishment of 53 educators comprising of, 1 principal, 2-deputy principal, 4 Heads of Department and 46 educators. For the past five years the school holds 98% matric pass rate.

The school had a strong link with former students and they assist the school to motivate learners. One of the educators has won trip to Mali on National Heritage day celebration and was nominated to visit UK on behalf of the Limpopo Department of Education.

In January 2005, the school received two evaluation reports from which indicated that the existing were unfit to host learners for teaching and learning purposes. The report was submitted to the Education MEC in January 2005. The construction of two newly erected blocks of four classrooms is at the initial stages.

In terms of the New Curriculum Strategy, the school curriculum was organized into four streams: Natural Science, Economics and Management Science, Humanities and Language, with each stream under one Head of department. The grade twelve learners achieved 400/400 in Physical Science and 400/400 in Economic in 2005 final examinations. The school feature among Top 10 schools in Limpopo Province and top 3 schools in Vhembe Districts. The school was nominated to participate in enrichment programme owing to continuous good performance in grade twelve.

Challenges

· Overcrowding in the classrooms

· Migration of experienced teachers to promotional posts in other schools

· Insufficient training in the NCS in planning and assessment

· Delay in replacing educators leaving the school for promotion at the critical time for preparations of examinations

Learners were not exposed to institutions of higher learning because of where the school was situated.

The following issues were clarified:

· The school was working with parent in dealing with discipline. They had allocated time in the school year plan to address issues of HIV/AID and drug problem and had invited relevant stakeholders

· The school educators and SGB’s visit the community to inform the parents about the schools issues, and school meeting attendance was good

· The school does not have a serious drop out rate; this was only because of teenage pregnancy.

· The school had their own school structure for effective communication. The principal and the deputies meet everyday to discussion the school matters and cascade the matters to SMT and SGB’s. The school had internal motivational talks and also support from SGB’s and the Chief of the village.

Comments

The school was commended on the very good relationship on leadership of SMT and SGB’s. The school was the only school that presented a school year plan.

8.9 Mbilwi High School (courtesy visit)

The school holds a 100% matric pass rate since 1995 and all learners obtained an exemption. The school has an enrollment of 1130 learners. Most of the learners are doing mathematics and science and are registered for higher grade. There good relationship between the management team, Learners Representative Council (LRC) and good participation of parents (SGB’s).

They recruit educators from neighboring schools for Saturday classes to teach grades 8 to 12. The school host winter classes its learners and those from surrounded schools. These classes assist learners, especially grade twelve learners to prepare for their final examination. They also had the learners exchange programme and invite educators from other schools for exchange ideas from other school by visiting the school. The school are hosts Science Expo for Youth Scientist and AMSA (mathematics competition) for the Region.

The school infrastructure has twenty-four overcrowded classrooms built by the department but no furniture has been supplied. Three learners seat on one desk while other use their laps as a table. There is supply of water and electricity. The management raised funds to build the school hall, but this has not been completed due to lack of funds. The school had no sports grounds because some of the new classrooms were built on spaces reserved as fields for soccer and netball.

In terms of the NCS, there were not reported problems, with the problems. The principal and the management team encourage educators to finish the syllabi in June. The school tries not to have formal staff meeting that would take most of teaching periods. The principal tries and have informal discussions with every staff-member about the work progress and challenges.

Discipline: The principal and management team encourage educators and learners to be punctual at school. The school had no challenge of absenteeism.

The school challenges are shortage of educators and classrooms due to promotions. There is shortage of furniture and textbooks; no Media Centre; lack of funds to complete the school hall; no proper Technical Drawing Classrooms and sports facilities for learners

Comments

The delegation expressed appreciation to the school for the effort and dedication of educators on their good work.

8.10 Mahematshena Primary School

The school is situated in rural area and is classified as quintile 3. The school has an enrolment of 643 learners with 18 educators and an Acting principal.

In terms of the infrastructure, there are eight classrooms in good condition; four of these were built by the community with assistance from the SGB’s and other four by the department. The classrooms built by the department require renovations. The school had electricity and water donated by Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). It has eight shacks classrooms that were utilized during rainy season because of poor condition of the classrooms. There are no sports ground facilities

In terms of curriculum development, the educators were sent on RNCS and NCS training; however the duration for these workshops was short.

The school had nutrition programme in place with parents preparing food for the learners.

The noted challenges are no proper sports facilities, no administration office, hall, school library and computers. The school was classified as quintile three and does not fall under it

The following issues were clarified:

· The principal post was not advertised

· The school had no discipline challenges

· The school had a good relationship with the parents and support was received from the Chief of the village.

· They had good working relationship with the circuit office and the circuit manager was visiting the school.

· The school had written to the department about the challenges faced by the school. The department responded that the school was on the priority list for 2006. The department would build eight classrooms and eight toilets.

· There were schools in the area with similar challenges and was classified as quintile two. The principal edged the department to revisit the quintile classification on the area.

8.11 Surprise visit to O R Mabotja High School

The delegation arrived at the school and most educators were sitting in the staff room during school time. Three educators were absent at school and the principal informed the delegation that only one educator reported sick. It was noted that there was a lack of discipline in among the educators and learners. The school-passing rate had decreased from 80% to 43%.

It was agreed that the school was in serious problem and the department should intervene in rescuing the school. The delegation requested he school principal to submit a detailed report on challenges faced by the school.

8.12 Taxila Combined School

The school was a combined Primary and high school and was situated in the so-called Indian area. It was initially built to cater for five hundred learners but has since grown to house 1148 learners. The school was race-integrated school with an approximate breakdown of 80% black learners, 20% Indian, coloured and white learners.

The school was voted into the Top 100 schools in the country for three consecutive years. The SGB of the school was actively involved and were handling the interviews and appointments of educators. The annual school fees were R1000 per learner per year

In terms of infrastructure, the electricity and water are available and have been paid up. However the school has a shortage of classrooms, the grounds need upgrading. In terms of LSM, the educators have been on training, however, more training and workshop should be offered to improve the standard of learning and application strategies of the educators. The schools have been supplied with LSM materials. The school does not have functional nutrition programme. It is still at foundation phase and is being run through financial support of previous learners.

Challenges

The school does not have an educator for science & mathematics (grades 11 & 12) since March 2006. In order to address this challenge, services of a private tutor were secured to teach on Saturday classes. There is concern about lack of parental involvement on school activities. In terms of infrastructure, the school does not have a hall and the resource centre has not been updated since 10 years ago.

9. Report on feedback meeting with the Department

The delegation met with the Department for a feedback meeting and following issues were raised for clarity:

Concerning mergers of Doornfontein and Mphemphe Primary Schools, it was reported that all necessary legal steps as prescribed in Section 12(A) of the South African Schools act 84, 1996 as amended have been followed by the department. The MEC has issued a directive to the SGB’s of Mphemphe and Doornfontein to hold a meeting in terms of subsection 6(a) and (b) and Sec(12(a) of SASA. As a result that a meeting of the two schools SGBS was scheduled for the 12 July 2005 and could not take place, because the Doornfontein SGB indicated in writing their intentions to appeal against the merger to the Minister of Education. (Section 12 clause (7) of SASA). It was further explained that a letter from Head Office dated 22 November 2005 seeking the position of the Mphemphe SGB as to the merge was transmitted accordingly. The Mphemphe SGB chairperson wrote a letter to the Minister indicating the school position on the merger. The Minister of Education responded in a letter by confirming the position of the MEC after considering the submission of Doornfontein School.

The delegation recommended that the department should direct hold a joint meeting between the schools that should lead to final merger.

The Arkona Higher Primary School has grades 5 to 7 with in enrolment of 177 learners. It has nine old dilapidated classrooms and no water on the premises. The delegation observed that the school uses pit toilets and these were not well managed and posed a health hazard. The school was infested with termites which destroyed chalkboards, doors, the roof, library material and table tops.

The Tiitsane Lower Primary School is separated by a fence from Arkona Higher Primary School. It has 18 classrooms, of which 8 of them are not being utilized. The school has electricity and running water, however water is not always available.

Considering the infrastructure of the two schools and their proximity to each other, and also that one school offers Grade R to 4, while the other offers Grade 5 to 7, it the delegation suggested that it would be educationally and financially sound to merge the two schools in order to maximize provision of resources.

It was further reported that the job descriptions of Circuit Manager were developed and distributed to line managers and relevant supervisors for adjustment and implementation.

The delegation was informed that the new Organogram has been finalized by the MEC and Premier’s Office and the job evaluation on all the Senior Management Service (SMS) posts. The results of these were handed to the department on July 30, 2006.

Concerning the Mbilwi Secondary School, it was last furnished in 1992. The delegation was informed that the new upgrading level was determined in 2004 for implementation with affect from January 01, 2005. This has however not happened due to budgetary constraints. The department then took a decision to implement the new grading level as they to effect increase in total salary bill of the department.

The department is preparing for a new post provisioning for 2007, and this cost factor was being included in the determinations with a view to implementing new grading levels with effect from January 01, 2006.

In terms of the appointment of two HOD’s, the Department records show that there was only one post of HOD advertised for Albert Luthuli Primary School. An appointment has already been made at the school. The appointed educator was Mogashoa who was a female educator. The school does not qualify for two HOD’s post. It is believed that a there was misunderstanding caused by non-filling of the other HoD post and it being occupied on adhoc/temporary basis.

Regarding the issue of acting Circuit Managers and educators, the organogram has been finalized but there in key obstacle is that the arrangements have not been concluded Thus these have been have filled on acting capacities.

The school based educators have been appointed in acting capacity simply because the higher posts had been advertised in an open vacancy list and the selection processes were at advanced stages. This aspect has effectively been concluded except in those few instances where there was a dispute declared and the dispute resolution process, under the coordination of the Bargaining Council, has not been concluded.

Concerning the policy for educator’s salaries, it was reported that all conditions of service for the educators, including basic salaries as well as commencing notches are determined nationally through a collective bargaining mechanism of the Education Labour Relation Council (ELRC). The province does not have any authority of making distinct determinations.

The province is responsible for ensuring compliance with conditions and requirements and to implement the salary dispensation as pre-determined.

5. Recommendations

The Human Resource Provision and Development

Noting that the department has a huge unacceptable staff vacancy rate (18900, it is recommended that an efficient and effective human resources management and development section should be set up. This section should be at the strategic management level to deal with recruitment, development and planning.

It is further recommended that the Limpopo Department of Education should develop plan of action to fill in the vacant posts before the end of the current financial year. This plan should cover the whole education system in order to give effect to the provision of quality education.

Infrastructure

The department should move away from classroom building to school building concept. The Department should consider developing minimum norms and standards for schools.

Implement of new curriculum

The appointment of curriculum implementors should be given a top priority to implementation of the new curriculum as this has impact on unfilled posts.

Specific schools

The committee has noted with disappointment the reluctance of the Doorhfontein School Governing Council to merge with Mphempe Primary School. Despite the MEC having followed appropriate legal process, children at Mphempe Primary continue to suffer humiliation of attending school in an environment where there is no water, electricity, toilets and dangerous for the past nine years. It is recommended that the National department should interact in this matter.

Concerning the Arkona and Tisane Primary Schools, the Department should approve the merge process by March 2007.

The outstanding leadership and management of the Thengwe Secondary and Mbilu High Schools, with their consistent 100% pass rate, should be used as models for good leadership and management.

In O R Mabotja High School there are a number of challenges, it is recommended the Limpopo Department of Education should develop mechanisms in addressing them. The Portfolio Committee should consider undertaking follow up visit to this school next year.

Report to be considered.

3. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Education on the Consideration

of the Annual Report 2005/06 of the Department of Education, dated 19

September 2006:

1. Background

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) recognizes that legislatures have a critical role to play in overseeing and monitoring the performance of Departments and Public Entities.

Section 65 (1) of the Public Finance Management Act requires that Ministers table the Annual Reports for Departments and Public Entities for which they are responsible. The date for tabling of Annual Reports of Public Entities and Departments is 30 September each year.

Section 65 (1) of the Public Finance Management Act (1996) states that when tabling a report the Executive Authority responsible for a department or entity must table in the National Assembly or a Provincial Legislature, as may be appropriate. The Annual Report and Financial Statements referred to in section 40 (1) (d) and the audit report on those within one month after the Accounting Authority for the Public Entity received the audit report.

All Parliamentary Portfolio Committee’s are required to consider and report on Departmental and Public Entities’ annual reports after tabling and referral. The Committee decided to invite the Department to come before it on 19 September 2006.

The purpose for consideration of the annual reports is to assess the performance of the department or public entities against the targets set in the previous financial year.

2. Annual Report 2005/06 of the Department of Education

The Director-General, Mr. Duncan Hindle, briefed Members of the Committee on the 2005/06 Annual Report of the Department for the year ended 31 March 2006.

The report was set against five year priorities areas of the department:

· Dealing with poverty

· Skills Development

· Human Resource Development

· Quality improvement

· Health Education and Institutional development

The report focused mainly on

· General Education, Further Education and Training,

· Higher education, Quality Promotion and Development

· System Planning and Monitoring and Administration.

2.1 General Education

Curriculum and Assessment Development with reference to Early Childhood Development

The draft norms and Standards for the Funding of Grade R in Public schools which were approved by the Minister of Finance were released for public comment. Statistics revealed that 70% of 6year olds are in grade R. The Cabinet approved the national Integrated Plan (called Tshwaragano ka Bana) on Early Child hood Development (0-4yrs). A Cluster Programme for implementation of the integrated plan has been developed by the Departments of Social Development, Health and Education.

Curriculum and Assessment Development with reference to Special needs and Inclusive education

The National Guidelines for inclusive learning Programmes, together with the national Strategy for Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support of learners with special needs, were finalised for field testing. Among others, the guidelines enable educators to understand how to teach within a context of special needs. Also they enable for ordinary teachers to identify learners with special needs.

There are District-based Support Teams to monitor the implementation of Inclusive Education in all provinces. These are in areas where there are special schools in order to ensure that learners’ needs are attended to and that the resources benefit the intended recipients.

Other matters

The National Protocol on Assessment, which aims to reduce the administrative workload of teachers, has been published. It has however been found that this tool is not clear enough for educators, thus there are considerations to have it as a policy.

The guidelines on school uniforms, was gazetted and this would be used by school Governing Bodies when determining school uniforms. This would ensure that parents are not unreasonably burdened by the cost of school uniforms, and that learners are not excluded for not wearing school uniform.

Reading Development

In order to promote reading in schools, the department has done the following:

5 233 primary schools were provided with sets of 100 Story books. 751 schools were provided with sets of books for Grade 9 learners from the Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20^thcentury. It was noted that many schools have not received books as of July this year. In order to address this challenge, the Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM Forum comprising of stakeholders involved with Learning and Teaching Support Materials was established.

Institutional and Human resource Development

The Education Management Framework and the South African Standard for Principalship (an entry-level qualification for principals) were finalised. National Guidelines for School Governing Body Elections were distributed to provinces in October 2005 in preparation for national SGB elections in 2006.

In addition, the department has distributed 2 million leaflets on the Rights and Responsibilities of Parents and Learners in all provinces through a range of government and civil organisations. In addition a handbook for district management was produced. An Education Management Information System (EMIS) has been developed and administered in 2 districts. This is a system developed to gather data that will lead to development of district profiles. A full report of the findings will be available next year. For 2005/06 financial year, 1 200 provincial officials and 40 000 grade 7 teachers received preliminary training on National Curriculum Statement (NCS) through 653 orientation workshops. 278 teachers have completed an advanced Certificate in Education (in Maths, Science and Technology) with DoE bursaries. In addressing the issues of under qualified, about 2 649 teachers graduated with an National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE) to become professionally qualified (REQV 13)

Quality Promotion and Assurance

The department has conducted random systematic evaluation to more than 35 000 (over 5% of population) grade 6 learners across the country, to assess if their performance is improving. The baseline for planning and monitoring is available on learner performance in the languages of learning and teaching (LOLTS), and in mathematics and natural sciences to be used by all grade 6 teachers. The national and provincial reports compiled will be considered for use by policy-and decision-makers.

2.2 Further Education and Training

As from January 2006 all provinces implemented the National Curriculum Strategy (NCS) grade 10. The July exam results for grade 10 reflect that this is a difficult curriculum, which will require further determination for 2007. The success of the curriculum will be evaluated from the 2008 matric results.

The Mathematics, Science and Technology Strategy have been expanded to include 400 Dinaledi Schools. In order to address the shortage of LTSM in schools, a catalogue of grade 11 textbooks has been compiled for selection. The schools have to make a final selection of their textbooks based on the developed catalogue.

Improving learner attainment

The Senior Certificate Examinations were administered and conducted successfully and a report was released on 29 December 2005. The most improved School Award ceremony which aims to encourage schools was held in March 2006.

Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges

The policy for the National Certificate (Vocational) has been gazetted, which indicates 13 priority skills programmes developed for Colleges. The conditional grant for recapitalisation of 50 Further Education and Training Colleges has been developed to support colleges with ICT, infrastructure and facilities development. The Department has set aside R 10 000 per lecturing staff for their development.

2.3 Higher Education

Consolidation of the Restructuring Process

In June 2005, the restructuring of the Higher Education System through mergers and incorporations was formally completed with the establishment of the Walter Sisulu University of Science and Technology, in Eastern Cape. All the newly established higher Education institutions have established substantive councils. The Vice Chancellors have been appointed in most institutions. The merging of administrative and management policies and processes are also well underway at most of the institutions. The Institutions are focusing their attention to the restructuring of the academic arrangements.

Consolidation of the Restructuring Process

The Department has provided on-going technical support and assistance to institutions to facilitate the restructuring process. For the financial year the department has allocated R419 million in support direct merger costs and for much needed capital renewal, for improvement of student residences, The Tshwane University of Technology has been allocated R36 million, R30 million to the University of Fort Hare, and R30 million to the North-West University.

Finalisation of new Statutory Minimum Requirements to Higher Education

The new schools curriculum for grades 10 - 12 was introduced in January 2005. The first cohort of learners following the RNCS will write the National Senior Certificate in 2008. This has necessitated the adoption of new minimum entry requirements into higher education. The new requirements were developed in collaboration with the higher education sector and were gazetted by the Minister of Education in August 2005. There was enough time to inform learners in the selection of their school subjects for the new curriculum.

National Conference on African Studies

The Ministry of Education hosted a highly successful conference to explore the status of African Studies in South African universities. The conference was attended by local, continental and international academics. A working group of conference participants was established to pursue the curricula challenges identified from the conference deliberations.

Higher Education Aids Programme (HEAIDS)

The European Union provided a generous grant to the Department of Education to establish a programme in the higher education Sector to address the challenges of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the sector. The HEAIDS programme is managed on behalf of the Department by Higher Education South Africa, (HESA), and the newly established umbrella body of vice-chancellors.

The South African Union of Students (SAUS)

The Department of Education provided technical support and advice for the establishment of SAUS, which was launched early in 2006. The SAUS brings together Student Representative Councils (SRCs) of all Universities and Universities of Technology into a single body, which will represent the interests of students nationally and internationally.

2.4 Quality Promotion and Development

Equity in education

The Ministerial Committee on Gender Equity reported on this period; the recommendations are being analysed to determine to what extent have these been implemented. In terms of EFA goals 5, on gender equity, South Africa has achieved this goal. It has been found that there are more boys than girls in primary schools. The Girls Education Movement (GEM) however provides opportunity for girls to affirm themselves. There are 3 GEM clubs established in Limpopo. Resource packages have been sent to all schools in celebration of 50 years of the Freedom Charter. The Department has made available bursaries for Advanced Certificate in Race and Values, benefiting 600 Districts and provincial officials.

Health in Education

The schools health project was launched in Eastern Cape, for screening and treatment of minor ailments including deworming. In response to the HSRC study, the department has introduced health and wellness programmes for educators. The evaluation of ongoing HIV and AIDS Life skills programme including the peer Education programmes have shown that this process is beginning to bear results. The National School Nutrition Programme has seen the department reaching 4 927 540 learners in 13 853 schools. This is linked to job creation where 29 222 jobs were created, with 3 000 food gardens having been established.

Social Inclusion

The Ministerial Committee on Literacy has been appointed and their recommendations on the international research on Cuba, Venezuela and New Zealand are to be considered by Cabinet. In terms of ABET, 19 946 facilitators have been appointed under the EPWP, 29 974 learners attended ABET programmes related to Education. 246 335 learners have enrolled for programmes at 2 901 Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs). These centres offer certification, for entry in to a Technikon.

School Enrichment

The Minister of Education and the Minister of Sport and Recreation of SA (SRSA) have signed a framework Agreement for the management, organisation and co-ordination of Schools Sport. Schools Sports focuses on making available sports facilities within the cluster area of schools. In promotion, the schools have had celebrations in support of the Freedom Charter, through farm and rural school games, national Music Eisteddfod, National Language Festival. Other activities included competition on National Indigenous Music; Movement and Games festival including National Girls Games which are held in September each year. Also, the department has forged partnerships to address school safety and drug abuse in schools

2.5 System Planning and Monitoring

Financial Planning

The financing norms and standards for education have been revised to promote more equitable and pro-poor funding of school education. This has been done through revision legislation and norms to accommodate the introduction of no fee schools. The ABET norms have been approved, while the FET and ECD norms have been published for public comments. The Department has launched the National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) an electronic system to record the schools needs. In March this year 9000 schools were assessed and to date the record is at 15 000 schools.

The FET Colleges have been supported through the recapitalisation system. In terms of Inclusive Education, full service schools have been developed, these are schools that are able to accommodate learners irrespective of their special needs.

Human Resource Planning Provision and Evaluation

The Department has introduced an improved career path opportunity for educators to progress to a maximum salary that is about 20% higher than the previous maximum. The model of accelerated progression has been introduced for all educators who consistently perform at a level of “good” that is for a period of 3 years. The Department has introduced a collective agreement on School grading norms, which if used effectively will be of benefit to good principals.

Education Labour Relations and Conditions of Service

In terms of Labour relations issues, the Department has signed a Collective Agreement on Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) for school based education therapists and psychologists at FET Colleges. The signing of a Collective Agreement will enhance a career path for qualified post level 1 teachers and accelerated salary progression for all educators on applicable salary levels. Further, in order to address the teacher salary backlog, the Collective Agreement No 2 of 2005 on salary progression for the period 1 July to 30 June 2002 has been concluded.

Legislation and Legal Services

Amendments to the South African School Act, 1996 (SASA) were affected to allow for, inter-alia: The declaration of “no fee schools, about 70% of learners are expected to benefit in 2007: A school governing body that could be able to suspend a learner who is found to have committed a serious misconduct without the approval of the Head of Department (HOD). There are considerations for New Regulations relating to the Exemption of Parents from Payment of School Fees in Public School.

Further the Department successfully defended a case Phenithi vs Minister of Education, in the Supreme Court of Appeal that sought to declare unconstitutional section 14 of the Employment of Educators Act. The Department was also successful in an application to scrap the discriminatory provisions in a certain higher education bursary fund. The implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) was not even in all provinces. A dispute was resolved and steps are being taken to improve the implementation to ensure that the outcomes are more credible through rigorous moderation.

Information Monitoring and Evaluation

In July 2005, the department hosted a major conference to review the first ten years of post-apartheid education. The conference attracted over 400 delegates, including teacher unions, school governing body associations and research organizations. The focus of the conference was on assessment and progress of the last decade in education, and engaged in an agenda setting exercise for education for the next decade.

International Relations

The relations with the rest of Africa and south-south cooperation in particular have dominated the agenda in International Relations and the UNESCO Commission. The Department on behalf of South Africa has been involved in facilitating representation at the 33rd UNESCO General Conference in Paris. South Africa has successfully put forward a candidate as an Executive Member of the UNESCO Board (Prof Brain Figaji). Another development, a Centre for Chinese Students has been established through the University of Stellenbosch. Also a South African exchange progormame with India Brazil (IBSA) has been established.

2.6 Auditor General’s Opinion

The Auditor-General, without qualifying the audit opinion, emphasized the following:

· Conditional Grant: The provinces do not report on 15^th of each month despite regular reminders. Thus the Accounting Officer is unable to report on 20^th of each month.

· Assets Register: The Accounting Officer has an incomplete register for intangible assets including computer software and copyright materials.

2.8 Finances

Expenditure Outcomes for 2005/06 are reflected as follows

Spent 98.5% of total budget

Total underspending: R 193.109 million (1.5%)

Less underspending on mergers R 157.103 million (1.2%)

Underspend on operational activities 33.516 million (0.3%)

Approved Roll-overs

Higher Education mergers R 157.103 million

Commitments on operational 12.840 million

Total 169.943 million

Total underspend after rollovers: R 23.166 million (0.2%)

The Director-General concluded by agreeing with the findings of the Human rights Commission Report on Socio- Economic Rights, of July 2006, that reasonable measures have been taken to make education progressively available and accessible. However despite this progress achieved, a lot still needs to be done.

3. Conclusions

Having interrogated the 2005/06 Annual Report of the Department of Education in terms of the requirements of Public Finance Management Act, the Committee

applauded the Department for their report however; there are certain areas of concern that were highlighted:

· The recorded under spending, especially in KZN and Eastern Cape,

· The Annual report does not reflect the state of provinces in relation to set norms and standards set by the National Department,

· The fact that the grade R are not part of the staff establishment,

· Consideration to ensure that in terms of ECD, resources benefit those in provinces.

The Chairperson thanked Members for attending the meeting. He further thanked the Director-General and his team for the manner in which it was presented.

4. Recommendations

Having interrogated the 2005/06 Annual Report of the Department of Education in terms of the requirements of Public Finance Management Act, the Committee recommends as follows: That the Department:

· The mechanisms for reporting on conditional grants need to be re-considered.

· Put in place own software and publications to ensure that the assets are properly registered.

Report to be considered.

4. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Education on Visit to

Oudtshoorn as Part of the People’s Assembly on 14 September

2006:

Introduction

On Wednesday the 6^th September, 2006, Prof. Shepherd Mayatula MP, the Chairperson of the Portfolio on Education Committee was requested by House Chairperson, Mr. G. Doidge MP to “identify schools for oversight work for the 14^th September. This period coincided with the Parliament’s People Assembly programmes, which was planned to visit to Oudshoorn. Prof Mayatula then contacted Mr. Cameron Dugmore, the Provincial MEC of Education, for assistance. Mr. Dugmore gracefully agreed to contact his Education Officials in Oudtshoorn to make the necessary arrangements.

Delegation

The Portfolio Committee meeting of the 12^th September approved the following Members to form the delegation for the oversight visit: Prof. S.M. Mayatula MP (ANC) to lead the delegation accompanied by Adv. A. Gaum MP (ANC), Ms. P. Mashangoane MP (ANC), Mr. G. Boinamo MP (DA) and Mr. I. Mfundisi MP (UCDP).

Logistical problems:

Though the names of the delegation were submitted to the organizers of the Peoples Assembly, the Members of the delegation were accommodated in different venues. To make things worse, Ms. Phumza Mpoyiya, the Committee Secretary, was accommodated in George, which is more than an hour’s drive from Oudtshoorn.
Though the Committee was promised a vehicle to transport them to the schools, no such vehicle was made available to them.
Though the organizers promised to fetch the Committee Secretary at 7h00 on the day of the oversight visit, this promise was not fulfilled.
It was the officials of the Department of Education of Oudtshoorn, under the leadership of Mr. Anton Gunther, the Circuit Manager, who came to the rescue. Three cars were made available to the Committee, (a) The first to collect the Committee Secretary from George, (b) The second to collect Ms. Mashangoane who was accommodated in some secluded venue and (c) the third, a combi made available to transport the delegation to all the schools. This combi was borrowed from one of the school.
The delegation had to start discussions in the first school in the absence of Mpoyiya, the Committee Secretary and Ms. Mashangoane, who both joined later in the meeting, due to logistical problems.

VISIT TO FEZEKILE SECONDARY SCHOOL

Fezekile Secondary School is a rural school situated in the Southern Cape/Karoo District of the Western Cape. There are 464 learners and 14 educators including the principal. It covers Grades 8 to Grade 12. The matric results in the last few years were as follows; 2001 = 46%; 2002 = 80%; 2003 = 90%; 2005 = 68%. The Grade 10 examination results in June this year were only 17.8%.

The following were some of the reasons given for this poor performance:

· Learners are not used to the new format.

· Learners do not know how to study.

General observations on the quality of education and the role of Circuit Managers:

The standard of reading and writing is generally low in our schools and this could be ascribed to (a) the methodology of teaching and (b) the role of Circuit Managers.

Methodology of teaching as a solution to low literacy:

Despite the Outcomes Based Education, it is important to:

Teach phonetics in our schools.
Emphasize actual writing and loud reading.
Reading comprehension is of vital importance.
Mother tongue instruction in the lower grades.

The role of the Circuit Managers:

Though the main role of Circuit Managers is to manage the curriculum, and see to the educational development of their schools, they do not have a well defined job description. On average, each circuit manager is in charge of around twenty three schools which he/she, on average, visits only three times a year. Most of his/her time is spent on unending meetings in response to request/instructions from the national or provincial departments. These three visits entail:

In the beginning of the year to see to it that everything is in place.
To assess the development of the school and
At the end of the year for performance appraisal.

Recommendations:

All promotion post including those of principals, should be contract posts. This would create room for disciplining, including demotion of those managers, who do not perform.
Circuit Managers should spend at least one week in each school conducting Whole School Evaluation.

Human resources:

There are no unfilled posts.

Funding:

The school has not been declared a no-fee school, though the neighbouring primary school has been declared a no-fee school. This is causing discontent among the parents.
School fees are R135 per annum
80% of the learners do not pay fees.

Curriculum

All the staff has been trained in NCS FET.
Training in NCS GET will be conducted in September.
Not all learners have received the necessary text books. They have only received those allowed within the Norms and Standards.
The school has begun with the selection of text books for 2007.

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

This is a Senior Secondary School starting at Grade 8, it does not have any ECD section.

Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS)

The IQMS is operational.
PGP’s have been completed.
Class visitations will commence next quarter.

Inclusive Education

· There are no learners with physical or mental disabilities in the school.

· The school is not aware children who are unable to attend because of disability.

Infrastructure

This is a well established school with all the necessary amenities. The only equipment they need is a duplicating machine.

Learner transport

The learners either walk or use taxis to school.
Since on average the distance from school is only 3 kms, they do not qualify for learner transport subsidies.

School Nutrition programme (SNP)

The school offers SNP everyday at 10h00.
Meals are prepared by parents and volunteers.
Only bread and milkshake is offered at the moment. Cooked meals will be offered next quarter. Necessary equipment, that is, stove, pots etc. have already been supplied.

Discipline

There is a disciplinary committee to promote discipline, but it is struggling because of the following reasons:

Socio-economic conditions like dysfunctional family structures, poverty related circumstances, alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment.
Parents have abdicated their role parenting and they expect educators to play their role.

The following attempts have been made to improve and maintain discipline:

A meeting was arranged with the parents of the two neighbouring schools, the police as well as community institutions.
The role of shebeens and taverns were addressed.
The shebeen and tavern owners signed some commitment contracts to commit themselves not to sell alcohol and drugs to school learners. This was a very successful exercise that will be followed up with a reviewing meeting next quarter to assess previous efforts and plan future strategy.
A meeting is planned, in consultation with the Social Worker, for early next quarter to workshop the parents in an attempt to motivate and assist them in their task of contemporary parenting.

Functioning of School Governing Bodies (SGBs)

The new SGB for this year has been elected.
Parents were not over eager to serve on the SGB.
The attendance on the election day was average.

Three main challenges:

Under-funding of the school as reflected above. The school should be reclassified as a No-Fee school.
Access of the community to Information Technology

As an educational institution situated within a community in dire need of access to Information Technology, though we have a computer laboratory, we cannot offer them any courses, due to lack of personnel and funds for the maintenance of the computers.
Currently in the process of establishing a partnership with Ulwazi E-Community, an IT organization situated in Bongolethu Library. They, unfortunately, do not have the required mandate, resource and legal status to finalize a contract with the school.
Computers not insured due to financial constraints.

Recommendation:

Funding must be made available for the maintenance of the computers.
An arrangement must be made to have the school computers covered in case of theft, fire or any eventuality.
Ulwazi E-Community must be given the necessary assistance to work with the schools to train the communities.

Discipline as reflected above with special reference to the involvement of parents and members of the community.

VISIT TO VLAKTEPLAAS UCC PRIMARY SCHOOL

This is a special project, which caters for farm children within the 35km radius of Vlakteplaas. It is situated in a church land and services the children of farm labourers.

Mr Jans Rautenback (affectionately known as Oom Jan), the driving force of the project receives funding for the school from European organizations through his contacts.

The delegation was taken around and noted a number of observations

The school caters for 112 learners, from grades R to 7. It operates a multi grade proramme with two educators and a principal. It has three classrooms which are fully equipped with teaching visual and audio facilities. The learens are provided with uniform on 18 months periods. They also receive three meals per day. There are about 15 learners who receive a scholarship.

In the grade 1- class, there are 10 semi-blind learners who are placed in front of the class. These learners receive extra attention from the educators. The school had 30 computers which are used by grades 1 to 3 learners. In addition these would be used for adult education. There is new and fully established computer laboratory, which will be used by senior classes. The project addresses some of the gaps in free education, by offering ABET, Sports, and also promote community involvement in school activities

The delegation applauded Oom Jan for his efforts. It noted that his project is slightly different from the merger process of farm school as in Northwest. It was noted that this approach could be used as a pilot project to be extended to other farm schools.

Mr Rautenback, requested that, once the project is completed, government should be available to be part of the opening ceremony.

Recommendations:

The school should consider contacting the FET Section of the National Department of Education for advice and accreditation of the proposed Technical Section of the School.

The Committee will (a) Request the Minister of Education and the MEC to visit the school to observe the wonderful work done by the private sector to enhance schooling in the farming community (b) If possible, the Minister to invite Mr. Rautenback to the next budget speech to show appreciation of his work and invite other organizations to do like wise.

VISIT TO SATURNUS PRIMARY SCHOOL

The delegation was met by the Principal Mr. September who is on secondment for 12 months with the Department and his Deputy Mr. Muller, currently the Acting Principal for the school.

The school has learner intake of 1 456, caters for grades 1 to 7. The school has 38 educators, excluding the Principal.

The delegation noted that province does not use the quintile system as this question was not responded to in all the schools. However, it was noted that the Circuit Managers use categories A (poor) and B (not poor) to classify schools. This was a concern for the delegation because, the quintile system is a national policy used by government to fund schools. The delegation resolved that this is a matter to be taken up with the MEC.

The following was observed:

The school has a budget for the no-fee school at R 426 per learner for 1 456 learners.
Though some parents have already paid the school fees, those who haven’t will not have to pay.
In addition parents have to pay R10 for computer fees, despite the fact that this has been declared a no-fee school.

This is matter of serious concern because if parents are forced to pay for a service, it reflects the policy is being disregarded and undermined. The school was advised to reconsider this matter.

Early Childhood Development

The school does not have plans to accommodate grade R learners, while it is a no-fee school. This was considered as a matter of concern. The explanation provided by the Deputy Principal is that the school was built for 1 000 learners and even though it has 4 additional fabricated classrooms which were initially planned for grade R learners. The challenge, for the school however is that it does not have proper facilities for grader R learners.

The Western Cape government has a policy objective that by 2010 all 5-year old learners must be in grade R. In areas where grade R exists, the educators are not part of the staff establishment. This is a matter of concern and should be brought to the attention of the MEC.

It became apparent that grader R learners are not considered as a main stream education in the Province. This is considered as an added cost thus the process of establishing grade R in schools has been delayed.

Challenges

The school has overcrowded classes because is it situated in a developing area. The school caters for learners from farms, as well as surrounding communities.

In terms of literacy and numeracy skills, the school produces learners who are not able to read. This is a challenge of the education system which states that learners should not repeat more than once in a given phase. In case where the classes have big numbers, there is no personal contact between the educators and the learner.

The delegation appealed to the educators to make education more exciting so that learners do not stay away from school. If after being at school for 7 years, the learners are unable to read and write that raises concerns about the quality of teaching. The Headmaster should be dedicated in improving the learning opportunities for learners.

Overall Recommendations

Top Management and Circuit Managers:

All promotion post including those of principals, should be contract posts. This would create room for disciplining, including demotion of those managers, who do not perform.
The Circuit Managers should spend more time in schools and at least one week in each school conducting Whole School Evaluation.
There is a need for a well defined description for top management.
Despite some schools being declared no- fee schools, they continue to charge learners; one form of levy or another, for example, fees to use computers. This habit should be stopped immediately and monitored.
There is a need to integrate Grade R classes and educators into the primary schools as part of the main stream education in the province.

Fezekile Secondary School

Funding must be made available for the maintenance of the computers.
An arrangement must be made to have the school computers covered in case of theft, fire or any eventuality.
Ulwazi E-Community must be given the necessary assistance to work with the schools to train the communities.

Vlakteplaas UCC Primary School

The school should consider contacting the FET Section of the National Department of Education for advice and accreditation of the proposed Technical Section of the school.
The Committee will request (a) Request the Minister of Education to visit the school to observe the wonderful work done by the private sector to enhance schooling in the framing community (b) If possible the Minister to invite Mr. Rautenback to the next budget speech to show appreciation of his work and invite other organizations to do like wise.

General

The committee believes that grade R education should be entrenched in schools, as this allows for cognitive development.
It was recommended that the Portfolio Committee should in future plan to visit more schools within the Western Cape Province.

Words of thanks and appreciation

The delegation extends words of thanks and appreciation to the support and dedication provided by the District officials even though the meetings took place within very short notice. The immediate response of the MEC, made the oversight visit possible. The support given by the Director, Mrs Sesenya, who managed to keep things going even though she was not in office, her support is appreciated. Specific reference goes to Mr. Anton Gunther, the Circuit Manager, who went out of his way to keep the delegation comfortable by availing himself through all the visits.

Report to be considered.

5. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Education on the Conference

on Transformation of Higher Education in Africa

A. BACKGROUND

The Portfolio Committee on Education received an invitation to attend a conference organized by Excellante International of the Services Seta. The focus of the conference was Transformation of Higher Education in Africa, and was held on 22 & 23 March 2006 at Sunnyside Park Hotel, Johannesburg.

B. TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Committee delegated Prof SM Mayatula, Chairperson) (ANC), Ms M J J Matosmela (ANC), Mr G Boinamo (DA) and Mr A M Mpontshane (IFP) to represent the Committee at the Conference.

C. REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE

The delegation reports on behalf of the Committee as follows:

1. CHALLENGES FOR CHANGE IN THE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTUTIONS BY DR. LILLA DU TOIT–Director of the Department of Education: Eastern Cape

In this section of presentation, the presenter’s experience is that the more the transformation occurs in education the more things remain the same. The feeling is that South African education needs total quality management (T.Q.M). We cannot have world class workforce without world class education. We also need integrated quality management system (IQMS) in our education. Every time the benchmark must be lifted, we have to say “this time we have reached this and we lift the benchmark higher” each time we reach our aim or our goal, we have to raise it higher.

1.1 New ideas are important for learning to occur. Four main building blocks:

Systematic problem solving
Experimentation with new approaches
Learning from own experiences and past history
Learning from experience past and practices of others (benchmarking)

1.2 Key performance indicators:

What is it that you are supposed to do in order to contribute to your organisation’s vision, mission, values and principles? Do not treat people like mushroom, feeding them manure and keep them in the dark. A successful leader sets standards in order to move the industry or the company where he wants it to be.

2. INTERNALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION BY DR. JAMES ELLIS – Director, International Relations, University of Johannesburg.

In this section of presentation, the presenter’s perception is that South Africa is an exciting destination for both scholars and students from abroad. However, there are challenges faced by institutions of learning such as:

Consolidation of young democracy
Human resources development to provide skills for the emerging economy

· Afford scholars and students excellent opportunities for research and community based education

Engagement in development practice
Africa’s world famous tourism attractions.

2.1 Challenges and Opportunities

Internationalisation is the demand of the modern world to develop globally competent citizens.

· The global neighborhood-learning a lot about each other without learning from each other.

· Dire need to make use of knowledge, skill and resources

· Higher Education is a response connecting diverse cultures, societies and landscapes and meeting responsibilities.

· Higher Education must be global institutions engaged in issues and roles that transcend borders and embrace diversity

· Consideration of difference between globalization and internationalization

· Must address concerns in influences in teaching and learning

· Research and outreach through programmes of internationalization

· Must address effects of our earlier relative isolation from international intellectual interaction.

· Institutional and national (systems) responses to be formulated to address challenges and opportunities posed.

· Opportunity not only to transform challenges.

2.2 Higher Education Transformation and the National Development Agenda

The transformation in higher education needs to address the challenges of reconstruction and consolidate democracy on the agenda of tertiary institutions.

3. ANALYZING CURRENT MANAGEMENT STRATTEGIES BY CAROL READ- Director, Business Performance Services.

3.1 Experiences in Further Education and Training (FET)

Inadequate planning
Capacity constrains
Inappropriate staffing models
Outdated technology
High staff turnover
Low morale
Declining learner numbers
Poor communication
Financial constraints
Process collapse

3.2 Challenges

The following were highlighted as challenges for Higher Education:

- stakeholder management

- funding models

- enrolment planning

- transformation

- internationalization and globalization

- relationship between schools and Higher Education

- staff capacity development

- research

- relationship with business sector

- multi-campus nature of institutions

3.3. The following were suggested as a way forward:

- sustainability

- resource constraints to be addressed

- stakeholder management to be prioritized

- need to implement change management

- risk and controls

- use appropriate expertise

4. DISCUSSING TEACHERS AND LABOUR RELATIONS BY MR THULAS NXESI- General Secretary of SADTU

4.1 Higher Education Sector

Bargaining and Labour Relations

Since 1994 the educator’s workload has increased dramatically. The union (SADTU) has done all it could to alleviate this problem but the situation stays the same. The process of merger has been messy. What prevails is them and us mentality. Education cannot be taken as just one of the expenses in the physcus, it is an investment.

4.2 Challenges in Higher Education

Stakeholders
Funding models
Enrolment planning
Transformation

4.3 The Way Forward

Sustainability
Resource constraints
Stakeholder management
Change management
Risk and controls
Use appropriate expertise

4.4 Exclusion of Black students from University

These exclusions are:

Financial exclusion, student’s inability to pay fees.
Academic exclusion, students who do not pass are excluded.

NB. National Financial student assistance (NSFAS) is just covering tuition, no books and no residential fees. Universities cannot use student’s numbers (number of students) as a formula for funding. E.g. we have admitted so many students, so we expect so much money from the government.

4.5 Observations

This was a very informative discussion which was based on a research report conducted by Naledi (National Labour & Economic Development Institute), published in October 2005.

The following issues, inter alia, were raised:

- There are still a lot of contract and temporary lecturers, especially amongst blacks.

- The race and gender distribution in most institutions does not reflect the new image of South Africa, since most high positions are still occupied by white males.

- It is difficult to unionize the sector because the conditions of employment at the Higher Education public sector institutions in South Africa are different for each institution, as there are no centralized conditions – setting system such as collective bargaining covering all institutions.

- However, there are common issues that necessitate unionization e.g. salaries of academics vis-à-vis those of managers; the racial configuration; gender inequity, etc.

5. CHALLENGES IN PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTERASHIPS BY MAHLUBI MABIZELA – Research Specialist in Human Science Research Council

5.1 Observations

The following were highlighted as the challenges:

- legitimacy of such partnerships

- conforming to changing environment in order to survive

- nature and objectives of partnerships (is it for profit)

- unclear purpose of partnership

- unconvincing commitment to education

- high demand for face-to-face intervention

6. THE REALITIES OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTENSHIPS (a case study) BY MR AG KGOTLE - CEO of the Association of Private Providers of Education, Training & Development

There is a feeling that face to face institutions such Wits, North West Vista, University of Johannesburg and private learning institutions such as private schools, colleges, these alone would not satisfy the needs of SA Europeans come to visit SA to feel it and when they are here, they do not want to feel like they are still in Europe, they want to feel South Africa.

The following questions were posed to participants in order to stimulate a way forward:

- Are we prepared to rock the boat?

- Are we prepared to tell the undiluted truth?

- Are we prepared to upset the powers that be?

- For how long do we want to be part of this status quo? ( No pain no gain)

- Are we ready to be ostracized / marginalized for our belief?

- Are we keen to be vocal to the voiceless?

7. ENROLMENTS AND LIBRARY RESOURCES BY DR. LOVENESS KAUNDA – Director of International Academic Programmes, University of Cape Town

The discussion was based on an investigation of the relationship between enrolment and library resources of higher education institutions in South Africa and Malawi.

The following issues were highlighted and analyzed in a tabular form:

Enrolment at South African universities in relation to the possible average number of monograph volumes per student and academic ranking in the world, region and country, where available.
Other categories of resources of South African universities and number of branch libraries
List of South African universities sampled and the financial aid allocated by November 2005
List of South African universities with the corresponding 2005 full cost of study

The following topics were covered on the second day of the conference:

8. LOOKNG AT ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION BY DR DRIEKIE HAY- Dean of academic development at the South African Association for Research and Development in Higher Education.

8.1 The following were highlighted as academic challenges facing South Africa:

- Finances

- Access

- Equity studies

- Skills-based training

- Quality

- Co-operation agreements

8.2 Nature of Academic development

● Higher education’s track records are poor

● Scholarships of academic development

● An open set of practices

The history the struggle of Higher Education in SA dates back in 1970 and was initiated in 1970, with specific reference to:

Black students: providing access, Add on provisions, 1990’s a shift to mainstream,
Professional academic staff development: including formal and informal learning
Training, job and institutional specifics: Development takes longer time span and is open ended; Training is directed to improving lecturers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes so that they perform their roles effectively.

8.3 Challenges with Education system in South African

S.A academics are grabbing models and ideas from Europe, America and Britain and apply them in South African conditions which may not be the same with Europe, Britain and America, without applying their minds as to what do South African students need.

The process of accreditation of lecturers in the UK. Concerns were highlighted on the following issues:

● Missing link with appraisal

● viewed as add on periphery

● Need for mentorship programme

● Scholarship is needed

● Professionalising academic development practices

● Too much of European and Western Models

It was mentioned that the External evaluation of university academics should be done by external experts on that particular course, e.g. economics lecturers to be assessed by external economics fundis. It is important that universities have to be development with African ethos, values, norms and standards.

The University of Free State University has diversity as one of it’s values. The challenge with universities however is that they have fossilized elements like old professors, lecturers and traditional SRC leaders who think that they are part of university furniture and they can’t be moved.

It was also revealed that it is important for any person to never impress on others that he/she is patronizing them or you know more than them or you are teaching them, for you lose it at once.

9. SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT BY NOMBULELO NXESI– CEO Education, Training and Development Practises (SETA)

The following issues were discussed at length and form part of the way forward:

Skills Development and Quality Education (SETA) is to ensure that through

Education and Training, skills are developed in order to take care of employability

and therefore addressing the issue of poverty, i.e. They should increase

employability and alleviate poverty.

9.1 Learnerships to be;

- Occupationally focused

- Lead to qualification

- Combination of formal education and training and work experience

Internships should be;

- for individuals already qualified

- mentored work experience

Legislation: Skills KILLS Development Act

- NSA- National Skills Association

- NSDS- National Skills Development Strategy

- NSF- National Skills Fund

Each and every institution of higher learning has R1 000 000-00 for staff training. SETAS are beginning to focus more on quality issues than quality issues.

Higher Education: This needs to transform through interfacing with skills development strategy. South Africa lacks skills in bridging the gap of the first and the second economies.

10. INTERFACING WITH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF SOUTH AFRICA BY JOEL SAMUELS -Deputy Executive Officer of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)

The following were highlighted as challenges facing the SAQA:

- Internationalisation

- Globalisation,, accountability

- Information technology

- Financing and funding

White paper – 3 highlights

- human resource development

- high-level skills development

- production, acquisition, etc.

The following issues were also discussed at length:

· The problem of developing a technologically advanced black force.

· SAQA and JIPS ( Joint Implementation Plans ) have engaged many stakeholders to expedite the generation of many qualifications that are required by sectors.

11. Co-ORDINATING INSTITUTTIONAL COLLABORATION BY LAUREL BECKER –HOD Arts, Language and Human Movements at University of Pretoria

The main theme of presentation was on the challenges of change: chomping at the bit or really championing the cause?

The message was that successful collaborations and mergers of institutions are largely dependant on the attitude of the people involved. There are people who are willing to champion the cause, while there are also those people who are chomping at the bit i.e. People who do it half-heartedly.

12. ENCOURAGING EQUITY AND DIVERSITY BY PROF. JOHAN BECKMAN UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

12.1 Aspects of Equity and Higher Education in South Africa

Equity is a cornerstone of education policies. Redress is necessary but actionable policies are not in place.

It is crucial that the demographics of the institution echo or reflect the national demographics policy intentions.

● Magic want syndrome

● Object of equitization

● Designated groups

● Blacks (Africans) coloureds and indians

Women, people with disabilities.

12.2 Exclusion of black Students from University

Financial exclusion (can’t pay fees)

Academic exclusion (can’t pass)

It is important for the government to revisit the allocation of NSFAS (National Financial Student Assistance) and ensure that it includes not only tuition but also books and residential fees.

Universities should not use students’ numbers as a formula for funding. For example, we have admitted so many students, so we expect so much money from the government.

Funding as a mechanism for driving equity has dropped.

The government says “if you do not perform, you get extra money to enable you to perform.

The dropout rate or intrusion of black students is resulting from the lack of preparedness for higher education. Lack of funding is another cause of dropout (unemployment) of parents, lack of resources in black schools, long distance traveling to school; HIV/AIDS attacks both teachers and learners.

The presentation was based on the challenges facing higher education as discussed at length by the previous speakers, although the emphasis was on the changing of attitudes in order to allow equity and diversity in the higher education institutions.

There was a tendency to put more emphasis on the white male academics being regarded as “redundant” irrespective of the knowledge and experience they have gathered over the years.

A more balanced approach would be preferred, where these academics could be recognized and their skills be utilized where necessary, but this should not be at the expense of the necessary changes in the higher education sector, which are in line with the democratic principles of the country.

13. WAY FORWARD

STRATEGIC PLANNING BY DR. ADRIAAN VAN SCHOON–Director of the Bureau for Counselling Career and Academic Development at the University of South Africa

The importance of strategic planning was emphasized at this stage, and that the way strategic planning is done determines whether plans become effective or not.

The following issues were discussed at length:

basic principles of complexity theory
factors increasing the complexity of the external higher education environment in South Africa
proposals regarding strategic planning in higher education to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the process

14. PANEL DISCUSSIONS

With respect to the higher education act, is there really a need for equity and diversity in the higher education system?

This was an open session where different ideas were shared on whether or not there is a need for equity and diversity in the higher education system. This was an academic exercise, no specific way forward was agreed upon.

15. RECOMMEDATIONS OF THE DELEGATION

It is recommended that all Members of the Portfolio Committee to be furnished with copies of the Naledi Report, which gives a comprehensive perspective of the discussion and suggested way-forward.

It is recommended that Members of the Portfolio Committee be furnished with copies of the discussion document for more information.

15. 1 CONCLUDING REMARKS

This was a very enlightening and informative conference. It was an opportunity for Committee Members to interact with these stakeholders and to gather important information which cannot be gathered through oversight visits. It has given us a broader perspective of the scenario in higher education, which will enhance our debates and decision making in Parliament. The delegation is grateful for the opportunity granted to them to attend this conference.

Report to be considered.

SCHOOLS' NORMS BUDGET: 2006/2007

	QUINTILE 1	QUINTILE 2	QUINTILE 3	QUINTILE 4	QUINTILE 5	TOTALS
NO. OF SCHOOLS	545	417	431	407	393	2,193
NO. OF LEARNERS	177,446	172,972	185,986	175,352	236,860	948,616
TOTAL NORMS ALLOCATION	36,519,801	25,427,869	21,823,822	15,466,645	6,963,954	106,202,091
ADDITIONAL ALLOCATION	26,000,686	31,597,279				57,597,965
LTSM ALOCATION	37,052,206	42,312,077	41,624,908	44,247,309	42,620,183	207,856,683
TOTAL	99,572,693	99,337,225	63,448,730	59,713,954	49,584,137	371,656,739
PER LEARNER	561	574	341	341	209	392
TARGET TABLES	703	645	527	352	117
MONETARY VALUE	25,171,845	12,229,715	34,565,892	2,009,950	0	73,977,402
LTSM PER LEARNER	208.81	244.62	223.81	252.33	179.94	219.12
ALLOCATION BEFORE ADD	205.81	147.01	117.34	88.20	29.40	111.95
TARGET ACHIEVEMENT	517	406	63	54	41	1,081

Name of School	ICT Computer facilities		District & Classification	Availability of textbooks	Election of SGB	Infrastructure (water, electricity, toilets)	Budget
General High Schools
Huhudi High School This is a worst performing school in 2005: 2002- 39% 2003- 53% 2004- 59% 2005- 13,13%	3 computers for educators and only 1 computer is in operation. 20 computers for learners. No internet access, no electricity, telephone not working. No access to Departmental data.		Kagisano Molopo, Semi Urban Section 21, in a rural area. 22, educators 2 vacancies & 648 learners. fees: R150 per learner Budget: R20 000 for the past 3 years. No budget has been received this financial year.	Only 1 textbook available for grade 12 educators. Most of the learners in the school share textbooks.	Yes, from the attendance of 60 parents. There is reluctance by parents to participate to school activities.	Shortage of water in the area, hence the use of pit latrine toilets. Flush toilets are not properly serviced. Electricity & water are not properly paid. The school needs R20 000 to fix the drainage system. No learner transport though some learner stay over 5 km away from school.	Not confirm but less than R20 000. Yearly many of the learners are unable to pay school fees. Fess R 150 per learner for 2006.
Bopanang High School (Township school) 2002- 60.71% 2003- 53.16% 2004- 71.93% 2005- 53.64%	Only 3 computers for use by educators. The computer lab does not have computers for learners.		Bophirima Region, Vryburg Area Quintile level 4 42, educators 1,140 learners	Only 1 textbook available for grade 9 learners for the technology subject. Grade 12 - only 68 Julius Caesar textbooks are available. Have problem with retrieval of books.	Poor involvement of parents. Only 9 attended the meeting and were nominated as SGB.	Educators do not receive pay slips regularly. No learner transport even though some learners say over 20km, away from school.	Section 20 The 2006/7 budget is at R110, per learner. The schools budget has not been received form the Department.
Bergsig High School (Model C ) Obtains a 100% grade 12 pass every year.	Fully equipped and operational		Bojanala West Region, Rustenburg District 858 learners of which 25 are black. 35 white educators & 11 are females	No problem	Yes	Shortage of land for netball, parking and abolition facilities	budget R 5 million Cost of fees per learner: R 395, with a record of collection of fees: 95% in 2005 and 70% for 2006.
Bafokeng High School (most improved performing school) Grade 10-12 2002- 68% 2002- 52.3% 2003 -32.24% 2004- 91.96%			Semi urban school, quintile 3 927 learners 28 educators	No problem	Yes	High cost of electricity not difficult to maintain.	section 20 school, R106 000 budget for 2005/06
LSEN Schools
Ikalefeng School LSEN School (pre-primary, junior, middle, vocational & senior levels	21 computers, not suitable for the learners with special needs		Southern Region, Letlakgona District 14 educators No occupational therapist. 48 support staff Only 20 learners can stay in the hostel.		8 SGB members nominated & functioning.	The school has been upgraded but does not have electricity transformer. It experiences power cuts almost three times per week.	Transfers are received on quarterly basis and all is up to date. The money is used for special needs of the school.
Technical Schools
Potchefstroom Technical High School Urban school; quintile 5 (Best performing School) 2002- 96%, 2003-05 100%	2 photocopiers Computer lab.		Southern Region, Potchefstroom area. 35 educators 981 learners		SGB elected & first meeting on 31/7/06.The meeting was well attended.		30 learners are exempted fees: R4 200 per learner per annum
Primary schools
Mochwari Primary (Rural school)	1 telephone & fax. No access to DoE network		Bophirima Region, Kagisano Molopo District	NSNP: All learners benefit from the school‘s feeding scheme.		The school needs are: 8 classrooms including grade R, laboratory, library, sport facilities and fully functional administration block.	No funding has been received this year.
Moedswil Comprehensive Farm School =merger of 11 farm schools into a comprehensive farm school dual curriculum: Afrikaans & Setwana Grade 1-9	Fully equipped with computer & science laboratory including a media centre.		Bojanalo West Region, Rustenburg District 562 learners, 300 of them are in hostels. 38 educators, 20 general staff members 10 SMT Members	NSNP: All learners benefit from the school‘s feeding scheme.	SGB has been nominated. The farmers provide support by bringing parents to meetings.	The school infrastructure is well taken care of.	Funding received in April 2006. R 1, 6 million has been allocated. Two trenches received: R 450 000 & R 750 000
Combined Schools
Onkgopotse Tiro Comprehensive School = Integration of 12 farm schools. Section 21, categorised as quintile 3, but will be confirmed as quintile 1 after re-assessment.	27 computers but no access to internet due problems with telkom lines.	Central District, rural school 31, educators 972 learners & 575 of them are in hostels. 13 General Assistants for learners in hostels.		The school is not part of NSNP programme	9 SGB Members have been elected, with parents attendance of more than 500 parents	The infrastructure development in the school is satisfactory. A sponsor for electricity has been sought with PPC.	Budget R2, 910million, has been allocated. Thus far, R 78 000 has been received.
Early Childhood Development Centre –ECDC
Montshioa Community Creche			Central Region, Mafikeng Area 4 educators and 42 learners	Learners are brought to school by their parents.			Funding: R4, 50 per child & only 20 learners quality for R 20 000 per annum.

Name of Districts	No. of Circuits	No. of schools	No. of Teachers	No. Educators	Staff Complement	Vacancy rate
Mopane	22+2	770			-19 Circuit Managers, -11 temporary, -8 permanent.	292 posts, 60%filled 3 vacant
Waterberg	18				-18 Circuit managers, -14 temporary -4 permanent	295 posts 134 filled 152vacant
Capricorn	32	933			-32 Circuit managers -12 permanent -20 temporary
Vhembe	27	108			-27 Circuit managers -25 permanent -2 temporary	3 vacant post: Personnel, Financial, Examination managers
Bohlabela	16	400			-16 Circuit managers -6 permanent -10 temporary	292 posts 120 filled
Sekhukhune	33	919			- Circuit manager -6 permanent	All posts are vacant