The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Ms Joy Maimela, today took pains to emphasise the importance of implementing the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act in its entirety, including the two sections that are in dispute. The Department of Basic Education was in Parliament to brief the committee on its state of readiness to begin the school year, to provide learning and teacher support material, to roll out the National School Nutrition Programme and to provide safe and viable scholar transport. It also briefed the committee on its early childhood development regime.
Ms Maimela also congratulated the teachers and students of the matric class of 2024, who achieved a remarkable Bachelor pass rate. However, she was disappointed by the low Bachelor passes in the Free State Province, despite that province recording more matric passes than in previous years. She was also concerned about the lower enrolment figures in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects in certain provinces. “Additional support should be offered in this regard to ensure there’s an uptake of these critical subjects,” she said.
On the topic of the large numbers of learners in all provinces who are reported to have not received admission in schools in 2025, committee member Mr Mandla Shikwambana asked if the delays in implementing the BELA Act are to blame for that. The Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, responded by saying that it is impossible for a Minister not to implement an Act that has been enacted into law.
“As we stand, the BELA Act is fully implementable and is being implemented. As a department we have had workshops with officials to ensure they are abreast with the Act,” she assured committee members. She added every law has guidelines and regulations because, “… not everyone is abreast of the processes of law-making. Hence, the need for guidelines and regulations for principals and teachers to ensure they understand and make sense of it.”
Committee members also had questions about dilapidated school infrastructure, particularly in rural provinces, which they said pose imminent danger to learners and teachers and are not conducive to learning and teaching. The Minister responded by saying that some of the responsibility for this lies at the feet of decade-long budget cuts. “We have resolved to raise the fact that the education budget should not be the sole responsibility of the Minister of Finance, but of government as a whole, given its national significance,” Ms Gwarube said.
The budget cuts have also contributed to the growing vacancy rate at various schools and the much-discussed cuts in teacher posts. “The existing teaching vacancies have not been funded over the decade and that is not the decision of the Minister, but of government,” the Minister pointed out.
When asked by Chairperson Maimela how the department intends to avert the cuts to teacher posts in the Western Cape and Gauteng, Ms Gwarube replied that other than appealing to the government for more funding, the department is in the process of reconfiguring its employment budget to see if it can mitigate the issue.
Speaking of the endemic challenges of pupils’ admission and placement at the start of every school year, committee member Mr Lencel Komane, said he has come to realise that the number of children is growing, but the number of schools is not. The department’s Director for Education Management and Governance Development, Mr James Ndlebe, stated that this is often caused by internal migration. He illustrated his point by saying: “Currently, there is huge migration of black families from Soweto to [other] urban areas. As a result, there are many schools in Soweto that are left empty.” This is also happening in the Eastern Cape, he said. “The department used to build a school in every week in the Eastern Cape, but those schools are now empty due to migration.”
Another committee member, Ms Nompumelelo Gaza, said the dire state of early childhood development centres in KwaZulu Natal is a grave concern. The department’s Chief Director: Education Human Resource Management, Ms Simone Geyer, responded that the department will present a detailed report to the committee on 18 February on this sector, because it is not part of the public education regime and requires a lot of funding and resources.
Committee member Mr Mandla Shikwambana was concerned about scholar transport on South Africa’s unsafe roads. Ms Gwarube noted that the department is working hard to formulate a scholar transport policy with all stakeholders to ensure that scholars are safe.
On the killing of school principals, committee member Mr Thulani Shongwe asked what the department is doing to address this growing problem, as some teachers are too afraid to report to work in fear of their lives, allegedly for reporting the fraudulent qualifications of some principals. He called for all the qualifications of school principals to be verified before appointment. A departmental official, Mr Salie Faker, reported that the department is working with the police in this regard and the police is monitoring 10 districts around the country where killings have been most prevalent.
Abel Mputing
4 February 2025
Arrange a tour