The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education yesterday began its oversight visit to schools in the Western Cape, where it noted with concern the planned cutting of teaching posts for the 2025 academic year and the extremely late placement of learners.
The committee visited Walter Teka Primary in Nyanga-East, Joe Slovo High in Khayelitsha and Rosendaal High in Delft. The Western Cape is the second leg of the committee’s first oversight since the beginning of the seventh Parliament. On Monday and Tuesday, the committee visited schools in the Northern Cape.
The failure of provincial Department of Education officials to attend site visits “annoyed” the portfolio committee Chairperson Ms Joy Maimela, as their absence resulted in some of the committee’s questions remaining unanswered. Ms Maimela said the committee regarded their failure to attend as disrespectful. “It is unacceptable that the province is not present. That is unacceptable. We informed the province about our programme for the upcoming three days, so they could not schedule their meeting in that period,” said Ms Maimela.
She emphasised that the committee had seen the media reports on the Western Cape Education Department’s intention to cut a considerable number of teacher posts in 2025. “This is a concern for us, and we wanted to engage with them on how we could avoid this,” added Ms Maimela.
At Walter Teka Primary School, the committee heard that the Metro-East Education District of Cape Town had 170 unplaced high school learners this school year. They were only placed at a new high school in July. It was later explained that these learners received study materials when they registered with the district office. “It is unacceptable that these learners did not have a teacher in front of them for half of the school year,” said Ms Maimela.
Committee Member Ms Delmaine Christians enquired about the crime in areas surrounding schools and asked if the violence spilled over into schools. She also asked about the crime of extortion and whether it had impacted on any schools in the area.
At Joe Slovo Engineering School in Khayelitsha the committee noted with concern that as the school has significantly improved its National Senior Certificate results, it will now lose three critical posts in 2025. The posts are in Mathematics, Physical Science and English. This is expected to affect matric results next year. The committee also noted the school’s battle with its high electricity account.
Committee Member Ms Yanga Govana also raised her concerns about cutting teacher posts in important subjects at an engineering school, noting that it could be disastrous for the school results.
The committee heard that in the Metro-East district, 459 posts will be affected and district education offices have been instructed to indicate exactly which posts will be cut.
The committee concluded its visit yesterday on a high note at Roosendaal High School in Delft. Committee members commended the school for the work it is doing, both in the classroom and in the community at large. The school has a coding and robotics pilot project and has benefited from a solar panel project. “This is the first school that has strong linkage with several local and international partners. It sounds like it is in sync with the environment it is situated in,” Ms Maimela said.
The committee has requested a meeting with the Western Cape Education Department today before it conducts more school visits.
Rajaa Azzakani
10 October 2024
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