The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education yesterday shifted its focus to the Ilembe Education District where it visited three schools on the third day of its oversight visits schools in KwaZulu-Natal.
The committee visited Groutville Secondary School, Stanger Training Centre for learners with special needs and Stanger Manor Secondary School. Earlier in the week the committee conducted oversight in the uGu Education District.
At Groutville Secondary School, the committee heard that the school had serious overcrowding in its classes. The school has a learner population of 2 752 with 111 educators. Most classes at the school have between 70 and 80 learners. According to the school, it has requested four additional classrooms from the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
Committee Member Ms Nompumelelo Gasa questioned the DBE about its plans to address the large number of learners at the school and well as its plans for extra ablution facilities for learners and educators, a commitment was made by the DBE to in 2023. She also raised concerns about the school’s 64% mathematics pass rate in the in 2024 National Senior Certificate examinations and wanted more information on the intervention programmes that have been implemented.
Committee Chairperson Ms Joy Maimela said the committee held the DBE accountable for the extra ablution facilities it promised the school in 2023. “We hold you accountable. How you do it and with who you do it with, is not our problem. You made a commitment and you must honour it.”
She said the purpose of the oversight visit is to assess the state-of-school-readiness for the 2025 academic year. This included the following areas of focus, amongst others, learner admissions and teacher/learner ratios; early childhood development; National Senior Certificate 2024 results and improvement plans for 2025; and implantation of curriculum including coding and robotics, mathematics, science and technology.
The committee will also focus on support for rural education and special schools (i.e. provisioning of resources; user-friendly infrastructure; and preparing learners for post-school education/entry to workplace based learning programmes. Social cohesion, including gender-based violence framework; safety in schools; preparing learners to participate in school sports and talent identification in music eisteddfods will also be assessed.
The committee applauded the staff of Stanger Training Centre for the initiatives they have undertaken to assist with the maintenance of the centre, as well as working with the private sector to ensure the building of new infrastructure and a computer centre specifically for learners with special needs.
“These initiatives must be commended. The school is working with the community and the private sector to ensure that it does not only depend on government for funding, especially in the tight financial conditions that the country is currently experiencing. It is a best practice model that many schools can learn from,” said Ms Maimela.
Committee Member Mr Siphosethu Ngcobo however raised questions about learner transport at the school and said it becomes a problem when it is not repaired.
At Stanger Manor Secondary School the committee noted that even though the school had a high number of applications, it limited the number of learners it accepted in order to keep classes small. “This is what Quintile 5 schools do all the time. Part of the frustration of middle-class parents is when their application for admission is declined, they must look for an independent school. There, they pay more, whereas you could be making class sizes bigger,” said Ms Maimela. She agreed that the implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act will address this matter as the Head of Department of Education in the provinces will now have the final say on admissions.
The committee was also approached by a disgruntled parent at the school. He told the committee he had evidence of corruption, mismanagement of funds, sexual abuse and favoritism in electing school governing body members. He said the school had prevented him from raising the matter in this engagement, but the KZN MEC for Education raised it in the meeting. The parent was then allowed to address the meeting. Ms Maimela said the committee will look into the matter and the provincial department agreed to set up a task team to deal speedily with this.
Rajaa Azzakani
27 February 2025
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