The Select Committee on Education and Recreation considered the Eastern Cape Department of Education Progress Report on the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP’s) oversight findings that emanated from its pre-visits at Alfred Nzo and Buffalo City Municipality from 18 to 21 October and during its Taking Parliament to The People programme held from 14 to 18 November 2016 in Eastern London.
Making her opening remarks, the Chairperson of the Committee Ms Lungelwa Zwane said they embarked on these programmes to check whether the budget that they passed for the department was addressing the priorities raised in its budget vote statement. “After our visits, we generated a report and we forwarded our recommendations to you, with regard to what needed to be attended to. This oversight visit serves to determine if there is any progress in that regard.”
The Deputy Director of the Department, Mr Ray Tywakadi, said they took the NCOP oversight visit very seriously, as a result they followed up on the matter that they raised in their recommendations. “There are 29 schools combined that you visited during your oversight visits in the Alfred Nzo District and Buffalo City Municipality. And you encountered vexing challenges. After you left we set up a committee to see how your recommendations can be implemented.”
A major concern in the NCOP fact-finding report was the state of three special schools in these districts, St Thomas School for the Deaf, Ebhotwe Inclusive Primary School, Vukuhambe and Fundisa, which relate to the lack of a coherent curriculum, security and absence of qualified sign language teachers.
When the NCOP delegation visited St Thomas School for the Deaf in Buffalo City, it found that the school operated without teachers who are qualified in sign language. As a response to that, the department has now appointed teachers who are properly qualified in sign language, including the department’s officials. “Training sessions for educators in sign language are ongoing. This include the department’s officials.”
And its curriculum adaptation framework, which the school did not have before, has now been finalised. “One 116 district officials were trained in curriculum adaptation and 2 732 teachers were trained from 382 schools.”
The escalating drug problem at Ebhotwe Inclusive Primary School that the NCOP oversight visits unearthed has also been attended to through the assistance of the Department of Social Development and the South African Police Service, said Mr Tywakadi.
The recommendation that the department pay a special and urgent attention to the development of programmes for autistic learners has been attended to, according to the department’s report. “A start in the empowerment of autistic learners has been made by the school. The exploration of a suitable developmental programme will be made.”
At Vukuhambe the NCOP oversight found that there was no adoption of CAPS (Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements) to cater for special schools. “We had a discussion with our directory on quality and qualification so that those employed can cater for the needs of these special schools. The Department started to acquire assistive devices to help in this regard,” said Mr Tywakadi.
Poor leadership and management of schools, teacher quality and support, teenage pregnancy, school safety, shortage of learning materials featured prominently in the NCOP oversight report in these districts.
According to the Deputy Director-General (DDG), an MoU (memorandum of understanding) has been signed with the Departments of Health and Social Development to intervene in the rise of teenage pregnancy at schools.
Regarding school management and leadership, the NCOP findings stipulated a need to ensure that the schools were assisted with the strengthening of school management and teacher development to ensure that they provide quality education. “We now roped in former and competent retired principals and we work with General Motors to coach current principals on school management. There is also a programme on the training of principals on curriculum development. And we are exploring modules on curriculum management. We hope these interventions will improve both the quality of education and the management of schools in our province,” said the DDG.
The department has resorted to ICT (information and communications technology) as a means to enhance the effectiveness of its teaching programmes, especially at the foundation phase, said the DDG. “There are four institutes for support and development of teachers. We have revamped them and installed ICT with the help of Vodacom and provided teachers with laptop as part of their virtual teacher development programmes.
Infrastructure, scholar transport and the closing down of schools still remain the mainstay of the education sector in the Eastern Cape. According to the report, there is a multi-pronged strategy in place to deal with these matter because some of which are not the core business of the department of education, but yet are critical to its viability. “We have embraced the NCOP’s recommendation that needs to be factored in in the Integrated Development Plans of municipalities. We have now initiated that.”
“We were shocked to learn that principals are imposed on schools, why was that the case and what is the department doing about that?” asked a member of the Committee, Ms Landulile Dlamini.
The Director-General of the department, Mr Themba Kojana, replied: “What is clear is that there may have been instances where principals’ appointments were imposed. Currently, we are strengthening the appointment process of principals and a guide on the role of School Governing Bodies on what are the qualities and competencies needed for such a candidate. Going forward, we will engage with the portfolio of evidence of all candidates, we will not just appoint.”
Ms Dlamini also raised her concern about the lack of consultation with communities when the department has taken a decision to close schools as part of its rationalisation. The Member of the Executive Committee on Education in the Province, Mr Mandla Makupula, replied: “There are 1 992 schools that have between 5, 12 and 19 kids who are in different grades. According to the national department’s policy, such a school must have one teacher. That is not feasible.
“As a department we should first and foremost protect the rights of children. When we do rationalisation, communities will come up with excuses. But yes, I persuade them through consultation.”
He said there were many instances where persuasion failed. “We built a R30 million school in Port Elizabeth, when it was deserted we initiated rationalisation and we consulted the community, but they refused. Eventually, there were no longer children at that school, by that time it was vandalised.”
By March we had gazetted 5 236 schools that are empty, he said. “Rationalisation impacts on roles of communities and inter-governmental relations. And it involves so many stakeholders that are often difficult to persuade even if the school has not enough children to keep it afloat as per the specifications.”
It has been a worry to all of us that the Eastern Cape has consistently produced poor matric results, said the Chairperson of the Committee. “That is what led to our oversight visits. But in the Auditor-General’s report, the Eastern Cape is the worst performing province.”
The Chairperson said they were invigorated by the kind of attitude the department displayed in its report, which showed that it has a finger on the pulse of its problems. “Although there is so much to be done to get things right in your education sector, we are encouraged by your positive energy. That seems to suggest that there is nothing that is impossible. Your attitude tells me that tomorrow we will get better news from you. We are looking forward to that.”
She said the Committee was not happy with the department’s response on teenage, teenage pregnancy and the delivering of wrong text books that necessitated the department to issue a tender to retrieve them. “Why don’t principals place correct orders? Is this a deliberate, corrupt practice? What is going on here? As a Committee, we are not happy about that. It is an unnecessary expense. We need to look into that.”
The Head of the Department, Mr Kojana, said they learnt a lot from their interaction with the Committee. “We are pleased you guided us regarding our strategic plan that we must look at all our challenges holistically and engage other sister departments that have a role to play in our space. That is valuable and we will build on it.”
By Abel Mputing
13 September 2017
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