Parliament, Friday, 4 February 2022 – The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education visited several schools in the Frances Baard Education District in Kimberley today, where it wrapped up its week-long oversight visit to the Northern Cape Province to assess readiness of schools for the 2022 academic year.
The committee has visited schools in four provinces since the start of the 2022 academic year. The provinces are: North West, Free State, Western Cape and Northern Cape. The oversight visit programme included engagements with stakeholders such as national, provincial and district officials of education, organised labour, school governing bodies and organisations of school principals.
Lack of support to schools including to special schools by education authorities was highlighted, especially by schools that were converted to “full-service schools”. The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, suggested that an education summit to discuss the provision of support by the departments of education to schools must be convened.
She said: “It is not fair to re-classify a school as a full service school when it is clear that support will not follow the re-classification. You are changing a school but not capacitating it. You are frustrating teachers and the manager of the school.
The committee has noted that the challenge of crime is rife in the Frances Baard Education District like in the Z F Mgcawu Education District which the committee visited yesterday. Ms Mbinqo-Gigaba said the committee noted that the drop-out rate of learners in this district was over 1 900 per year.
“This could also contribute to the levels of vandalism and crime at our schools. We need to bring back the sense of activism in our schools and communities. Protection of the infrastructure should be high on the agenda. It seems like kids are dropping out and become criminals.”
The committee heard that drug abuse, learners coming to schools under the influence of liquor and fighting by learners were the order of the day in the education district and that disrupts learning at schools.
It also heard that the province struggled to attract educators for mathematics and physical science subjects locally. The committee heard that when teaching posts are advertised for those subjects, applications are received largely from Ghananian and Zimbabwean teachers.
Ms Mbinqo-Gigaba said the basic education sector is very big in South Africa. She called for cooperation of all to make education successful as it is the tool for the success and future of the country. “We need to strive and soldier-on for better and quality education for all our learners. We need quality passes,” added Ms Mbinqo-Gigaba.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCATION, MS BONGIWE MBINQO-GIGABA.
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