Statement by Minister Angie Motshekga on progress made in delivering school infrastructure

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION, MRS ANGIE MOTSHEKGA, MP, ON THE PROGRESS MADE IN DELIVERING SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IN TERMS OF THEREGULATIONS RELATING TO MINIMUM UNIFORM NORMS AND STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS INFRASTRUCTURE : 14 NOVEMBER 2016

 

Good morning and thank you for attending this briefing which intends to provide an update on the progress made on infrastructure roll out in the basic education sector.

 

You may be aware that the education sector has been plagued with infrastructure challenges as we seek to not only accommodate the huge gains made in terms of access to basic education but also to deal with inappropriate or inadequate infrastructure.

Despite many challenges, progress has been made due, in part, to the immense political will and the efforts of those officials who have been working tirelessly to address the backlogs.

 

You may recall that in November 2013 we published the Regulations Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public Schools Infrastructure. This was the first time that Government had set itself targets of this nature in terms of school infrastructure. When considering these regulations we were aware of the immense task we had ahead of ourselves, but at the same time knew we could not allow the status quo to continue where schools did not have access to water, electricity or sanitation.

 

With this in mind and along with a determination to shake the sector into action we set ourselves very ambitious targets. These in the main included the provision of water, sanitation and electricity to all schools as well as the eradication of inappropriate structures, such as mud schools, asbestos schools and the “plankie” schools.

 

In acknowledging the backlogs and in a bid to fast track the provision of school infrastructure, a multitude of programmes specifically targeted at the provision of infrastructure have been undertaken by Government.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMMES

The sector provides infrastructure through two programmes namely: the provincial infrastructure programmes as well as the Accelerated School infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI). The Provincial Schools Build Programme is implemented by provinces and it targets the provision of basic services, new schools, additions to existing schools, new and upgrading of services and maintenance. It is funded through the Education Infrastructure Grant and the Provincial contribution through the equitable share.

Each Provincial Education Department (PED) is required to submit its infrastructure plan to the Department of Basic Education on a set of scheduled dates. Each PED identifies its targets in terms of the 3 year Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and progress is monitored and reported on Quarterly. The Accelerated School infrastructure Delivery Initiative is a programme driven by the DBE to address schools infrastructure backlogs on all schools that do not meet the basic safety norms and standards. It is funded through the Schools Infrastructure backlogs Grant. The purpose of the programme is for the eradication of schools made entirely of inappropriate structures and the provision of basic level of water, sanitation and electricity to schools that did not have these services. The two programmes are jointly responsible for the attainment of the targets set in the Norms and Standards.

 

PROVISION OF BASIC SERVICES

The sector has achieved relatively good progress in providing basic services (water, sanitation and power supply) both in terms of actual access to services, but also in terms of operational capacity of the sector to provide these services. The targets as articulated in the Regulations Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure, is to attain universal access to basic services provision by the 2016/17 financial year. To achieve the goal, key milestones were set as follows:-

 

·         2014/15: 98% of all schools to have access to basic services;

·         2015/16: 99% of all schools to have access to basic services;

·         2016/17): 100% of all schools to have access to basic services.

 

Significant progress has been made in provision of the services in the sector.

 

PROGRESS IN MEETING THREE- YEAR TARGETS

According to Section 4 (3) (a) (b)) of the Norms and Standards, “All schools built entirely from materials such as asbestos, metal and wood, as well as all those schools that do not have access to any form of power supply, water supply or sanitation must be prioritised and complied with, within a period of three years from the date of publication of the Regulations”.

a)    SANITATION

According to the Norms and Standards for the three-year target, all schools which do not have some form of sanitation facilities must be prioritised. This was extremely important because I am unsure how anyone can expect a child to be in school all day and not be able to go to the toilet. As at October 2014, about 474 schools without some form of sanitation were identified. By the end of September 2016, some 408 schools were provided with sanitation and we continue to roll out and deliver on this progress.

 

Table 1 Sanitation

PROVINCE	Total number of Schools  October 2014	Total number of Schools without Sanitation October 2014	Total number of Schools without Sanitation May 2015	Total number of Schools without Sanitation November 2016	Total Achieved  September 2016	% Achieved
Eastern Cape	5468	366	94	61	305	83%
Free State	1303	26	11	5	21	81%
Gauteng	2069	0	0	0	0	N/A
KwaZulu-Natal	5859	66	15	0	66	100%
Limpopo	3829	0	0	0	0	N/A
Mpumalanga	1746	11	8	0	11	100%
North West	1488	5	0	0	5	100%
Northern Cape	538	0	0	0	0	N/A
Western Cape	1440	0	0	0	0	N/A
Total	23740	474	128	66	408

 

With regards to progress in addressing the schools without any form of sanitation facilities, out of the 9 provinces, 7 have achieved the three-year target and these provinces are already addressing the seven-year targets.

Only two provinces will not achieve the targets, however, there are implementation plans and the projects are at different stages of implementation to address the shortfall. One of the challenges identified is the rationalisation and school merger processes which are taking place, where some schools have been identified for merger and others for closure.

 

b)   WATER

According to the Norms and Standards for the three-year target, all schools must have access to some form of water supply. As at October 2014, there were about 604 schools without some form of water supply that were identified. As at September 2016, about 523 of those schools were provided with water. Over and above the three-year target, provinces have moved to the seven-year target in this regard as well.

Table 2 Water

Province	Total number of Schools  October 2014	Total number of Schools without Water  October 2014	Total number of Schools without Water May 2015	Total number of Schools without Water November 2016	Total Achieved  September 2016	% Achieved
Eastern Cape	5468	339	241	58	281	83%
Free State	1303	65	33	23	42	65%
Gauteng	2069	0	0	0	0	N/A
KwaZulu -Natal	5859	183	171	0	183	100%
Limpopo	3829	0	0	0	0	N/A
Mpumalanga	1746	8	5	0	8	100%
North West	1488	9	2	0	9	100%
Northern Cape	538	0	0	0	0	N/A
Western Cape	1440	0	0	0	0	N/A
Total	23740	604