Community Education and Training (CET) update by Department of Higher Education and Training

Meeting report

South African ABET Educators Union: Challenges and recommendations

Ms Xoliswa Hulla, Chairperson: South African ABET Educators’ Union (SAAEU), said the under-payment of educators was a challenge, as some educators were getting as little as R6 000, while others earned R15 000 per month. This discrepancy had led to demotivation among teachers. This was coupled to the fact that some educators employed by the Western Cape Education Department and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) were doing two jobs, while some Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) teachers remained unemployed after training. ABET teachers were allegedly being used as casual labour, because some had been contract workers for up to 10 years and were said to be faced with intimidation and bullying by centre managers, who sometimes made them do domestic work and cleaning.  Ms Hulla said up to 90% of centre managers could be “double-parkers” (hold two jobs), which caused prejudice to ABET teachers. She said that scrapping the bridging programme had led to an increase in the failure rate among ABET students.

Additional complaints made by the SAAEU were a lack of resources was at Adult Education Centres, and the delayed payment of educators since 2015. Moreover, ABET diplomas were not recognised qualifications, which had caused people to leave the profession because it prevented them from gaining further qualifications. Strategic positions had been filled without posts being advertised. She recommended that “double-parking” should be stopped and that all unemployed ABET educators should be employed. By April 2018, all contracted teachers should be fully integrated and all unfulfilled payments should be paid to teachers who qualified by that time.

Ms Hulla stressed that ABET qualifications be recognised by the DHET, that centre managers should be taught basic human rights and administrative law, while more centres should be created and be better resourced. 

Discussion

Mr C Kekana (ANC) was alarmed by some of the allegations, especially the “double parking” issue, which he said did not make sense. He suggested that an inquiry should be conducted, and people accused of transgressing should be asked to tell their side of the story, but the Portfolio Committee did not have the capacity to undertake such an investigation. The DHET needed to be approached about the non-payment of teachers.

DHET:   Community Education and Training (CET)

Dr Bheki Mahlobo, Acting Deputy Director General (DDG): DHET, explained that the outstanding payments to teachers were due to delays in processing applications for, and updating of, Relative Education Qualification Values (REQVs) and payment thereof. He acknowledged there were 1 542 outstanding payments which needed to be made, with Limpopo and Eastern Cape having the highest claimants.

He outlined the policy development mechanism for Community Education and Training (CET), including the national policy on curriculum development and implementation, the national policy for monitoring and evaluation, as well as procedures for opening, merging and closing CET facilities. Some of the major administrative issues were the absence of a collective bargaining structure, standardisation of CET lecturers’ conditions of service, and reversing the lecturer cuts of 2014 in Limpopo.

Dr Mahlobo subsequently talked about funding of the CET system, and commented that money for the CETs was by procured by technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges because the CETs did not have the supply chain procurement capacity which the TVETs possessed.

Mr David Diale, Chief Director: CET, DHET, said the current Adult Education and Training (AET) curriculum was in the process of being changed, as it had been inherited from the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs). The National Senior Certificate which was issued to AET learners was supposed to have been phased out, but this had not been done yet. There was a need to link the general education programmes with community and context driven programmes, like the expanded public works programme (EPWP), the community works programme (CWP), and community development workers (CDW), amongst others. He acknowledged that lecturer development was a priority, and the DHET would establish a system which dealt with the supply, utilisation, development and evaluation of lecturers in CET colleges. 

Dr Mahlobo said the Department needed to secure R114 million to pay for the salaries of Limpopo CET teachers.

Discussion

Mr A van der Westhuizen (DA) said the presentation left more questions to be asked, because the DHET had not been able to stabilise and expand this domain. He viewed CET as schools where new skills would be derived, but he could see that that would happen only if staff were motivated and efficient. He thought there would be a strong emphasis on CET, but the current situation told a very sad story.  He asked about learners who had been turned away, and felt this was unacceptable. Basic administration had to be provided to avoid such incidents in future. He also asked how many hours per week lecturers taught, and asked if there was proof that ABET teachers provided better results than mainstream teachers.

Mr Van der Westhuzen wanted to know if all that had been presented was the responsibility of the DHET, or the Department of Basic Education (DBE). He expressed his concern about National Senior Certificate for Adults (NASCA) qualifications, because people did not recognise them, and asked what the DHET was doing to make stakeholders aware of this. He added that the centres were supposed be where performance management occurred, and he believed the centre manager was supposed to be the first point of contact.

Mr M Wolmarans (ANC) appreciated the DHET’s policies, which aimed to establish standardisation and uniformity within the sector. He said there appeared to be problems in the Western Cape and Limpopo provinces, and suggested a similar approach be used to address their issues. When would the Minister be informed of recent developments?

Mr R Mavunda (ANC) thought the DHET’s presentation would respond to the SAAEU’s presentation, but he had been confused by it and hoped clarification would be given on who was responsible for certificates. He realised there was a lot of bureaucracy, and believed that most of the issues were controlled from Pretoria, because if centre managers did not respond to employees’ plight in respect of payment after making use of their services, they could not afterwards claim that they were not qualified when it was time to get paid. Being a lifetime contract teacher was bad. It left teachers and their families in a very bad situation, and the DHET should look into it. He was of the opinion the education system was untransformed because there was a disjuncture between the employees and employer. Hr asked when the DHET would be ready to pay the outstanding amounts owed to the employees who had provided services.

The Chairperson said the Committee had dealt with CET several times, but what concerns them was that they had not seen sufficient progress since the last time they were briefed, so the challenges were not only about money. She said there was an obligation to pay all those who had not been paid by the DHET. In addition, the Committee would consult the Department of Public Administration to sort out the bargaining agreement, and would write to the Minister, or whoever else was in charge, to ensure this was treated as a matter of priority which had to be sorted out. The CETs were not well financed, and those who received training should not be prejudiced in relation to people who obtained formal training. She wished that the CETs would return in January 2018 to state if any progress had been made, because the Committee wanted to help and also involve all the stakeholders on what to do going forward.

She agreed that the Department had faced some challenges, and wanted a timeframe to be established regarding the creation of a bargaining structure. She asked for the abnormal appointments to be explained, and said “double parkers” disadvantaged those waiting to join the system, so there was a need to find a solution. She inquired why the term ABET was still being used, and thought the Committee should have quarterly meetings with Umalusi and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to accelerate the delivery of certificates.

SAAEU’s response

Ms Hulla said she was saddened by the DHET presentation, because the union had heard nothing in relation to the rights and wages which were owed. There had been no mention or recognition of prior learning (RPL) which, if taken into account, would make them over qualified. As long as teachers were not involved in the curriculum development, students would keep failing. The proof of better results was demonstrated by the graduation of students, some of whom made it to the tertiary level. Regarding the lack of funds, she suggested that there would not be a problem if the “double parkers” were not getting salaries. Teachers should have more input in relation to policy development as well as issues arising from the Limpopo teachers’ salary reduction.

Concerning the hours of service, she explained that they varied from region to region and from centre to centre, with some working over 100 hours per month and others from 50 to 60 hours. She said learning went beyond the classroom, but was disappointed the DHET did not recognise this, and believed the claim system was meant to exploit teachers, and this might make them lose confidence in the DHET. Demotivated staff did not deliver, so it was important to solve the issue of temporary workers.

DHET’s response

Dr Mahlobo said CETs fell under the DHET, and the PEDs addressed those who could not be attended to by the school system. CETs were meant to improve skills development.

With regard to performance management, it was one thing to hold people accountable, whether there was a management system or not, but performance management was for all actors in the CET. A performance management system was meant to track the contributions which lecturers made to the system.

Dr Mahlobo said the DHET’s presentation was never supposed to be a response to the union’s presentation, but there were areas of convergence in the issues presented, and he would like to meet the union and regional management.

Concerning Limpopo and the Western Cape, nothing had been mentioned about salary cuts, but this had happened only in Limpopo because they had not followed due process -- work hours had increased but not the income -- and no time frame could be established in that regard. Payments were processed on a monthly basis, but if claims were not submitted to the DHET, they could not pay. If submissions were made, payments would follow.

On whether the Minister had mandated the DHET for collective bargaining, he said she was setting up meetings with different branches, but the briefing and report were being developed to assess the matter. However, if funding was not available, collective bargaining could not take place. A time frame could not be given for the establishment of a collective bargaining structure, but the Minister had approached the Minister of Public Service and Administration.

Ms Esther Kodisang, Director: DHET, said the post of Deputy Principal had been advertised in 2015. She said CETs did not have the capacity to manage their funds, and also in the hope of decentralisation, TVET colleges procured according to CET needs.

Mr Diale said the DHET had consulted with Universities SA and the Council for Higher Education with regard to the development of their qualifications. The NASCA development had seen vice chancellors as part of curricula development. An appraisal process of the qualification had been undertaken to see how it compared to other qualifications, but there was still an issue on how to make employers recognise it.

The Chairperson expressed her hope that all the questions had been answered and said a meeting with stakeholders was important. A lot of challenges existed, and this was not what had been expected, as a lack of funding had impeded harmonisation. She suggested a bargaining council should be established, and urged stakeholders to work together.

The meeting was adjourned.