Committee Reports: discussion

EDUCATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
31 January 2006
COMMITTEE REPORTS: DISCUSSION

Chairperson: Prof S Mayatula (ANC)

Documents Handed Out:
No documents were handed out

SUMMARY
The Committee met to discuss the draft reports of their visit to the FET Colleges in the Eastern Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng and on the Study Tour to Mali and Ghana. Members had not received a report from the Eastern Cape delegation. The Committee was concerned that recommendations had not been provided in the reports. Members were requested to read the reports and provide feedback at the next meeting. Implementation of the recommendations and monitoring thereof was important once the reports had been finalised.

MINUTES
The Chairperson stated that the scheduled date for the finalised report had to be changed due to time constraints. The meeting on 7 February 2006 would be a briefing from the Department on examination results and "no fees" schools.

He introduced the new secretary, Ms Phumza Mpoyiya, to the Committee and stated that she would supply draft reports to Members before the next meeting. No delegation report had been provided by the Eastern Cape whilst the report from the Kwa-Zulu Natal had been delivered too late for it to be discussed. He noted that he had extracted recommendations from chapters within the report.

The report on the study tour to Mali and Ghana had no recommendations. Members were advised to go through the report and identify recommendations that would be inserted at the end of the report.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) stated that the Committee had to follow up on creating bilateral relations between South African and Ghanaian universities. She recommended that communication on Agricultural affairs between South Africa and Ghana should be pursued.

The Chairperson stated that compiling recommendations was very important and that Members should provide their recommendations to the secretary.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) asked whether the Committee had managed to obtain statistics from the Ghanaian authorities.

The Chairperson responded that the statistics would be obtained in the follow-up reports.

Mr B Mthembu (ANC) requested that all recommendations be handed to the secretary by Friday, 6^th February. This would give Members enough time to compile reports in a common format.

The Chairperson recommended a debate amongst Members on the 14 February.

Mr B Mthembu (ANC) stated that the debate should yield positive results. The recommendations should not be too general and should be action-orientated. He stated that it was important that the recommendations be implemented within specific timeframes. He asked whether amended reports could be handed in to the secretary by 5pm on Thursday 5 February.

The Chairperson noted that the meeting on the 14^th February would handle amended reports.

The meeting was adjourned.