Question NW2106 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

The response is in response to National Assembly Question 880. The question is attached for ANNEXURE A ease of reference. The response to NA 880 was without a response from Eastern Cape and as a result a number of follow ups were made with NA 2106 being the last. The response to NA 880 and subsequent follow-up questions is attached as ANNEXURE B

a) (i) 995 (ii) 1187

b) See attached list (ANNEXURE B)

c) Small and non-viable

d) See attached list (ANNEXURE B)

e) See attached list (ANNEXURE B)

f) See attached list (ANNEXURE B)

g) See attached list (ANNEXURE B)

ANNEXURE A

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION 880

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 31/03/2017

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 12/2017

880. Ms N I Tarabella Marchesi (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:

(1) With reference to her department’s presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on 7 March 2017, (a) how many schools are due to be (i) closed and (ii) merged with other schools in each province, (b) what is the name of each of the specified schools, (c) what is the reason in each case, (d) to which school(s) will the affected pupils be transferred, (e) what is the timeline in each case, (f) what arrangements will be made to transport the affected learners to the specified school(s) and (g) what additional resources will be allocated to such schools, including educators, infrastructure and learning and teaching support materials;

(2) did any consultation with stakeholders take place in each case; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details in each case? NW946E

RESPONSE:

1. (a) – (e) The Department has forwarded the question to the Provincial Education Departments and is awaiting the response. The response will be forwarded as soon as the Department receives it.

(f) As part of the process of rationalisation, merging and closing of schools, learners who will need to be transported from their current schools to the host school are identified, the routes finalised and approved. These are then factored into the transport plan that is submitted to the Department of Transport for the transportation of these learners.

(g) The LTSM resources of the closed school are transferred to the host school that has been identified to accommodate the learners from both schools that are merged. Where there are shortages, additional orders are placed to ensure the requisite LTSM resources are supplied to the school.

However, it must be noted that provisioning of educators at receiving schools is in terms of the post provisioning norms, which takes into account the number of learners as one of the factors.

2. The Department has forwarded the question to the Provincial Education Departments and is awaiting the response. The response will be forwarded as soon as the Department receives it.