Question NW1399 to the Minister of Basic Education
09 December 2019 - NW1399
King, Ms C to ask the Minister of Basic Education
(1)(a) What is the status of the evaluation report on scholar transport that was prepared by her department, in co-operation with the Department of Transport and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, (b) by what date will the specified report be released to the public and (c) what public participation processes will be accommodated; (2) what is the status on steps to impose standardised criteria and/or minimum standards on provinces, with specific reference to the (a) status of learner transport policies in each province and (b) progress made by each province to accommodate learners with disabilities in this regard?
Reply:
1. (a) The Evaluation of the Learner Transport was commissioned by the Standing Committee on Appropriations and was led by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education, Department of Transport and the National Treasury. The report was completed and approved by the Project Steering Committee in June 2019. An improvement plan responding to evaluation recommendations was also developed and finalised by the Project Steering Committee.
(b) According to evaluation processes spelt out in the National Evaluation Policy Framework, 2011 an evaluation report, improvement plan and management response (endorsed by DOT and DBE) are to be presented to Cabinet by the DPME. To date, the DBE has submitted the management response. The submission from the Department of Transport (DOT) is still outstanding. It is then after which the evaluation report, management response and improvement plan will be presented to the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster (SPCHD) for approval and to be tabled to Cabinet. Once the report is approved by Cabinet, it is then that it can be made public.
(c) Public participation has been factored in during the evaluation process from data collection and through stakeholder validation process which saw civil society organisations participate in the process. The same civil society organisations were requested to provide feedback to the evaluation report before it got finalised.
2. (a) The National Learner Transport Policy section 6.8 dictates that all provinces must develop provincial learner transport plans and strategies aligned with the National Learner Transport Policy but specific to their own environments. To date all provinces have developed their provincial learner transport policies and KwaZulu-Natal province is currently reviewing its learner transport policy.
(b) The National Learner Transport Policy section 3.9 dictates that the sector must work towards universal design, in that all vehicles transporting learners must adhere to the requirements and principles of universal design, especially those transporting learners with disabilities. As part of the mainstreaming of the learner transport programme, to date the sector is providing learner transport to learners with special education needs as follows:
|
Learners transported per quarter (with Disabilities) Q2 of 2019-20 |
||||||||||
|
PED |
NEEDS |
TARGET |
Q2 Progress |
|||||||
|
No. of Learners in Need |
No. of Schools in Need |
No. of Learners Targeted |
No. of Schools Targeted |
% of Learners Targeted |
No. of Learners Transported in Q1 |
No. of Learners Transported in Q2 |
No. of Schools |
% Learners against the Target |
% Learners against the need |
|
|
EC |
1482 |
6 |
1347 |
6 |
91% |
1169 |
1419 |
6 |
105.00% |
96.00% |
|
FS |
1618 |
5 |
1618 |
5 |
100% |
1618 |
1618 |
5 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
|
GP |
13262 |
39 |
976 |
4 |
7% |
1206 |
1206 |
4 |
9.01% |
9.01% |
|
KZN |
14853 |
74 |
5783 |
74 |
39% |
5783 |
6926 |
74 |
119.76% |
46.63% |
|
LP |
266 |
2 |
266 |
2 |
100% |
266 |
232 |
2 |
87.21% |
87.21% |
|
MP |
800 |
4 |
800 |
4 |
100% |
800 |
800 |
4 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
|
NW |
13 |
1 |
13 |
1 |
100% |
13 |
13 |
1 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
|
NC |
139 |
2 |
139 |
2 |
100% |
100 |
102 |
2 |
73.38% |
73.38% |
|
WC |
8991 |
48 |
8991 |
48 |
100% |
8991 |
8991 |
48 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
|
TOTAL |
41424 |
181 |
19933 |
146 |
48% |
19946 |
21307 |
146 |
106.89% |
51.43% |
Source: Quarterly Report from Provincial Education Departments and Transport.