Question NW1748 to the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

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14 August 2020 - NW1748

Profile picture: Sukers, Ms ME

Sukers, Ms ME to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

Whether, with reference to her department’s meeting on 24 January 2020 with internal stakeholders consisting of various school and governing body federations and teachers’ unions, wherein it was stated that her department’s Scripted Lesson Plans (SLPs) regarding Educator Guides and Learner Workbooks are a voluntary source that teachers and/or schools could use to achieve the mandatory minimum outcomes set by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum for the subjects Life Skills and Life Orientation, she can confirm that (a) the SLPs are voluntary and (b) given that section 6A of the South African Schools Act, Act 84 of 1996, empowers her only to determine the minimum outcomes as set forth in the national curriculum statement, and not to dictate outcomes, her department will not in future make the SLPs mandatory and the only source for achieving minimum outcomes set by the CAPS curriculum for the subjects Life Skills and Life Orientation?

Reply:

Scripted Lesson Plan (SLPs) are recommended, and are not the only teaching and learning resource, to assist teachers to provide scientifically accurate and age appropriate Sexuality Education content to reach the mandatory requirements of the Curriculum.  The SLP are definitely not compulsory.