Question NW2718 to the Minister of Basic Education
11 August 2015 - NW2718
Lovemore, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Basic Education
(1) Whether she has determined the staff complement required for the efficient operation of (a) public ordinary schools and (b) special needs school hostels; if not, when will such a determination be completed; if so, what is her determination in each case: (2) whether posts required to operate a school hostel must be provided and funded by the relevant provincial department of education; if not, (a) why not and (b) how will these posts be funded; if so, what posts are currently being provided and funded; (3) whether posts at school hostels are differently graded according to responsibility or skill level; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (4) whether district officials are required to monitor conditions at school hostels; if not, why not; if so, what are the requirements of such monitoring?
Reply:
(1) Whether she has determined the staff complement required for the efficient operation of (a) public ordinary schools and (b) special needs school hostels; if not, when will such a determination be completed; if so, what is her determination in each case;
(1) (a) Norms and Standards for provisioning of school-based educators posts and support staff (administrative and grounds) are determined nationally in terms of the Post Provisioning Norms (PPN) and the policy on provisioning of support staff to schools. Both policies provides for the determination of post allocation based. mainly, on the number of learners. Therefore, allocation of posts based on the norms and standards will ensure that each school has the adequate number of posts for both educators and non-educators to enable it to operate efficiently.
(b) There is currently no national determination on the norms for staffing of special schools hostels. Each Provincial Education Department (PED) determines the norms and standards with regards to staffing. There is a process to develop comprehensive national norms and standards for the resourcing of special and full service schools. The provisioning for both professional and non-professional support staff is pan of the process.
(2) Whether posts required to operate a school hostel must be provided and funded by the relevant provincial department of education; if not, (a) why not and (b) how will these posts be funded; if so, what posts are currently being provided and funded;
(a) Where norms and standards are determined, such posts must be funded by the PED in line with the provincial norms and standards. information has been requested from all PEDs and a full response will be provided once the information is received.
(3) Whether posts at school hostels are differently graded according to responsibility or skill level; if not, why not; if so, what arc the relevant details;
(3) As indicated above, the norms and standards for provisioning of personnel in hostels is determined at provincial level. information on provision and post levels has been requested from PEDs and will be provided as soon as it is received.
(4) Whether district officials are required to monitor conditions at school hostels; if not, why not; if so, what are the requirements of such monitoring?
(4) Yes, District Officials are required to monitor conditions at school hostels as part of their monitoring of schools.
School hostels are monitored in line with the Department of Basic Education Guidelines for the provision of boarding facilities in public ordinary schools and Provincial Education Department Hostel Policies for Public Ordinary Schools.