Question NW432 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

(1)- (2) Leave measures for school-based educators in the Public Education Sector are regulated in terms of the Personnel Administrative Measures (PAM) document. However, this question is specific to a particular school in the Eastern Cape Province (EC) and what measures the province put in place to deal with teacher absenteeism. Hence, this question should be referred to the EC as they are better placed to provide a detailed report.

(3) All schools, including under-performing schools fall under the jurisdiction of Provinces and Districts. Management of underperformance therefore is the direct responsibility of the Province and District. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) provides policy directives to guide provinces and Districts to manage such under-performance. Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) invoke the provisions of SASA (16A, 58B) to manage underperformance of schools as follows:

a) The Head of Department must, annually, from the report contemplated in section 16A(1)(b) and from other relevant reports, identify any public school that is underperforming in relation to any matter referred to in subsection (2)(a), (b) or (c).
b) The Head of Department must issue a written notice to the school contemplated in subsection (1), if he or she is satisfied that:
the standard of performance of learners is below the standards prescribed by the National Curriculum Statement and is likely to remain so unless the Head of Department exercises his or her power in terms of this Act;
there has been a serious breakdown in the way the school is managed or governed which is prejudicing, or likely to prejudice, the standards of performance; or the safety of learners or staff is threatened.

c) The written notice contemplated in subsection (2) must inform the school that it must:

• within 14 days after delivery of the notice, respond to the notice; and as soon as possible after that response, provide the Head of Department with a plan for correcting the situation.

d) The Head of Department must take all reasonable steps to assist a school identified in terms of subsection (1) in addressing the underperformance.

	e) Without limiting the nature and extent of the steps contemplated in subsection (4), the Head of Department must consider:
	implementing the incapacity code and procedures for poor work performance referred to in section 16 of the Employment of Educators Act, 1998 (Act No. 76 of 1998);
	withdrawing the functions of the governing body in terms of section 22; or appointing persons in terms of section 25 to perform the functions or specified functions of the governing body; and The counselling of the principal as contemplated in Item 2(5)(b)(ii) of Schedule 1 to the Employment of Educators Act, 1998 (Act No. 76 of 1998), may include the appointment of an academic mentor to take over the functions and responsibilities of the principal for the period determined by the Head of Department.f) In order to assist the Minister in carrying out his or her duties referred to in section 8 of the National Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act No. 27 of 1996), the Member of the Executive Council must report to the Minister within three months after the end of a school year on the action taken by the Head of Department in regard to an underperforming public school.

In addition, the DBE will provide additional curriculum support to Isivivani Senior Secondary School, as part of the broader plan to support all underperforming schools to improve learner outcomes.

This includes the provision of study guides for all high enrolment subjects, as well as a Home Language Revision guide and literature guide. In addition, based on the subject offering of the school, teachers will be supplied with School Based Assessment (SBA) exemplar guides to illustrate best practices in terms of formal and informal assessment.

The sector implements the National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) in all provinces, and provinces report quarterly on intervention programmes to support underperforming schools. These reports are analysed against set performance indicators and feedback reports are provided to each province for implementation. Further to that, the DBE conducts quarterly oversight meetings to monitor progress and verify reports.