ATC150429: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal Province, dated 14 April 2015

Basic Education

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal Province, dated 14 April 2015.

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, having undertaken oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal Province, reports as follows:

1. Introduction and Background

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education conducted oversight visits to uMzinyathi, ILembe and Umkhanyakude Education Districts in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from 3 – 6 February 2015.

The purpose of the oversight visits was to assess the state of school readiness for 2015 in the Province and its Districts, as well as to oversee the implementation of key priority areas. There was an additional need to provide support to the Provincial Education Department (PED), the Districts and schools in finding effective solutions to the challenges being faced.
The framework for the oversight was guided by key interventions and priorities for the Basic Education sector set out in major government plans to ensure that enabling conditions for quality teaching and learning are established. In this regard, the Portfolio Committee’s oversight sought to focus primarily on the following:

The state of the school environment;
The state of the admission and registration of learners;
The provision of Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSM);
Staff establishments (Post-Provisioning Norms);
School Improvement Plans;
The management and availability of learner transport;
The management and availability of the School Nutrition Programme to qualifying learners;
The functionality of school governing bodies (SGBs) and School Management Teams (SMTs); and
The state of the school’s infrastructure.

A monitoring instrument was developed to guide the assessment of school readiness and basic school functionality taking into consideration the above focus areas.

In line with the Portfolio Committee’s resolve to prioritise its oversight on schools and Districts with the most challenges in the provision of quality education, the Portfolio Committee selected the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, the targeted Districts and schools based on their performance in the 2014 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. KwaZulu-Natal experienced the steepest decline in the results of all the provinces and performed below the set National benchmark. There was a need to seriously look into the factors affecting KZN’s steep decline in its performance, including in the identified Districts, with a view to supporting them in finding solutions.

Following reports of allegations of copying and cheating in certain examination centres in KZN, the Portfolio Committee further sought to receive a brief on these allegations, including updates on investigations currently underway.

As part of the oversight, the Portfolio Committee received briefings from senior officials of the Provincial Department of Education and District Officials, the Portfolio Committee on Education in the Provincial Legislature and key stakeholders such as Organised Labour on aspects of school readiness. The Portfolio Committee also conducted in-loco site visits to schools where members held meetings with stakeholders in order to learn first-hand the state of school readiness and to discuss the challenges faced by schools with a view to finding solutions.

This report provides a summary of the key issues that emerged from the interaction with stakeholders, officials of the National and Provincial Departments as well as the Portfolio Committee’s deliberations, observations and recommendations.

2. Delegation

The delegation from the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education included Hon N Gina, MP (ANC) (Chairperson), Hon J Basson MP (ANC), Hon D Mnguni MP (ANC) and Hon A Mpontshane MP (IFP). Parliamentary staff consisted of Mr P Gwebu (Committee Secretary), Mr D Bandi (Content Advisor), Ms S Ntabeni (Committee Assistant) and Mr M Kekana (Parliamentary Researcher).

3. Meetings with the Portfolio Committee on Education of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Education Department and Organised Labour

3.1 Meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and leader of the delegation, Hon N Gina, gave an overview of the background of the oversight visit to the Province, touching on the performance of the Province in the 2014 NSC results and focus areas of the oversight in respect of 2015 school readiness. The Chairperson noted that the issue of the Province’s performance was a matter of priority for discussion in the recent ANC’s Lekgotla in Pretoria. The Chairperson shared issues that had emerged from an earlier meeting with officials of the Department of Basic Education. These related to budgetary constraints and KZN’s high spending on compensation of employees; late payment of services in respect of the School Nutrition Programme (SNP); the availability of learner transport; challenges regarding the procurement of Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) in Section 21 schools; capacity issues at district level; and, examination irregularities.

The delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Education in the Provincial Legislature was led by Hon S Nkosi, who was standing in for the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee who had been absent due to illness. Hon Nkosi noted that the Provincial Portfolio Committee felt concerned regarding the Province’s severe drop in results and the alleged examination irregularities. The Provincial Education Portfolio Committee raised the following issues:

Budgetary constraints: The Provincial Education Portfolio Committee had held a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Finance to reflect on the Province’s budgetary constraints and possible ways of finding solutions to the challenge.
Staffing: There could be employees of the Department who were not accounted for.
Learner numbers: There had been preliminary findings that learner enrolments may have been inflated in some schools.

Staff establishment: The Committee agreed that there were educators who were paid above staff establishments but had not yet been briefed on the exact number thereof.
The National School Nutrition Programme: There were serious challenges, including the late payment of service providers and the maladministration and abuse of the programme. There was a need to strengthen systems of accountability. Cooperatives at a local level also needed to be prioritised as service providers.
Group copying and cheating: Of the 20 schools affected in KZN, one school had been cleared while investigations were continuing in the remaining 19 schools. The schools had all committed to cooperate in the investigations over the matter. There was a need to deal with the matter swiftly. It had been reported that in some instances learners all wrote the same answer which was the wrong answer.
LTSM: The Portfolio Committee did not always receiving accurate information on LTSM from school management in Section 21 schools.
Learner transport: The issue of accountability regarding learner transport needed to be carefully addressed. Learner transport also depended on the verification of learner statistics.
Support to schools: There were capacity issues. The Department needed to review the limited mileage allocated to officials supporting schools.

3.2 Meeting with the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Education Department

The Head of Department (HOD), in his opening remarks, assured the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education that the Province was in control of the situation. He noted that the Province had some of the most committed teachers and officials.

The HOD reported that, prior to 2014, KwaZulu-Natal experienced an upward trajectory in the NSC results and had obtained 77.4 percent in 2013, the highest results since 1994. Two main reasons related to subject choices were attributed to the decline in results:

A high number of second language English speakers had changed from enrolling for English First Additional Language to English Home Language
An increased number of learners enrolled for Mathematics, following a circular requiring a subject combination of subjects such as Physical Sciences with Mathematics instead of Mathematical Literacy. As a result of this change in subject combinations, KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of learners doing Mathematics in the country.

The HOD further noted that there were many vacancies in the system, including for curriculum advisors who would provide curriculum support.

The HOD reported that Districts had developed turn around strategies to improve the results in 2015.

The Portfolio Committee received a detailed overview of other focus areas identified for the oversight. These covered examination irregularities, budget issues, staff establishments, infrastructure, the state of admission, learner transport, the National School Nutrition Programme and measures in place to prevent NSC irregularities, as follows:

Examination irregularities: the Department reported that investigations were continuing. It was noted that the measures to prevent organised copying had been strengthened. These included ensuring that the collection of question papers and return of answer books were controlled in such a manner that there was no space for malpractices. The new approach also covered the intensified training of invigilators, the prevention of manually generated mark sheets and the intensity of monitoring.

Budget constraints: It was reported that budget constraints dated back to when the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) and wage agreements for 2008 and 2009 were implemented. These were not fully funded. The carry through effects of the shortfall were continuing to affect service delivery, including infrastructure. The Department was attempting to manage the situation, including ensuring that going forward the norms and standards funding to schools were in line with national requirements.

Post Provisioning Norms (PPN): All teaching staff establishments for 2015 were issued in time. However, many educators were in excess. There were also challenges with the placement of Funza Lushaka bursary graduates to schools. Some of the graduates could not be placed due to their subject combinations. They chose Mathematics when applying for the bursaries but changed their specialisations once in higher education institutions. Other graduates did not want to teach in deep rural areas. The Department also alluded to the challenge of under-staffing in schools.

Learner admission: The state of learner admission and the registration of learners for 2015 was in place in the Province due to a mass-based Learner Admissions campaign conducted in 2014. As of 30 November 2014, learner admission had been completed in five Districts, including Ilembe District, and was at 96.8 percent in Umzinyathi District and 84 percent in Ukhanyakude District. A key challenge noted was that a large number of learners were migrating from other provinces to KZN bringing their specific subject combinations. This posed a challenge particularly when seeking enrolment in senior classes.

Learner transport: A total of 22 360 learners in the Province benefitted from the system. The subsidised learner transport services were provided through 58 contracts. The existing contracts were concluded in 2012, with the duration of three years. The contracts came to an end in December 2014 but had been extended for six months pending the 2015/16 tender process. The Department was projecting underspending of R24.8 million by the end of the 2014/15 financial year on the budget allocated for learner transport. This allocation would be used to address urgent needs from schools. The Department of Transport was working with the Department of Education to identify schools with urgent needs, while also considering 116 schools that had been approved but could not be accommodated. The Department faced a major challenge since the demand for learner transport exceeded the supply. It was also noted that some learners were transported to schools of choice outside their communities, which was against policy.

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP): the Department reportedly provided meals to 2.3 million learners in 5 238 public schools, targeting learners in Grades R to 12 and learners in identified special schools. This constituted just above 80 percent of learners of compulsory school-going age. The Province currently utilized a centralized model (tender system) wherein service providers were appointed and paid by the Provincial Education Department rather than schools. The challenge with the current model in respect of timeous payment of service providers was acknowledged. However, the Department indicated that capacity had not been fully developed in schools. This matter remained the main focus of the Department.

Learner and Teacher Support Material (LTSM): LTSM procurement for all schools without Section 21(1) (c) Function in KZN was centrally managed by the Department through the services of the Managing Agent. Schools with Section 21(1) (c) Function procured 2015 textbooks and stationery from their respective suppliers. The status of central procurement of textbooks for 3 684 schools (including late orders) in respect of the distribution of textbooks to schools reportedly stood at 99.1 percent. As of 9th December 2014, 100 percent of stationery received at the warehouse was reportedly dispatched to schools. Between 19th and 23rd January 2015, the Department addressed shortages as a result of increased enrolments at some schools.

With regard to the delivery of workbooks to schools, the delivery of Volume 1 of Grades 1 to 9 workbooks, which included work to be covered in schools from January to June 2015, was completed before schools closed for December 2014, as per plan. Of all the schools visited by the Portfolio Committee, the Department reported that only Bhevula High School requested an additional 20 workbooks. The Province had placed an order for an additional 5 percent of workbooks in addition of the order placed with the Department of Basic Education. The additional stock would be provided to schools that reported shortages as a result of learner migration.

The delivery of Grades 1 to 9 Volume 2 workbooks, which included work to be covered from July to December 2015, stood at 28.5 percent, as of 16 January 2015.

Portfolio Committee Observations:

Members observed that the Department delegation of senior officials was overwhelmingly male dominated and urged the Department to work towards gender equity. The Department highlighted that there was gender parity in the number of officials at a Deputy-Director level. There had been a high turnover of female officials in other senior levels. The Department would consider gender parity in the filling of vacant posts.
Members needed to know whether the data provided by the Department was authentic and whether the Department had completed the profiling of schools and staff.
Members were grateful that an increased number of learners in the Province were doing Mathematics. However, they needed assurance that there would be sufficiently suitably qualified teachers to cater for the increased enrolment.
There was concern over the high number of vacancies in the Province. Members wanted to know the breakdown of these vacancies.
There was a concern that the Department was utilizing a centralised model of appointing and paying service providers in respect of the School Nutrition Programme, despite the potential challenges of the delays in paying service providers and payment accruals.
Members needed to know what plans were in place to minimize incidents of Funza Lushaka bursars enrolling for subjects they were not awarded bursaries for.

Responses

With regard to vacancies, the Department indicated that the last time posts were created was in 2008/9. The Department was now dealing with the situation. The Department aimed to complete the profiling of teachers by the end of the 2014/15 financial year. Due to time constraints, the Department undertook to answer questions that had not been addressed in writing.

3.3 Meeting with the Unions, South African Principals Association (SAPA) and Parents Associations KZN

The Portfolio Committee held a meeting with the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), the National Teachers Union (NATU), Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysunie (SAOU), the South African Principals’ Association and Parents’ Association, KZN.

3.3.1 The South African Democratic Union (SADTU): SADTU welcomed the opportunity to make its presentation before the Committee. Amongst its perceived challenges to the current education system was the need to review the Peter Morkel model. The Union argued that as a result of the model, few posts had been created and teachers continued to teach up to 65 learners in a classroom, soothing which SADTU deemed unfortunate. It was further argued by the Union that the implementation of cost cutting measures as per the directive of the National Treasury had brought negative consequences to service delivery, resulting in massive vacancy rates and serious shortages of subject advisers in schools. SADTU was also concerned that teacher development initiatives were almost non-existent. They also expressed concerns over the state of infrastructure in certain schools in the Province and said it was understandable for teachers not to want to work under conditions where there was no water, sanitation nor electricity. The rollout of the rural incentive scheme needed urgent attention to ensure that teachers were motivated to take up posts that were in remote areas. The union concluded by proposing the need to revisit the skills levy and explore avenues on how it could assist in the skills development of teachers.

3.3.2 The National Teachers Union (NATU): The Union raised concerns with regard to the overload of work for principals. In addition, they felt that there was a need to improve on the training given to ECD teachers and most importantly to improve their conditions of work in order to motivate them. Natu further raised concerns regarding inconsistences with the roll-out of learner transport and the School Nutrition Programme. The slow pace of teacher development meant that teachers were often get left behind when changes to the curriculum were implemented. Lastly, the union urged government to fast-track the process of salary negotiations since this would avoid undesirable prolonged stay-aways.

3.3.3 Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysunie (SAOU): SAOU’s concerns were mainly that many schools, particularly in the remote areas did not have competent educators for every Grade. This prompted the need for continuous skilling and reskilling of teachers in order to keep them on par with the changes in the curriculum. The union called for more teaching posts to be created in order to reduce the high teacher-learner rations in most schools in the Province.

3.3.4 South African Principals Association (SAPA)

SAPA submitted that its main concern was to ensure that schools have effective school principals who had the capability to not only understand teaching dynamics but also to lead. The organisation has various initiatives and conducts workshops aimed at supporting principals to better manage their schools. Its biggest challenge to the mass roll out of its programmes had been funding and a special plea was made to the Department to assist with funding SAPA programmes.

3.3.5 Parents Associations KZN

The organisation submitted that its main objective was to mobilise parents to actively participate in the activities of the schools. Many schools were experiencing challenges in encouraging parents to actively take part in the schools activities despite parents playing a critical role in the learning of children. A survey found that many of the parents do not fully understand their role in the education system, hence the need to start campaigns on educating and encouraging parents in order to contribute positively in the running of schools in their respective communities. The Association urged the Department to investigate corruption around the School Nutrition Programme and the learner transport. It further made a plea to provide principals with management training as it felt the responsibilities of principals went beyond being teachers but rather as managers of schools.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee welcomed the submissions from all stakeholders and appreciated their efforts in working towards an improved education system in the Province.
From the submissions received, it was clear that there were challenges around teacher development and yet there was a skills levy contribution of 1% which could be used to provide this essential support service.
The Portfolio Committee felt the submissions by the Parents Association were thought provoking and needed special attention as they also provided solutions to identified challenges.
The poor conditions of service and the state of infrastructure in certain schools often lead to teachers lacking motivation to teach and ultimately resulted in a decline in results.

Recommendations

The Committee recommended that the stakeholders should continue engaging with the department in order to resolve some of the issues raised.
There is an urgent need to improve relations between the provincial department of education and SADTU.
The proposal to provide principals with management training courses should be explored by the provincial department and the workshops provided by SAPA should be expanded across the province.

4. Visits to Districts

The Portfolio Committee visited Umkhanyakude District on 3 February, Umzinyathi District on 4 February and ILembe District on 5 February 2015. In all the three Districts, the Portfolio Committee held meetings with senior officials and conducted in-loco site visits to schools where members held meetings with stakeholders focusing on the identified areas for oversight.

In each District, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee opened the meeting officially and alluded to the reasons for the visit to the Province and the Districts and the key focus areas of the oversight.

All the levels of the education system and the Provincial Legislature were represented at the Districts and the schools visited to ensure that challenges were discussed and solutions sought from different perspectives.

4.1 Umkhanyakude District

4.1.1 Meeting with the District

The District Director gave a brief overview of the situation regarding schools under his District. Among other things, he gave a positive outlook of the state of schools and stated that there was a healthy cooperation with all stakeholders on how to turnaround the situation, particularly in underperforming schools.

The District was one of the most improved districts in the NSC results in KZN over the past five years.

4.1.2 Visits to schools, Umkhanyakude

a) Lifalethu Secondary School - The school was clean and welcoming. The school had a learner enrolment of 236 and a staff establishment of 12 educators. The delegation was informed that 10 educators were qualified and two were underqualified but were in the process of upgrading their qualifications.

The school’s results declined from 52.78 percent in 2012 to 41.18 percent in 2013 and to 20 percent in 2014. The school attributed its poor performance in 2014 to a number of factors which included the following:

the change of subject choice from Mathematical Literacy to Mathematics for learners in the commercial subjects stream as a measure to improve their career prospects;
there was too much focus on the critical subjects, neglecting general subjects;
the departure/movement of some teachers to other schools; and
the struggle to find a suitably qualified Accounting teacher until during the course of 2014
The lack of a Science Head of Department for a significant period of time.

The performance in ANA was also unsatisfactory, having obtained 0 percent in Mathematics Grade 9 and 17 percent in Languages. It was reported that there had been no suitably qualified teacher for Mathematics for a considerable period until 2014.

In terms of infrastructure, the school had a total of 13 classrooms, including one which had been converted into a science room. There were 13 pit toilets, which were adequate for the number of learners at the school. Although the school lacked running water, it was reported that there were enough tanks to store water. The school was electrified and had enough furniture for the requirements of the school. The school lacked a library, computer and science laboratories and its fence required attention.

The Committee was also informed that the school struggled to service equipment such as a photocopying machine due to budgetary constraints.

In respect of LTSM, there was a shortage of textbooks in some subjects, mainly in the lower Grades. However, workbooks and stationery were available.

The School Nutrition Programme was currently functioning and learners were receiving their meal as required. However, it was reported that in late 2014, the service provider withdrew his services owing to non-payment of funds owed to him by the Department. The school lacked kitchen utensils and as a result learners had to provide their own from home.

Although the SGB was functional, it was reported that members were not always available for meetings since they worked far away. Parental support was inadequate.

It was reported that the school received District support. In 2014, the District deployed Mathematics teachers to the school to conduct extra classes. However, this did not yield the desired results as the results declined. It was noted that learner attendance was poor.

The Portfolio Committee was informed that there was a general lack of learner discipline at the school.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee was concerned about the decline in the NSC results over the past three years as well as the poor performance in ANA and expected improved performance.
Members observed the declining enrolment at the school and the general lack of discipline amongst learners
The Committee was concerned that learner transport was used to transport learners to schools elsewhere, which could be a transgression of policy.
The Committee urged the school to submit its School Improvement Plan (SIP) to the District Office. It was also important that the school strengthened its implementation of the textbook retrieval system.

Responses:

The principal and School Management Team committed to improving the results in 2015, particularly in the context of a lower Grade 12 enrolment of 18 learners in 2015 compared to 51 learners in 2014.

Provincial Department of Education – The Department noted that, although the school’s results for 2014 were unsatisfactory, the performance in Accounting and Mathematics showed some improvement compared to 2013. Major declines were recorded in Business Studies and English. The Department undertook to give the school a document that would assist them to improve their planning. The District Office indicated that they were working hard to support the school and would continue to work closely with the school. It was also important that the School Management Team inspired learners to behave well. The District would assist the school to develop leadership skills of its management.

National Department of Basic Education – The DBE undertook to support the school with the necessary material such as study guides for supplementary examinations. It was also stated that as part of the strategy to improve results in the Senior Phase, Mathematics teachers would be trained in the subject on Mondays.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Portfolio Committee recommends the following:

The Provincial Education Department should assist the school to address its shortage of textbooks.
The Provincial Education Department should investigate as a matter of urgency allegations of learner transport being used to transport learners to other schools which could be a transgression of policy.
The District Office and Circuit Office should intensify their focussed support to the school to improve its results.
The District Office and Circuit Office should give the school the necessary support to improve parental support and to deal with learner discipline. It was also vital that the School Management Team inspire learners to behave well.
The District, together with the Provincial Education Department, should consider prioritising the school in respect of the provision of kitchen utensils and the repairing of fencing to safeguard learners and teachers.
The different levels of the Department should effect the commitments made as alluded to in this report.

b) Bhevula Secondary School

Chair: To share experiences and challenges as well as to support the school(s). (MEC was attending CEM).

The school was clean and welcoming. It had a staff establishment of 18 educators, including a principal and three Heads of Department, as well as an enrolment of 552 learners, the same as in 2014. A total of 16 of the educators were qualified and one was in the process of upgrading his qualifications.

The school experienced a decline in results from 74.07 percent in 2013 to 34.94 percent in 2014. The drop in results was experienced mostly in Mathematical Literacy, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. In addition, only two learners wrote Accounting and both failed. The school also underperformed in the 2014 ANA, particularly in Grade 9 Mathematics where all learners failed. The Committee heard that the school tried to take learners to another school in 2014 as an attempt to improve their performance.

The Integrated Quality Management System was implemented at the school though there was no correlation between the teacher performance results in the system and their real performance in the classroom.

In terms of infrastructure, the school was fenced, electrified and had a total of 10 classrooms and one administration block with offices. There were fourteen toilets for learners, two toilets for educators, a storeroom and enough furniture. Although the school had an adequate water supply, some taps were broken and plans were underway to repair them.

In respect of LTSM, there was a shortage of textbooks attributed to the change of subject choice. Plans for top-ups were underway. The school had enough stationery.

Although the School Nutrition Programme was functioning, there was no proper kitchen.

Learners at the school were not benefiting from learner transport though they do qualify. The Portfolio Committee was informed that the Department promised to provide the service in 2013 but this had not happened.

The school was satisfied with District support. The School Governing Body was functional and supporting the school. Parental support was also satisfactory though many parents had not received formal education.

Portfolio Committee Observations

Members acknowledged the good performance in English but were concerned about the school’s underperformance in most subjects, particularly in Grade 9 Mathematics.

Although the school expressed satisfaction with District support, there was a need for more targeted District support to improve the results. Members were also concerned that the SMT had not internalised the 2014 ANA results. It was important that ANA be used as a diagnostic tool as was intended.

There was a concern regarding the lack of learner transport for qualifying learners who walked long distances to schools, impacting negatively on teaching and learning.

The lack of correlation between the assessment results of teacher performance in IQMS and their real performance in the classroom a matter for concern.

It was noted that there seemed to be a lack of strong leadership at the school which required focused attention.

Responses

The school committed to improve the NSC and ANA results in 2015. The Mathematics and Sciences Head of Department reported that an Improvement Plan for Mathematics had been developed which included motivating learners, working as a team and teaming up with other schools. Grades 10 to 12 learners had already started with extra classes.

Provincial Department of Education – The Department committed to visiting the school to provide support, including mentoring the School Management Team. It was important that the principal held the staff accountable, including in respect of the low performance in Grade 9 Mathematics.

National Department of Basic Education – The DBE committed to supporting the school in terms of providing study guides and other learning material.

c) Ndumo High School

The school had a staff establishment of 27 educators and a learner enrolment of 910 at the time of the oversight. There were three vacancies for a Mathematics teacher, who had accepted a Head of Department position at another school, a Deputy Principal who had resigned and a Head of Department for Commerce, who had accepted a principalship at another school. The delegation was informed that plans were underway to fill the vacancy for the Mathematics teacher and the management posts had been submitted to the District Office for advertising.

The school had been experiencing an upward trajectory in the NSC results, obtaining 70 percent in 2012, 75.8 percent in 2013 and 88.1 percent in 2014. In respect of subject performance, the school attained 100 percent in Business Studies, Economics and English in 2014 and had performed well in other subjects except in Mathematics where the performance was 43.2 percent, though representing an increase from 31.8 percent in 2013. The School Management Team attributed the school’s good performance to the commitment and hard work of teachers. It was reported that classes started at 6h30 to 16h00 for Grade 12 learners. The school’s low performance in Mathematics was attributed to the lack of a properly qualified teacher for the subject. It was stated that the school was assisted by teachers from other schools. District support was reportedly satisfactory. The school had also underperformed in Mathematics Grade 9 in the ANA, in line with the underperformance recorded at this level nationally.

In terms of infrastructure, the school had a total of 15 classrooms, which were insufficient. It was electrified, had good sanitation, an adequate water supply and a computer laboratory. Although there was a Science laboratory, it was not adequately equipped but was reportedly utilised effectively by the school. The school was earmarked to relocate to a new state-of-the-art building and would form part of a school of excellence offering a range of critical subjects, boarding facilities and staff accommodation.

The school experienced challenges with the School Nutrition Programme. It was reported that although the school currently received the service, sometimes the school went for days without food. In January 2015 the school only benefitted from the service for two days. Although the District had held a meeting with the service provider in an effort to resolve the matter, it was reported that the service was still inadequate.

The school was implementing the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) as required by policy. Learner transport was unavailable and this posed a challenge to qualifying learners who had to walk long distances to school.

Portfolio Committee Observations

Members congratulated the school for performing consistently well in the NSC examinations, and urged the school to maintain the good results and to work towards improving performance in Mathematics.

Responses

The District Office and the Department of Basic Education undertook to work closely with the school with a view to improve its Mathematics results.

Committee Recommendations

The District Office and the Department of Basic Education should follow up on their commitment to support the school to improve its Mathematics results, including in the Senior Phase.

The Provincial Department should ensure that the challenges regarding the School Nutrition Programme at the school be resolved as a matter of urgency.

The Provincial Department, together with the Department of Transport, should consider prioritising the school for learner transport.

d) Mlingo High School

The school is situated in the most rural part of KZN. It had 207 learners and eight teachers. The school experienced challenges with the supply of clean water, sanitation facilities, electricity and other teaching and learning facilities. It was also in dire need of at least five extra classrooms. The position of principal remained vacant since 2014, with one of the teachers acting in the position without the necessary appointment procedures being followed.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The school infrastructure was not in a satisfactory state and drastic steps needed to be taken.
Although the Acting Principal reported that all teacher posts were filled, certain critical subject areas were occupied by under-qualified educators.
The situation regarding the allocation of textbooks was such that not all learners had their own textbooks.
The school had not yet developed all the required policies such as the textbook retrieval policy, admission policy and safety policy.
The school also failed to comply with the requirement of analysing ANA results and as a result there was no strategy on how to improve on the ANA.
The school had a fully functional SGB and its relevant sub-committees.
The School Management Team was properly constituted and functional
All learners benefitted from the School Nutrition Programme.
Although the school qualified for learner transport, this service was not provided to the school which resulted in learners walking long distances to and from school.
It was reported that by virtue of its inaccessibility, the department had decided to relocate the school. It therefore becomes pointless for renovations to be carried out since this would amount to wasteful expenditure.

Responses:

Provincial Department of Education – The school had been adopted by the Circuit Manager. There was a misconduct case which had not been finalised. The school was on the infrastructure plan of the Province. Guidelines were available on the DBE website and could be easily accessed.

National Department of Basic Education (DBE) – The DBE advised the issue of the induction of the principal be investigated.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Portfolio Committee urged the relevant provincial and district officials to prioritise the school, particularly with the provisioning of basic infrastructure such as toilets and water services.
The District Office was urged to ensure that by end of March 2015, the school should be provided with mobile classes.
The Circuit Office should ensure that a permanent school principal is appointed without delay.
Consideration needed to be given to the present 1700 km restriction for travel by subject advisers in order for schools such as these to benefit from their services.
Issues of learner transport provision should be addressed by the District Office and the school should submit all the documentation as a matter of urgency.
The School Management team should ensure that all the required policies were formulated and submitted to the District Office for approval
The District Office should assist the school to plan properly, including its curriculum stream to avoid overloading the workload of teachers.
The District Circuit Offices should give the school the necessary support to improve its results

e) Mabibi Primary School

The school experiences the common challenge of being situated deep in a rural area and therefore was not attractive for teachers. The situation regarding water supply was not critical although there were reported incidents of sporadic interruptions of water services. The school had an adequate furniture supply, but there was a need to add three classrooms to the existing five classrooms. Toilets were old but well maintained to ensure that they were kept in a usable state.

Portfolio Committee Observations

All teacher vacancies were filled at the school and teaching and learning was taking place.
All teachers were qualified to teach in their respective areas of expertise.
The school experienced challenges with the allocation of textbooks.
The school did not have any policy available.
The analysis of ANA results showed challenges with Grade 3 in Maths and grade 6 also face challenges in Maths and English.
The school had a plan to improve on the identified challenges, particularly on improving Mathematics and English.
The School Management Team is fully functional and established.
The nutrition programme of the school is functioning well but there was a need to build a formal structure for cooking and storing supplies.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The District should work more closely with the school and ensure that conditions were improved with regard to its sanitation requirements.
Mobile sanitation facilities should be provided as a matter of urgency.
The District should consider providing the school with an additional borehole to ensure that there was enough water available during water supply interruptions from the municipality.
The District should ensure that all deserving learners at the school benefit from the government subsidy on learner transport.
There was a need for improved participation by parents in the running of the school.
It was imperative that the school develop the much needed policies without any further delays.
The Province and the District should ensure that the rural incentive scheme benefit teachers at the school.

f) Idundubala Secondary School

The school was reported to having 302 learners with 10 teachers, although, it was later established that they have 175 learners with 11 teachers. This indicated a pattern in schools reporting their statistics. The school has a good building infrastructure with solar energy that is not functioning well. Learners were sharing textbooks and top up could not assist in ensuring that each learner had a textbook. Shortfalls in stationery were still being delivered. Teachers appeared to be defensive regarding the causes of learner underperformance indicating that they are teaching in a foreign language. Learners lacked self-discipline. There were also shortages of desks.

The school gave two sets of statistics in terms of learner numbers. The information sent to the district state that the school has 623 learners while information receive from the school is that there are 581 learners. The school had challenges with water shortage, despite the fact that a water pipe had been installed. The school fence was reported to have been damaged and that posed a risk for further vandalism. The school needed five classrooms and tables and chairs for learners. There was a delay in receiving responses from the District when applications were lodged regarding the appointment of teachers.

Portfolio Committee Observations:

There seemed to have been no proper handing-over of the school by principals.
Meetings of the SGB were not approved by the Chairperson which could be a reflection that meetings were held without considering matters from the previous meeting.
There was no record of a budget meeting held by the SGB.
The District should investigate the reason why the appointment of teachers was delayed.
The District should speed up the process of the placement of a substitute teacher on behalf of the Deputy Principal
A database should be kept by the District on the availability of teachers in Mathematics and Science subjects.
The school should be assisted in the ordering of textbooks.
The absenteeism rate of teachers and learners needed to be dealt with by the school Management Team and School Governing Body.
Members observed that the service provider of the School Nutrition Programme was not fulfilling his/her obligation to deliver food The service provider attributed the non-delivery of services to the non-payment of funds owed to him by the Department, a situation similar to other schools.
The SGB was advised to ensure that all policies of the school were approved.
Members motivated the Grade 12 learners and gave them a brief on the importance of goal-setting.

Responses:

Provincial Department of Education – The school was advised to revisit its admission/registration policy since it could not accept learners beyond its threshold.

National Department of Basic Education (DBE) – The DBE promised that a CD would be made available with samples of policies affecting schooling. The Department of Basic Education had already profiled unemployed teachers and such information could be used in their recruitment.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations:

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education recommended the following:

The District should assist the school to develop policies including the Learner Pregnancy Policy, as well as to plan properly.
The school should mobilise the community through the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC).
The district through the Circuit Manager should have a list of serial underperforming schools and ensure that they get the necessary support.
The District should assist the school to repair its fence.
The issue of the appointment of foreign teachers should be investigated, and the provincial policy should be observed to ensure that learners are not disadvantaged.
The Department should ensure that members of the SGB receive intense training on their responsibilities.
The Department should take the necessary steps to ensure that the school receive all the necessary textbooks.
The Department should take the necessary steps to ensure that service providers of the school nutrition programme are paid timeously.

4.2 Umzinyathi District

4.2.1 Meeting with the District

The Chairperson noted that this was the lowest performing District in KwaZulu-Natal in the NSC examinations at 55.2 percent and had experienced the steepest decline of 16.6 percent from the 2013 results of 71.8 percent. There had also been allegations of high incidents of copying and cheating in the District.

The District Director stated that the district was considered to be one of the most rural in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. This was also one of the leading Districts that was accused of examination cheating by learners who sat for the 2014 examinations. The District assured the Portfolio Committee that it was working continuously to restore the integrity of examinations and that monitoring mechanisms were being enhanced to ensure that cheating did not reoccur.

The District identified the main reasons for the decline in results as follows:

There was a shortage of circuit managers and subject advisors
There were challenges with delivery wherein officials could not visit schools effectively due to the limited kilometres allocated
There was a high turnover of teachers with 215 resignations, particularly of those who teach critical subjects
An increased number of learners had been channelled to pursue Mathematics (the highest offering of Mathematics – 61.6 percent)
Although the District recruited suitably qualified Funza Lushaka graduates, most resigned, taking up positions in less rural areas (finding the deep rural environment unsuitable). These included suitably qualified Mathematics teachers.

The District partnered with PS & Marang who employed a Mathematics Subject Advisor to support schools. There was no Physical Science subject advisor and few other subject advisors.

With regard to group copying and cheating, the District reported that they experienced high incidents of copying in the 2014 June examinations. Results of the affected learners were withheld. The District intensified its monitoring, including deploying monitors to accompany principals to examination centres. The District Director registered his public apology for the incidents of cheating experienced in the District and assured the Portfolio Committee that the District had clamped down on cheating.

Portfolio Committee Observations

Members of the Portfolio Committee commended the District Director for his honesty and courage in accepting responsibility, as the leader of the District, for the examination irregularities experienced and for taking steps towards resolving the matter.
Members urged the District to intensify support to schools in order to minimise the potential for cheating during examinations.
Members expressed concerns that the 2014 May/June results were not yet finalised. The District was urged to expedite the process to finalise the results.

4.2.2 Remarks by the MEC for Education

The MEC for Education, Hon Peggy Nkonyeni addressed the committee on the state of the education in the Province. She reported that the province had begun to implement drastic measures to improve what she termed as a very embarrassing situation that engulfed the Province seeing a drop in the performance of matriculants by 7% from 77.4% to 69.7% in the 2014 end of year examinations. The MEC further reported that a turnaround strategy termed Operation Bounce Back was underway which sought to restore the dignity and integrity of the Province and its education system. All stakeholders had been consulted and gave valuable inputs on how to ensure the successful implementation of the turnaround strategy. The Province was aware of the high number of teacher vacancies and measures were being taken to speedily address the situation. One of the measures so far undertaken was to recruit teachers from outside South African borders and more importantly reviewing the benefits afforded to teachers, particularly those who teach in rural areas, in order to make it attractive for teachers to teach in rural schools. The MEC thanked the Portfolio Committee for visiting the Province and said that her department would be eagerly awaiting the report of the Portfolio Committee and its recommendations.

4.2.3 Visits to Schools, Umzinyathi

a) Mpikayizekanye Secondary School

Mpikayizekanye Secondary School was one of the schools in the District under investigation by the Department for alleged incidents of group copying and cheating. The school had a staff establishment of 13 educators, including a principal and two Heads of Department. Learner enrolment for 2015 was 269 at the time of the oversight, down from 431 in 2014.

The school was fenced, electrified, had an adequate water supply and sufficient toilets for learners and educators. The school experienced a high pregnancy rate. The Committee was informed that the Department had appointed a learner support agent at the school to deal with this challenge.

Learner transport and the School Nutrition Programme were running smoothly. It was also reported that the school had the required LTSM.

The Portfolio Committee received a report on the situation at the school. The school was experiencing conflict between the principal and the School Governing Body which was widely covered in the media. The SGB was accusing the principal and several staff members for involvement in examination irregularities and had prevented them from entering the school premises. It was reported that all the educators at the school reported at the Circuit Office during the month of January 2015. The school only started classes for the 2015 academic programme on 3 February as a result had lost two weeks of the year’s programme. The resumption of classes followed interventions from the Department and the Peace Intervention Committee who urged parents to allow learners to attend classes pending the investigation of the alleged examination irregularities. They also pleaded with the SGB to allow all educators to return to school while investigations continued.

A key allegation made by the principal was that the SGB had not been properly constituted following the resignation of its former chairperson in 2011.

The school offered two streams, the commercial stream and the general stream. Although the school’s final 2014 NSC results were still pending, the interim results were recorded as 43.6 percent, down from 95.5 percent in 2013. The school had drawn up a catch-up programme to make up for the two weeks lost time in January.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee urged all parties involved to ensure that learners were allowed to attend classes while investigations continued, in line with Constitutional requirements.
The Portfolio Committee requested the MEC for Education to ensure that investigations into examination irregularities at the school continued earnestly and to share the report with the Portfolio Committee.
It was observed that other issues requiring urgent attention were the constitutionality of the SGB and the conflict between the school management and the SGB.
Members noted that the ANA results, including for Mathematics Grade 9, were unusually higher compared with the national average. The SMT attributed the good performance in Mathematics to the subject teacher whom they stated was competent.

Responses

MEC for Education – The MEC advised the School Management Team to work together to ensure the smooth running of the school and create a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning. The MEC was deeply concerned about the allegations of the examination irregularities at the school and would ensure that the investigations into the matter were brought to finality. She noted that her office had started conducting unannounced visits to schools to intensify monitoring.

Provincial Department of Education – The Department observed that the school did not have some policies and plans in place, whilst others were inadequate. The Department undertook to support the school to update its policies and plans. They would also intervene immediately on the conflict experienced at the school, including the allegation that the SGB was unconstitutional.

National Department of Basic Education – The DBE committed to support the school in respect of material for supplementary examinations.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Portfolio Committee recommended that:

The Provincial Education Department should follow up on commitments made in respect of the following:

Supporting the school to update its policies and plans
Ensuring that the conflict experienced at the school was resolved
Investigating the allegation that the SGB was unconstitutional
Ensuring that the investigation into the examination irregularities were finalised; the necessary action taken; and, a report shared with the Portfolio Committee.

The Department of Basic Education should ensure that its commitment in respect of the supporting material for the supplementary examinations were fulfilled.

Mthaleni Secondary School

The school had an enrolment of 12 educators, including a principal and two Heads of Department. It was reported that all the educators were qualified and experienced.

The school offered the commercial stream with languages. It experienced a serious decline in the NSC results from 80 percent in 2013 to 4.88 percent in 2014. The School Management Team (SMT) stated that the low results were unexpected since the school had worked tirelessly in 2013 to support learners, including conducting extra classes. The school also reportedly received support from the subject advisors. As part of the strategy to improve results in 2015, the school had added an hour in the morning to conduct extra classes.

The school had completed its registration and admission for 2015. It had the necessary LTSM and the School Nutrition Programme was functioning well. It was reported that the SGB was ineffective. Several members were not attending meetings. There was also a vacancy in the structure. Parental involvement was reportedly inadequate.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee observed that the school appeared to lack confidence to improve examination results. This suggested that the results were not adequately analysed. The Department was urged to provide the necessary support to ensure that the school improved its results.
Members were concerned that the SMT did not seem to know details of the school’s performance in the 2014 ANA results. Members motivated the SMT to work as a team to improve results.
Members urged the Department to monitor schools regularly in order to identify challenges timeously.

Responses

Provincial Department of Education – The Department observed that the school lacked adequate planning. It also appeared to lack a differentiated strategy to cater for learners with different abilities. The Department, including the District Office, undertook to provide targeted support to the school. It was noted that the school once performed well when receiving targeted support from the District but relaxed when the District prioritised other schools. The Department urged the SMT to revive the community education forum and to regularly conduct assessment.

The Head of Department appealed to the DBE officials to prioritise the Province regarding the Teacher Improvement Plan for Grade 9 Mathematics. The HOD further assured the Portfolio Committee that KZN had committed leadership to ensure that the challenges identified during the oversight were addressed. The Provincial Improvement Strategy to address most of the challenges had been developed. The Province planned to do things differently and improve on existing plans.

National Department of Basic Education – The DBE urged the school to analyse the results and diagnose the gaps in its performance. The school was further urged to use previous question papers as a vital resource to prepare for examinations. It was noted that the school needed teacher development in respect of content knowledge and methodology. The DBE would provide the school with study guides to support supplementary examinations. It was stated that KwaZulu-Natal had been prioritised for the Teacher Improvement Plan for Grade 9 Mathematics.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Provincial Education Department should intensify its support to the school to ensure they improved their results, including the following:

Assisting the school to analyse the results with a view to diagnosing the problems; and
Supporting the school to develop an effective School Improvement Plan.

The Department of Basic Education, together with the Provincial Department of Education, should provide the school with the necessary teacher development.
The District Office should give the school the necessary support in respect of SGB functionality.
The District should support the school to develop leadership skills.

Mqamathi High School

The School is a Quintile 1 rank number, located in the Msinga Circuit. It has a total of 678 learners and 23 educators. Teaching and learning takes place in 13 classrooms. The construction of the science laboratory was still underway as well as the computer laboratory. Because the school principal was on long sick leave, the deputy principal had been acting in his position, and this led to the deputy principal spending less time teaching the learners which resulted in poor Mathematics. It was further reported that one of the major contributories to the school’s underperformance in 2014 was the unrest at the school which interrupted teaching and learning. A total of 74 learners wrote matriculation examinations and only four passed.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The school experienced severe disciplinary challenges amongst its learners. This was evident from the vandalised school property.
The school managed to achieve 42% in terms of its ANA results in 2014.
Over the years, the school had experienced infighting of learners, particularly boys belonging to different clans.
There was no evidence that the school’s code of conduct was being implemented.
Some parents were refusing to accept any disciplinary actions taken against their children for breach of school policies.
Elements of criminal activities were taking place at the school since it was reported that learners brought firearms to school.
The school has policies though these are poorly implemented.
The sudden dramatic decline in the performance of learners in Mathematics could only strengthen suspicions of previous examination cheating at the school.
The school was not participating in ANA workshops and this was disadvantageous to the learners and teachers respectively.
There was no learner transport provided for deserving learners at the school.

Recommendations

The Portfolio Committee recommended that the ward councillor should lead efforts to harmonise the soured relationship between the school and the community.
The SAPS needed to play a visible role at the school in order to curb criminality and to allow a safe teaching and learning environment.
The Circuit Office needed to speedily resolve the issue of the principal who had been on long sick leave by providing a substitute as per the regulations.
The school needed to formulate an Academic Improvement Plan without delay and submit it to the Circuit and District for evaluation and approval.
The school management was mandated to submit the relevant documentation to the District for the processing of learner transport needs.
The District and the Provincial Departmental officials tasked with overseeing the provision of learner transport were urged to prioritise the school once all documentation had been submitted.
The school would compile a list of all the support that was required by the District, Provincial and national Department of Basic Education in order to change its state of affairs.

Dolo Combined School

The school is a Quintile 1 combined school under the Msinga Circuit. The school had a total number of 545 learners, 22 educators and an average class size of 55. Like almost all the schools in rural areas, finding suitably qualified educators for critical subjects like Mathematics and Accounting posed a challenge for the school. The school had experienced a decline in the performance of learners since 2011. In 2014, the school only achieved an 11% pass rate in the November examinations.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The school does not have adequate sanitation facilities.
The school buildings require maintenance as there are cracks in the walls.
The school had a properly managed teaching and learning attendance registers which were applied and controlled.
All teacher posts were filled and there were no vacant posts.
In terms of ANA, there was a trend of learners doing well at junior levels but struggling to perform at senior levels.
In line with issued circular 9, all learners at the school were required to take mathematics although there were no systems to assist learners with the content.
The school received its funding allocation from the Department and every learner had his or her own textbook.
The textbook retrieval system of the school was in place and was properly implemented.
There were challenges with regard to learner transport which resulted in certain learners walking long distances to and from school.
The Portfolio Committee was pleased to observe that the QLTC and the SMT were present and fully functional.
The School Nutrition Programme was running smoothly.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The school needed to submit the technical report which recommended the demolition of the school as the present structure was deemed to be unsafe for learning and teaching.
Whilst the Portfolio Committee deemed the circular 9 instruction for all learners to take Mathematics, such a call needed adequate support to ensure that learners received all the necessary assistance to pass.
The school needed to partake in workshops aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of educators particularly geared towards improving the ANA results.
The school should, without delay, submit all the required documentation to the relevant Department in order to be allocated learner transport.

Kwazenzele Secondary School

The School had 17 Classrooms six of which were used for different purpose such as the storage of books, a kitchen and a hall. The school had been able to repair damaged furniture and had since kept them for purposes of examination. The school experienced learner attendance challenges in that learners perpetually arrived late after school holidays. Although the Province reported that the delivery of textbooks was completed by the end of 2014, the last delivery of textbooks in the school was done on the Monday of the oversight week. The school received money transfers on the 10th of December 2014. The school’s management and governance was sound in that financial books were regularly audited with a clean record. The school had a challenge of teachers who were not willing to stay long in the school due to the lack of amenities since it was in a rural area. The school was requesting to have a Laboratory Assistant, Computer Laboratory Assistant, and Security as it was declared to be a model school.

Portfolio Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee was concerned over the lack of analysis of assessment results.
There were no teachers in critical subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Science and Life Science.
A Mathematics Teacher was reported to have been removed from the school and no alternative was provided. Members were concerned that learners were left for so long without a teacher. The District Office cited a policy that compelled schools to use only professionally qualified teachers.
The school had policies, though they seem to have been extracted from elsewhere.
The security provided to the school had since been discontinued

Responses:

Provincial Department of Basic Education - The Provincial officials were surprised by the school reporting that it had been declared a model school whilst its performance was not up to the set standard.

National Department of Basic Education – The Portfolio Committee received a commitment from the Department of Basic Education that they would liaise with the District to ensure that the staffing issues at the school were addressed as a matter of urgency.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations:

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education recommended that:

The school needed to base their intervention strategies on the analysis of results.
A CD would be provided to the school and the school should facilitate a process through the SGB where the policies could have a buy-in and approval.
The District should take the necessary steps to fast-track the appointment of a suitably qualified Mathematics teacher at the school
Members of Parliament advised that the district should have conducted an audit on the matter and informed the province accordingly.
The school was advised to conduct a survey into learners who were eligible for Scholar Transport service.
The District should support the school to address learner pregnancy, including developing the Learner Pregnancy Policy, especially having experienced learner pregnancy of 12 learners.

g) Emkhamo Combined School

The school offered Grades R to 12 and had a total of 336 learners with 18 teachers. The school had achieved 100% in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations for the past two years only to have a sudden drop of 13.3% in 2014. The Acting Principal had not yet been paid. Some teachers were still improving their qualifications. The school was found to have kept no stock register for the NSNP. Learners of the school, despite travelling long distances, were not enjoying the services of Scholar Transport.

Portfolio Committee Observations:

The school had two sets of statistics regarding learner enrolment and the number of teachers. This raised doubt about the validity of the school’s data.
Members of the Portfolio Committee emphasised the need for the school to improve on textbooks retrieval from learners.
The ANA results were not analysed and used as a diagnostic tool, as intended.
The school experienced a high teenage pregnancy rate and there was no Learner Pregnancy Policy in place.
Policies that the school claimed to have were copies from the same source as other schools visited.
The NSNP was not functioning well as learners had not been served with vegetables due to the service provider who claimed that they were not paid by the Department.
The main reasons advanced for poor learner performance by the school was that they have a problem of a lack of discipline and drug abuse by learners.

Responses:

National Department of Basic Education –

The Department urged the school Management Team to conduct regular monitoring of curriculum programmes in the school.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations:

The Portfolio Committee recommended the following:

The District, together with the Provincial Department, should provide the necessary support to the school to improve its results, including using ANA as a diagnostic tool, as intended.
The District should assist the school to address learner pregnancy and develop effective policies, including Learner Pregnancy Policy.
The Provincial Education Department take urgent steps to ensure the timeous payment of service providers of the NSNP.
The District should ensure that the school on textbooks retrieval from learners.

4.3 Ilembe District

4.3.1 Meeting with the District

The District Director appreciated the visit by the Portfolio Committee. She highlighted that as a District, they were working as a team. Although schools experienced challenges, most were committed. It was noted that the District Offices were located in Durban, outside the District jurisdiction.

The District identified several key challenges faced as follows:

Severe understaffing, with several vacant posts in the District’s organogram being vacant, including for circuit management, subject advisory services, financial support services and School Nutrition Programme management;
The shortage of Mathematics and Science teachers and the inability to attract suitably qualified teachers in general, due to the rural nature of the district;
The high rate of educator resignation and early retirement at 55 years;
Budgetary constraints;
Insufficient vehicles;
School infrastructural challenges;
Instability in the District due to the stand-off between Organised Labour and the District Director;
Late payment of service providers for the School Nutrition Programme resulting in disruptions to services;
The lack of authentic records in respect of the provision of LTSM in Section 21 schools; and
The lack of school furniture and infrastructure which was rapidly dilapidating and at times posing a threat to learners and educators.

4.3.2 Visits to schools, Ilembe

Dumane Commercial High School

The school was neat and welcoming. It had a staff establishment of 11 educators and a learner enrolment of 207.

The school experienced a steep decline in the NSC results from 100 percent in 2010 to 2013 to 18.4 percent in 2014. Underperformance was recorded in almost all subjects, particularly in Mathematics and Physical Sciences where the results had dropped from 100 percent and 71.4 percent pass rates respectively in 2013 to 0 percent in both subjects in 2014.

The school identified the following challenges affecting the school:

The shifting choice of subjects from Mathematical Literacy to Mathematics, following a circular from the Provincial Education Department;
The lack of suitably qualified teachers, who preferred to teach in less rural areas, resulting in the reliance on foreign nationals;
The lack of water supply in the school;
The lack of transport due to the deep rural location of the school, affecting both learners and teachers; and
A shortage of textbooks due to the return to school of some 2014 Grade 12 learners. The matter had been reported to the Department.

The School Management Team expressed satisfaction with District support. It was reported that the Department had assisted the school to mitigate the challenges faced through approving the appointment of foreign educators and being available to support the school to employ qualified teachers. The municipality also assisted at times with water tanks. The principal took full responsibility for the school’s underperformance. It was reported that a multi-pronged turnaround strategy had been developed to improve the results in 2015, which included working closely with the District Office; seeking support from peer educators of neighbouring schools; monitoring teacher work schedules and assessment tasks; and, improving learners’ ability in essay writing. The school had already started with morning and afternoon extra classes for the senior Grades.

The school had a total of eight classrooms in a fair condition and fifteen toilets (thirteen for learners and two for teachers) which were reportedly in a poor condition. It had a computer room and a kitchen but required a Science laboratory, an administration block and a hall. The school was also electrified and fenced though this was in a poor condition.

The school policies were in place, including the admission policy and the textbook retrieval policy. All the necessary plans for the IQMS were also reportedly in place and being implemented. The SMT expressed satisfaction with the School Nutrition Programme and support from the School Governing Body. However, it was noted that parental support was inadequate.

Portfolio Committee Observations

Members of the Portfolio Committee were satisfied that the school, working together with the District, was able to diagnose its challenges and had developed a turnaround strategy. The Department was urged to support the school in implementing the turnaround strategy.

Responses

Provincial Department of Education – The District Office undertook to support the school in implementing its turnaround strategy.

National Department of Basic Education – The DBE was encouraged that the school had applied its mind to its turnaround strategy. The Department would provide the school with study guides and other forms of support.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Provincial Education Department, including the District Office, should give the school the necessary support to deal with its expressed challenges, including the shortage of suitably qualified teachers, the lack of learner transport and the shortage of textbooks.
The Provincial Education Department and the Department of Basic Education should carry out their respective commitments to support the school to improve its results.
The Provincial Education Department should consider progressively addressing the school’s infrastructural needs as alluded to above.
The District Office should assist the school to improve parental involvement.

AM Moola Secondary School

The school was a Section 21, Quintile 2, situated in the rural part of Ilembe District. The road to the school was inaccessible during rainy seasons. The school had a staff establishment of 11 educators and a learner enrolment of 249 for 2015. There was a vacancy for a Head of Department for Commercial subjects, which was currently filled by an acting coordinator.

The school’s NSC performance declined from 64.9 percent in 2013 to 15 percent in 2014. The performance was particularly low in Accounting, Business Studies, Mathematical Literacy, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. The school had developed its turnaround strategy which included team-teaching and giving learners extra work.

In terms of infrastructure, the school had a total of 15 classrooms and eight toilets for learners, most of which were in a bad condition. The school had fencing which was in a poor condition. The school was using a generator to supply power since there was no electricity in the area. The matter had been referred to Eskom who had not yet responded. The water supply was inadequate. The school had requested the municipality to supply water tanks but were still awaiting a response.

There was a shortage of textbooks attributed to inadequate allocation from the Norms and Standards funding. It was reported that the Department had supported the school with photocopies of textbooks.

Challenges

The School Management Team raised the following challenges experienced at the school:

Learners walk long distances to school, with some through dangerous areas
There was a lack of a Mathematics teacher who could teach Geometry
A Senior Phase Mathematics teacher was regularly absent and had been on a long sick leave towards the end of 2014, resulting in insufficient time for revision
There were high incidents of burglary due to inadequate security, sometimes resulting in loss of school documents and broken windows
The school experienced inadequate water supply
There was a lack of electricity supply in the area, with the school using a generator as a back up
There was a lack of role-models for learners, resulting in poor discipline
The SGB noted that literacy levels of learners were low and required attention

Portfolio Committee Observations

Members observed that the school required support in several subjects.
Members noted the challenges identified at the school, including inadequate infrastructure and burglary, which required attention.
There was a need to consider the school for learner transport. The issue of learners being threatened while walking to school required the attention of the community.
Members of the Provincial Legislature undertook to adopt the school for targeted support.
Members questioned whether normal school time was used optimally to justify additional time for extra classes.

Responses

National Department of Basic education – The DBE noted that the school required immediate support. They advised the school to consider using lessons broadcast on television as a resource. The Department also undertook to support the school in respect of its LTSM requirements, including study guides for Mathematics.

Provincial Department of Education – The Department advised the school to ensure that they worked as a team in efforts to improve results. The Department would also explore the needs of the school in respect of Mathematics. It was noted that an application for long sick leave for the Mathematics teacher was underway and would allow the school to employ a substitute teacher.

Recommendations

The Provincial Education Department and the Department of Basic Education should give the school the necessary support to improve its results, including carrying out their respective commitments alluded to above.

The Provincial Education Department should consider prioritising the school for its infrastructural needs, including learner transport and security needs.

Hlangabeza Secondary School

The Principal of the school informed the committee that his school performance since the school was established in 1996 was reasonably well until 2011 where results started declining. The school had a total of 17 educators, 13 classrooms and an average class size of about 55 learners per class.

Portfolio Committee observations

The Portfolio Committee found it disturbing that some critical subjects at senior level were being taught by unqualified teachers.
The school did not have an HOD for Commercial subjects.
Learners and parents did not take heed of the campaign to register early hence many learners were still in the process of registration for 2015.
Not every learner had his or her own textbook. However there were sufficient textbooks for Grade 12 learners.
Although the school had the required policies in place, the implementation thereof was often problematic.
Although the SMT was not at full complement, it was nevertheless fully functional.

Challenges

The school experiences water shortages. For at least ten days of the month the water supply experienced interruptions.
The school did not have a fully-fledged Science laboratory and a computer laboratory for its learners.
There was currently one vacant position for the HOD for Commerce.
The one book per learner initiative was not implemented at the school.
Incidents of learner pregnancy were prevalent at the school.
The school performance in ANA was very poor. The school attributed this to the inadequate preparation of learners by feeder schools at primary level.
Although the SGB was present, it was not playing an active role in the affairs of the school.
Community participation was often very poor. Some parents stay too far away from the school to attend school meetings.
The challenges with the payment of service providers often interrupted the School Nutrition Programme.

Recommendations

The Circuit Manager and the District should ensure that the issue of unfilled vacancies, particularly in critical subjects received urgent attention.
The District together with the Provincial Education Department needed to do a review of the post status of all teachers at the school.
The Department should give the school the necessary support to curb incidents of learner pregnancies.
The Department should support the school to undertake a self-evaluation exercise in order to create a comprehensive Academic Improvement Plan.
The Portfolio Committee urged teachers to work harder to improve the performance of learners regardless of the poor preparation learners received at primary school level.
The Provincial Education Department should consider using the scholar transport to transport parents to attend school activities.
The Provincial Education Department should investigate and ensure that the District receives the Rural Incentive Scheme for teachers in order to attract and retain them.

UMzwangedwa High School

The School currently had an Acting Principal after a stand-off between the community and the permanent principal led to the latter vacating his post. At one stage, learners embarked on a strike which led to extensive vandalisation of school property. It was, however, reported that the situation had returned to normal since the acting-principal took over, and learning and teaching was running smoothly. The Circuit reported that it was attending to the challenges faced by the school and processes were at an advanced stage to appoint a permanent school principal. Except for the vacant post of the school principal, all teacher posts were filled by suitably qualified teachers, with only three teachers in the process of completing their teaching qualifications.

Portfolio Committee Observations

There seemed to be a trend of a stand-off between the community and the school principals which resulted in principals being forced to leave school.
The school received all the Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM) as ordered.
Despite having a full teaching staff compliment, the school pass rate dropped from 72% to 12% in 2014.
The school had a sound textbook retrieval policy that is being implemented.
There was a good working relationship between the current school leadership and the SGB.
The school had no learner transport in place despite having a large number of learners who qualify to be provided with learner transport.
Although the school had required policies in place, such policies were not coherent apart from the school’s book retrieval policy.
For a period of 4 months, the School Nutrition Programme was interrupted due to non-payment of service providers.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations

The Provincial Education Department and the District Office need to intervene and seek to find a cause for the conflict between the community and the school principals with a view to finding a solution to the challenges.
The Provincial Education Department and the District Office should ensure to it that the three educators who are still pursuing their teaching qualifications do so without undue delay.
The school needs to establish, without delay, its QLTC and ensure that it makes a positive contribution to the administration of the school.
As a matter of urgency, the District should take the necessary steps to ensure that the school received assistance regarding its learner transport needs. .
The District Office should assist the school to develop effective policies. .
The Provincial Education Department should investigate whether any payments were made from the budget allocated to the school nutrition programme during the 4 months when there was no nutrition.

Phakathwayo Secondary School

The school gave two sets of statistics in terms of learner numbers. The information sent to the district stated that the school had 623 learners while information received from the school stated that there were 581 learners. The school had challenges with water, even though there was a water pipe installed. The school fence was reported to have been damaged and that posed a risk for further vandalism. The school needed five classrooms and furniture in the form of tables and chairs for learners. There was a delay in obtaining responses when applications were lodged with the District concerning the appointment of teachers.

Portfolio Committee Observations:

The District should investigate why the process for the appointment of teachers was delayed.
The issue of the appointment of foreign teachers should be investigated, however the provincial policy should be observed in a manner that would not disadvantage learners.
A database should be kept by the District on the availability of teachers in the areas of Mathematics and Science subjects.
The absenteeism rate of teachers and learners should to be dealt with by the School Management Team and School Governing Body.
The school should develop policies and allow the stakeholders to have an input and buy-in.

Responses:

Provincial Department of Education – The school was advised to revisit its acceptance/registration policy as it could not accept learners beyond its threshold.

National Department of Basic Education (DBE) – The DBE advised the SGB to ensure that all policies of the school were approved. They requested the school to keep their stock register up to date.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations:

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education recommended the following:

The Provincial Education Department urgently addressed the shortages of educators at the school, as well as the shortages of textbooks and workbooks as alluded to.
The Provincial Education Department needed to find solutions to the current scholar transport problems facing the school.
The District should give the school the necessary support to develop policies and plan properly.
The District should consider prioritising the school in respect of its infrastructural needs and expedite the provision of furniture.
The District should assist the school to ensure that they are able to control textbooks and place orders accordingly.
The District should speed up the process on the placement of a substitute teacher on behalf of the Deputy Principal.

Ikhusana Combined School

The school reported having 628 learners with 19 teachers. The school used water from the river despite the fact that there was a borehole, the tanks were leaking and needed repair. Classrooms were inadequate. The school Clerk had resigned and a vacancy had not been created. The school experienced absenteeism by teachers due to ill health challenges. Learners were sharing textbooks and some teachers did not have subject guidelines. The school experienced vandalism during the school holidays during the day when security was absent.

Portfolio Committee Observations:

It was observed that the school had purchased a policy guide booklet which it used as its policy.
The School Nutrition Programme was marked by challenges of service providers claiming that the Department is not honouring their payments.
Schools in the area were supported by foreign nationals and underqualified teachers.
Teachers seem not to benefit from the rural allowance and opted to leave the school for other areas.

Challenges

Learner absenteeism;
Infrastructure: the school buildings had no ceilings. There was a shortage of classrooms and an Administration Block. The school needed a kitchen to cook meals for the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). The school also needed benches;
The school required an administration clerk; and
The school leave register was not well managed and administered.

Responses:

Provincial Department of Education - The Department advised the school to use a movement register for teachers. The Department also undertook to liaise with the main storage warehouse to deliver the shortages experienced by the school by the end of the week. The Department further alluded to the budget constraints which hampered the Department from meeting infrastructure challenges. With the school learner numbers, it was difficult to argue for extra classrooms to be supplied. The Department was of the view that the school accepted its status as a functional, successful Multi-Grade school.

Portfolio Committee Recommendations:

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education recommended that:

The School Management should motivate teachers to improve on their teaching qualifications.
The District should ensure that the school developed a user friendly textbook retrieval policy and its effective implementation.
The District should assist the school to develop a Learner Pregnancy Policy.
The Department should fill vacancies at the schools as a matter of urgency.
Planning should be undertaken a year in advance and monitoring systems should correlate with the plan.
The District should give the school the necessary support to improve parental involvement.

5. Report- back/Wrap-up Session with the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department

The Chairperson, during the de-briefing session with the KZN Education Department indicated that there had been indications of positive preparations made in terms of school readiness for 2015. Teaching and learning was underway in all the schools visited, with the exception of Mpikayizekanye Secondary School in the Umzinyathi District, which required special attention to normalise the situation. Some schools and District Offices had started to diagnose areas of challenges in the system as well as to implement Improvement Plans. The Department had ensured that Learner Teacher Support Material were available in all schools, particularly in Section 20 schools.

Critical issues that required the attention of the Department included the following:

Funza Lushaka bursary scheme: The Funza Lushaka bursary scheme was not reaping benefits in respect of:

Supplying and retaining qualified teachers in rural areas
Producing enough teachers with the right subject combinations.

The Portfolio Committee was particularly concerned that Funza Lushaka bursary holders were deployed to rural schools but soon left without consequences.

Learner Transport: It was a matter of concern that learner transport in KZN was benefitting fewer learners (23 000) in comparison with other provinces with lesser learner enrolment. The Province needed to find ways of expanding the service and ensuring that there was value for money.
The School Nutrition Programme: Some schools were not benefitting effectively from the School Nutrition Programme due to late payment of service providers by the Department. There were also complaints from some schools that there was an inadequate supply of vegetables. The Department needed to resolve these issues.
Leadership: There was a need to develop effective leadership in some schools, including curriculum management. Accountability at some levels of the education system was also lacking. There was a need for District Management to improve systems of monitoring to ensure that problems were detected timeously.

Curriculum Support: The Department and District Offices needed to ensure that schools were supported to develop quality Improvement Plans and to effectively implement them. There was also a need to ensure that all schools used the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results for their intended diagnostic purpose.

The allocation of limited mileage of 1 700 kilometres per month to officials providing curriculum support such as subject advisors, needed to be reviewed since it negatively impacted on the level of support given to schools, particularly in Districts with vast distances to schools.

The non-filling of vacant posts particularly for subject advisors in gateway subjects hampered effective support to schools.

There was a need to pay attention to developing office-based officials to ensure that they effectively supported schools.

Unqualified teachers: The issue of unqualified teachers should be addressed, including ensuring that they upgrade their qualifications.

LTSM: Although it was commendable that the Department had ensured that LTSM was available in all Section 20 schools, it was vital that the Department found ways to effectively monitor procurement processes of LTSM in Section 21 schools.
Furniture: Some schools visited experienced shortages of desks and furniture, which required attention.
Compensation of employees: The Provincial Education Department, in conjunction with the National Treasury, needed to find ways to reduce the cost of the compensation of employees which was currently very high and negatively impacted on the delivery of educational services.
The QLTC: The Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC) was ineffective in many schools, which compromised efforts to address the challenges of learner discipline and parental involvement. There was a need to revive the QLTC and intensify the training of SGBs.
Relationship with Organised Labour: The Department needed to find ways to resolve the stand-off between the Ilembe District management and organised labour as this negatively impacted on support to schools. There was also a need to imrove relations between unions and SGBs.
Policies: It was important that all schools were assisted to develop and implement policies them.
Rural incentives: Rural Incentives should be uniformly implemented, and the focus should be directed at those educators who teach in deep rural areas.

6. Closing remarks

The MEC for Education expressed a heartfelt gratitude to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for providing leadership during the oversight. She noted that many of the issues raised during the oversight were similar to those raised at the Department’s planning session at the beginning of the year. The oversight report would assist the Department in strengthening its plans going forward. She noted that Districts were in the process of developing Academic Improvement Plans. One of the pillars of these plans was to capacitate principals and SMTs, many of whom could not manage CAPS. The issue of vacancies was a concern to the Province. While recognising the government’s austerity measures, the MEC appealed to the Portfolio Committee to support their bid for more funding from the National Treasury to alleviate the Department’s budgetary constraints. The Department was committed to improving the results.

The Head of Department thanked the Portfolio Committee for the support received during the oversight visit. He noted that a comprehensive report had been prepared to cover issues raised by Members of the Portfolio Committee which had not been addressed during the earlier sessions of the oversight. The report included the following:

The School Nutrition Programme
A refined version of the NSC results in KZN
The Provincial Improvement Plan and District Improvement Plans
An updated report on the allegations of examination irregularities
The progress report on head count.

The session was followed by responses from the 12 District Directors in KZN.

In her closing remarks, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education thanked everyone for their input and expressed appreciation for the revised documentation prepared for the oversight. She applauded the energy displayed by the Province throughout the duration of the oversight. The Chairperson noted that it was important that KZN improve their results given its considerable size as a Province. This could have a major impact on the results of the entire country.

7. Overall recommendations

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, having conducted the oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal, and having considered the issues that were highlighted, requests that the Minister of Basic Education ensures that the Department consider the following overall recommendations:

7.1 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department, including Districts and Circuits, should intensify their support for schools, including ensuring that they all develop quality Improvement Plans and effectively implement them. The KZN Education Department, together with the Department of Basic Education should consider streamlining School Improvement Plans to ensure that they are uniform and effective. There is also an urgent need to support some schools in respect of curriculum implementation, including the content knowledge of Mathematics.

7.2 Given that learner transport is one of the keys to access, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, together with the Department of Transport of Education, should take the necessary steps to expand the service to all qualifying learners.

7.3 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should urgently ensure that payments to service providers in respect of the School Nutrition Programme are made timeously to improve its effective implementation.

7.4 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should expedite and bring to conclusion the investigations into the examination irregularities to ensure that the credibility and integrity of the examinations are not compromised. Those found to be implicated should be subjected to the necessary sanctions and disciplinary processes. Whilst the strengthening of measures to prevent organised copying is commendable, the Department should intensify its monitoring to ensure that these measures are implemented.

7.5 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department together with the Department of Basic Education should find ways to ensure that the Funza Lushaka bursary reaps maximum benefits in respect of the supply and retention of qualified teachers in rural areas as well as producing enough teachers with the right combination of subjects.

7.6 The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education should fast-track the filling of all vacant posts to ensure effective service delivery.

7.7 The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education should ensure that it implements its plans regarding the development of effective leadership in schools, including curriculum management.

7.8 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should ensure that the rural incentive scheme benefit all deserving teachers.

7.9 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should take the necessary steps to fast-track plans to provide the Norms and Standards funding to schools at the required level in order to enable schools to function effectively.

7.10 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should consider reviewing the present 1 700 kilometers for travel by subject advisers in order for schools to benefit effectively from their services.

7.11 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should find ways to effectively monitor procurement processes of LTSM in Section 21 schools with a view to ensure they that they are available to all learners in these schools.

7.12 The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department should progressively address the challenges facing individual Districts and schools as identified in this report. The Provincial Education Department and the Department of Basic Education should also carry out their commitments made to individual schools as covered in this report. In this regard, a report back should be submitted to Parliament within two months, in order to ascertain the progress made.

Report to be considered.

Documents

No related documents

ATC150429: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal Province, dated 14 April 2015

Basic Education

Documents

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