ATC171018: Report of the Select Committee on Education and Recreation on progress made by the Eastern Cape Department of Education on the recommendation made during the 2016 Taking Parliament to the People in the Eastern Cape Province, dated 18 October 2017

NCOP Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture

Report of the Select Committee on Education and Recreation on progress made by the Eastern Cape Department of Education on the recommendation made during the 2016 Taking Parliament to the People in the Eastern Cape Province, dated 18 October 2017
 

The Select Committee on Education and Recreation (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) having considered the progress report made by the Eastern Cape Department of Education (hereinafter referred to as the ECDoE) on the recommendations made during the 2016 Taking Parliament to the People (hereinafter referred to as TPTTP) in the Eastern Cape Province, reports as follows:

 

1.         Introduction and background

 

The 2016 Taking Parliament and Legislature to the People Programme was held at Abbotsford Christian Centre in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa on 14-18 November 2016. The Programme was held jointly by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature under the theme: Following up on our commitments. The main programme was preceded by the Pre-visit Programme, which was successfully held in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality on 18-21 October 2016.

 

The Programme focused on both public hearings and site visits. Public hearings focused on various issues ranging from social development, human settlements, economic development and education. Site visits were conducted in various ECD centres, public libraries, institutions of higher learning as well as schools in the East London Central, Mdantsane and King Williams Town areas.

 

The main aim of the site visits was for Members to engage with the management, educators, learners and beneficiaries to further enrich their understanding and appreciation of the issues that emerged from the various educational institutions during the pre-visits undertaken by Parliament support staff (i.e. researchers and content advisers) to identify and profile sites for the programme. During such engagements, recommendations were made on issues to be followed up by various NCOP Committees such as the Committee on Education and Recreation.

 

The following is the summary of schools that were visited in both the Buffalo City Municipality and the Alfred Nzo District Municipality:

School Type	Alfred Nzo District Municipality	Buffalo City Municipality	Total
ECD Centres	1	1	2
Primary schools	8	4	12
Senior Secondary	11	6	17
Comprehensive	2	1	3
Technical High	1	0	1
Special Schools	3	3	6
Independent Schools	1	0	1
Total	27	15	42

 

The Committee, therefore, invited the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the ECDoE to come and give an update on the progress in the implementation of the 2016 Eastern Cape TPTTP recommendations to date, on Wednesday, 13 September 2017.

 

2.         Legislative and policy context

 

Section 55(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution) mandates the National Assembly to provide for mechanisms to ensure that all executive organs of state in the national sphere of government are accountable to it; and to maintain oversight of:

(i) the exercise of national executive authority, including the implementation of legislation; and

(ii) any organ of state.

 

Furthermore, Section 69 provides that the National Council of Provinces or any of its committees may:

1. summon any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation, or to produce documents;

(b) require any person or institution to report to it;

(c) compel, in terms of national legislation or the rules and orders, any person or institution to comply with a summons or requirement in terms of paragraph (a) or

(b); and

(d) receive petitions, representations or submissions from any interested persons or institutions.

 

The afore-mentioned prescripts indicate that, oversight and accountability are constitutionally mandated functions of legislatures to scrutinise and oversee executive action and any organ of state. Besides, it necessitates overseeing the effective management of government departments by individual members of the relevant executive authority. This, in pursuit of improved service delivery for the achievement of a better quality of life for all people. In ensuring adherence to such important mandate, the Committee intended to establish whether the commitments made by government including the ECDoE, regarding Education, had been addressed.

 

3.         Purpose of the report

 

The purpose of this report is to account for work done by the Committee in making a follow-up on the recommendations made during the Taking Parliament to the People engagements. The report further indicates some findings and also makes recommendations for consideration by the National Council of Provinces.

 

4.         Summary of recommendations made during Taking Parliament to the People

 

Some of the general key challenges that emerged from interactions with various sites, relevant departments and key stakeholders during the visit included high teenage pregnancy; sicknesses amongst learners; shortage of water supply to schools, particularly rural schools; bad conditions of roads connecting to schools; insufficient and poorly constructed toilets for both learners and teachers; shortage of night  security guards in several schools leaving schools vulnerable to burglary and theft, particularly those schools whose SGBs cannot afford to appoint additional security officers; burglaries into schools leading to loss of teaching aids such as computers, projectors, scientific calculators and others; inadequate provision of scholar transport; and continued use of the toilet bucket system by some pre-school facilities. Government, and in particular relevant departments, were, as a matter of urgency, requested to intervene and seek ways to address these challenges for the sake of quality learning and teaching and better academic performance by the South African education system.

 

Concerning the afore mentioned challenges, the NCOP made some recommendations for the Department of Basic Education together with the ECDoE to attend to and these are highlighted below:

• The Minister of Basic Education should appear before the NCOP or the SC on Basic Education and respond to the issues facing the schools.
• The Department of Basic Education should provide clarity to the NCOP on what it has done in relation to the issue of the non-functional SGBs.
• The IGR structure should assist in ensuring that priorities such as roads, water and sanitation are addressed and form part of relevant departments’ plans and municipality IDP.
• The Education district offices should engage with Eskom and the local municipality to make sure that the current industrial transformers generating huge bills are replaced by household ones as this cripples the cash flow of the schools.
• The Municipalities should report on how they spent funds allocated for MIG projects and sporting facilities.
• The ECDoE should provide the NCOP with the assessments done and time frames in relation to the provision of the 12 prefabricated classrooms; adequate water and sanitation and high scale fencing to the schools.
• The ECDoE should provide a progress report to the NCOP on the delivery of LTSM to the schools during its next visit to the Province in November.
• The ECDoE should provide a detailed report to the NCOP on why the majority of schools visited reported that they had not received LTSM.
• SADTU should engage educators and motivate them to be transferred to schools experiencing shortages so as to assist rationalisation of schools.
• The ECDoE should make use of the relations with the Provincial Departments of Social Development and Home Affairs in order to ensure that all learners have birth certificates.
• The MEC on Education should establish ways of addressing issues related to rural allowances.
• The Department of Basic Education should employ more computer technicians as part of non-teaching staff to service the 217 schools in the districts.
• Planning from the Provincial office should be improved by involving scarce skilled personnel on infrastructure development such as engineers and surveyors.
• Community consultations should be embarked on prior demolishing of the inappropriate structures.
• The schools should apply for scholar transport from the Department of Roads and Transport for eligible learners. 
• The schools should collaborate with police to curb the high prevalence of drug abuse and elements of ill-discipline by learners.
• The ECDoE should assist schools to lodge applications of installing water pipes and taps to the municipalities so as to enable flushing toilets to work optimally.
• Police should have unannounced visits to schools for random check of drugs.

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In short, major findings were around inadequate infrastructure, water and sanitation, staffing, access to ICT and poor coordination between government departments and the districts as represented in terms of provision of LTSM, furniture, norms and standards and filling of vacancies. Nevertheless, the bad state of roads and lack of uniformity in addressing the realignment of small schools were some of the realities on the ground. The aforementioned realities were compounded by budget constraints in the province.  It was a concern that rural provinces are laggards, as this affects the academic performance of learners negatively.

 

5.         ECDoE progress report on the recommendations

 

5.1.       Remarks by the Eastern Cape MEC of Education

 

Mr. M Makupula, MPL, the MEC for Education in the Eastern Cape Province (the MEC) indicated that the ECDoE acknowledged and appreciated the importance of the NCOP oversight role in ensuring that the work being done is evaluated by an independent arbiter. The Province appreciated that its people in Alfred Nzo District Municipality and BCM, that the NCOP visited, deserved the best possible service given to them timeously and ensuring that promises made to expand interventions were kept. This has also been true for him personally as he had also taken particular interest in ensuring that their special schools were given special attention. The visit of the NCOP to the special schools in the BCM (St Thomas, Vukuhambe, Fundisa Special School and Ebotwe Full Service School) coincided with his own direct interactions with representatives from special schools in the province. The meetings and scouting visits to the schools had been primarily geared at ensuring that, as they implement comprehensive capital renovations, all stakeholders became part of the process to advise accordingly.

 

In order to overcome challenges that come with operating a public school in a private property, the property at St Thomas has been bought by the ECDoE. The ECDoE was currently implementing comprehensive renovations to ensure that learners are provided with high standards and a habitable and conducive environment to cater for their special needs.

In response to the other findings about weaknesses noted at other schools, the ECDoE was responding by:

• Providing workshops for skills training in 2018 as part of the Skills Curriculum in Special Schools;
• Training sessions for educators and departmental officials in sign Language are ongoing.
• A curriculum adaptation framework has been finalized;
• The ECDoE has procured additional buses for Special Schools and a post for an additional driver has also been advertised;
• After several representations by community groups, a start in the empowerment of autistic learners has been made. A further exploration of suitable developmental programmes was in the pipeline; and
• In Vukuhambe in particular, the District office has increased its monitoring of budget planning and expenditure, and ensured that general vacancies have been filled.

 

All of these interventions had been implemented steadfastly to ensure that learners with special needs were, indeed, prioritized and received the high level of attention they deserve. The support provided to Special Schools had also been matched with similar commitment for all public ordinary schools. The ECDoE remained committed to ensuring that its schools provided a safe and caring environment for their learners at all times. It was imperative that the partnerships and natural affinity be uphold with some of sister departments in ensuring that they worked together complementing each other seamlessly in providing services to communities. The ECDoE partnership with the Departments of Health and Social Development had gone well, particularly over the past two (2) years. This was to ensure that children in schools were timeously immunized against all latent health risks, and at the same time, were provided critical support grants to allow them to continue with their schooling. The ECDoE school safety initiative had also resulted in the revival of the ‘Adopt-a-School’ initiative, with more attention being provided to ‘violence hot spots’ and these schools were now, subjects of heightened patrols by the police. The ECDoE had also ensured that all schools in ‘hot spots’ benefit from the high quality palisade fencing initiative.

 

The MEC further mentioned that these interventions were multi-dimensional in that they allowed for a multifaceted approach in dealing with social ills that include teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and general issues of school safety. The most critical element in making a significant impact was to ensure that government worked in full partnership with the parents, local school community and civic organisations in combating these challenges. The ECDoE had also sought to provide lasting solution to the long-standing challenges of provision of Learner and Teacher Support Materials (LTSM) and School Furniture. They embarked on a comprehensive project to assess textbook shortages in each school and all these were procured and delivered to all schools, notwithstanding the fact that they were late in some of the schools. All the textbooks and stationery in short supply were provided to schools in full by end of March 2017.

 

In the same vein, the ECDoE concluded a furniture audit exercise in collaboration with DBE by the end of year 2016 and the results were captured in the Furniture Audit Database. By 17 July 2017, over 1 100 order forms were received from schools and these order forms informed the placement of orders by schools. Orders amounted to 244 870 units of desks and chairs and by the end of August 2017, the ECDoE had concluded 50% of the deliveries. Approximately 158 000 chairs would be delivered to schools by end of November 2017. These steps were significant in that they required structural and functional normalization that would enable the ECDoE long term to focus on its core business, learning and teaching.

 

The next critical step had been a focused improvement of ECDoE management and governance structures through:

• 4 Teacher Development Institutes that had been set up to support teachers. These are Algoa in Port Elizabeth, East London Institute in East London, TRINSET in Mthatha and Queenstown Science Centre;
• 9 Teacher Centres that were refurbished and connected to support teacher training;
• An ICT based Virtual Teacher Development Programme that was currently being piloted in 2 Districts as part of ICT integration; and
• All Foundation Phase Teachers that had been supplied with Laptops as part of Teacher Laptop initiative.

  

All of the above interventions have benefitted all districts inclusive of BCM and Alfred Nzo. In Alfred Nzo, the emergency infrastructure programme through the Department of Public Works has provided mobile classrooms in all schools in need and these include: Nyaniso, Le Grange, Zwelakhe, Emthonjeni, Lutateni, Nompumalanga, Zamokuhle, Nomagqwathekana, Maphakathi, Bethel, and Mosa Sibi. In the aftermath of the ECDoE ID Verification Campaign instituted in 2016 and 2017, they had sought to expand it by collaborating with other departments, thus progressively dealing with birth certificates and Identity Documents (IDs). The challenge had been reduced drastically in areas like Maluti, Bokamoso, Lutateni, Luphilisweni, that border with Lesotho.

 

All of the matters, that were so diligently and comprehensively noted by the NCOP in the two (2) Districts were receiving ongoing attention and monitoring at the highest level of the ECDoE. The Department remained committed to responding timeously and with commitment to the NCOP guidance. He emphasized the fact that the ECDoE had indeed turned a corner. Critical executive management appointments had ensured that the level of accountability and commitment was revived and increased. The ECDoE was convinced that the ongoing realignment of districts from 23 to 12 would provide a leaner and meaner structure which is much more focused on its core business. The introduction of Circuit Management Centers operating closer to the schools would make sure that subject advisors and circuit managers provide focused direct support to schools. These were the new endeavors that the ECDoE was currently implementing that would provide them with hope of a brighter future for the education system in the Eastern Cape Province.

 

5.2.       School by categories progress report

 

5.2.1.    Buffalo City

5.2.1.1  Special Schools

 

Findings	Resolution	Affected schools
The Department should ensure the appointment of teachers who are properly qualified in Sign Language.	Training sessions for educators in sign Language are ongoing. Departmental officials were also trained in basic sign language	St Thomas School for the Deaf
The Department needs to investigate the matter of renovating or buying the buildings from the Church as soon as possible.	The property at St Thomas has been bought by the Eastern Cape Department of Education
The Department should look into reopening the workshop at the school for skills training.	The workshops for skills training will be opened in 2018 as part of the Skills  Curriculum in Special Schools
The Department should ensure that the positions of the two deputy principals are filled as a matter of urgency.	The two Deputy Principal posts have since been filled
The Department should consider the full adaption of the curriculum for the school.	A curriculum adaptation framework has been finalised 116 District Officials were trained in curriculum adaptation and 2732 teachers trained from 382 schools
The Department needs to build more classes for the school so that there can be a manageable number of learners per classroom.	Newly constructed building and school Deterioration at school due to poor management and leadership by Principal.	Ebhotwe Inclusive Primary School
The school needs another sick bay so that if more than one learner gets sick, the school can cope with the challenge.	CM addressing matter with SGB & SMT. Principal a serious challenge with regards to leadership and management at the school. Monitoring taking place.
With the assistance of the Department of Social Development and SAPS, the school has to curb the drug abuse problem. The school should involve the community in order to foster ownership and pride amongst the community. This would further assist in curbing the burglaries at the school.	Overcrowding due to the fact that Principal admitted learners without consultation with DBST; Learners not qualifying were admitted by principal incorrectly; ESSS assisting school in consolation meetings with various sister departments and stakeholders Condition Assessment done by Building Inspector; SGB drawing up a Maintenance Budget to utilise NSF budget.
The Department of Education should ensure that more classrooms are built in this school.	Temporary classrooms have been provided at this school and these have addressed the relief needed by the school.	Fundisa Special School
The Department should also explore possibilities of assisting the school with the required larger bus.	The Department has procured additional buses for Special schools as a result a pressing need for the school is shortage of drivers. A post for a driver has since been advertised. The school had more mini-busses than drivers
The Department should also ensure that the required learning and development programmes for autistic learners are prioritized.	A start in the empowerment of autistic learners has been made by the school. A further exploration of suitable developmental programmes will be made.
Budget utilization seems to be a problem i.e. how the school utilises its norms and standard	The district is monitoring the school’s budget and expenditure patterns more closely. Monthly FINCOM report are submitted with bank statements to the District Office	Vukuhambe
Staffing and security are a problem.	Staffing issue addressed. Appointments in vacancies done. District Directors have been given delegations to hire Post Level 1 educators and Cluster Chief Directors can appoint into promotional posts.
Non-teaching staff especially teacher aids and security area challenge.	Vacancies addressed by appointment of non-teaching staff
There should be adaptations made on the core curriculum (CAPS) to cater for special schools.	CES:IDS&G met with SMT to discuss discrepancies and appointments have been addressed
There should be a policy for special schools in South Africa, which will show differentiation in the curriculum.	Assistive devices being attended to by ESSS according to allocated budget
The specialists on inclusive education in the Province should ensure that they make an impact in the sector.   The Select Committee on Education and Recreation of the NCOP should conduct an oversight visit early next year to the school with the purpose of assessing progress towards the implementation of NCOP recommendations.    The school should develop an infrastructure plan reflecting the school needs that require the intervention of the Department	ESSS attending to adaptation of CAPS according to curriculum guidelines School received assistance with regards to general maintenance and repairs during September 2017

 

5.2.1.2  Public Ordinary Schools

 

Finding	Recommendation	Action taken
Health and Safety of learners	The Provincial Education Department should collaborate with the Department of Health in ensuring that learners at the school receive support and guidance in respect of early pregnancy.	An MOU has been signed with Departments of Health and Social Development on school health collaborations A District-based Support Team (DBST) made up of Departments of Health and Social Development, has been established to support school health.
	The Provincial Education Department should ensure that the school collaborates with the SAPS in respect of the “Adopt-a-School” initiative	Schools at risk are already linked to SAPS as part of the Departmental Memorandum of Understanding on school safety.
Learning and Teaching Support Material	The Provincial Education Department to ensure that there was focused interventions the supply of textbooks, shortages of stationery.	ECDOE embarked on a comprehensive project to assess textbook shortages in each school and procured the required textbooks for delivery from 15 January to 28 February 2017 All the textbooks and stationery in short supply was provided to schools in full by end of March 2017 Policy on book retrieval was also activated All wrongly delivered LTSM titles are to be retrieved back to the warehouse for correct distribution. The Department went out on tender for collection and warehousing
School Furniture	There is a shortage of furniture in many schools	The ECDoE concluded a furniture audit exercise in collaboration with DBE by the end of 2016. The results of the audit were captured in the Furniture Audit Database. By 17 July 2017, over 1 100 order forms were received from schools and these order forms informed the placement of orders by schools Orders amounted to 244 870 units of desks and chairs 50% of deliveries are to be concluded by the end of August 2017. Approximately 158 000 chairs will be delivered to schools by the end of November 2017. The Furniture Audit also revealed that there were over 150,000 items of surplus furniture at schools and a further 30,000 items of furniture at various schools that can be repaired A tender to collect and store and distribute to schools is under adjudication 5 regional warehouses have already been procured for this purpose
School Management and Leadership	The Provincial Education Department should also ensure that the school was assisted with strengthening the School Management Team.	Mentoring and coaching of underperforming Principals is underway Training of school Principals on curriculum leadership has been concluded ECDoE is now busy with training of HoDs on curriculum management
Teacher development	The Department should consider quality programmes for teacher development and training at all levels.	4 Teacher Development Institutes have been set up to support teachers. These are Algoa, ELI, TRINSET and Queenstown Science Centre 9 Teacher Centres were refurbished and connect to support teacher training An ICT based Virtual Teacher Development Program is piloted in 2 Districts as part of ICT integration All Foundation Teachers were supplied with Laptops as part of Teacher Laptop initiative
Schools poverty profiles	Schools been wrongly classified as Q5 school	The problem applied to PE Northern Areas and Buffalo Flats in EL. Principals were requested to make representations on the correct Quintiling All PE cases submitted have been finalised and EL is still making submissions in this regard

 

5.2.2.    Alfred Nzo District Municipality

 

Findings	Recommendations	Responses	Applicable schools
Infrastructural upgrade (prefabs; ASIDI; Eskom; water supply & sanitation; and high scale fencing, access roads)	Detailed plan should be provided to NCOP. Working relations with local municipality for inclusion in IDPs. Adequate & permanent infrastructure with mobile classrooms and flushable toilets	Mobile classrooms provided by Department of Public Works	Nyaniso, Le Grange, Zwelakhe, Emthonjeni, Lutateni, Nompumalang, Zamokuhle, Nomagqwathekana, Maphakathi, Bethel, Mosa Sibi
School furniture	Provide whenever there is need	Combination and single desks provided to every school in need
LTSM supply	Comprehensive report of delivery to be provided in Nov; textbook retention policy should be known by parents; decentralize LTSM procurement	EDOs developed effective retrieval policies which are monitored; surplus books requested from other schools to meet shortage	Bergview, Chief Dumile, Dudumeni, Luphilisweni, Mpondombini, Mosa Sibi
Scholar transport & hostel accommodation	Learners walking more than 5 km should be provided; huge demand for scholar transport as some learners travel more than 16 km – build hostels	Budgeted for in some areas; site for building private hostel demarcated & building started	Mosa Sibi, Nzululwazi
Provision of birth certificates & IDs	Establish working relations and systems with sister departments like Home Affairs, SASSA, etc. to assist learners in rural and remote areas	Districts collaborating with other departments progressively dealing birth certificates & IDs – challenge reduced drastically	Maluti, Bokamoso, Lutateni, Luphilisweni,
Rural allowance to educators	ECDoE to implement policy & pay qualifying educators	Implemented incrementally as agreed upon at ELRC	Nkundla,
Regulation for the declaration of Technical High schools	Formation of steering committee to drive this and provision of necessary resources at all levels	Partnerships formed with OR Tambo Foundation, DBSA, RAF & Eskom	Oliver Tambo Technical
Drug abuse & learner discipline	Partnering of schools with  police to curb; this high prevalence & elements of ill-discipline; involve all role players	Alignment of schools with police stations for unexpected visits & ransom searches by SAPS. Community encouraged to fight crime	Bethel, Maluti, Nyaniso
Payment of expatriate educators	For all those who work, payment should be regular	Paid and received their salaries	Mosa Sibi
Teaching methodology	Constant examination of teaching methods and tactics	Continuous support given by Subject Advisors for different subjects, bridging content gap too	Maluti
Relationships between high schools and their feeder primary	Build better relationships for better learner outcomes	Schools conduct common planning, teaching strategies & share good practices	Nyaniso
Identification of heritage sites	Heritage sites in communities should be identified	Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts, & Culture had requested a list of schools 50 years and above which are to be considered	King Edward
Provision & payment of subsidies in special schools	There should be a distinction between normal and special schools – unique to the needs of learners with disabilities. Department must pay full subsidies.	Use of norms and standards governing special schools	Sive, Monica
Teacher supply and demand for ECD Centers	Appoint practitioners with salaries on par with other educators; train practitioners to Level 4; purchase standard outdoor playing material; environment should be conducive to much play	Local municipality and Department of Social Development are in the party	Maluti Pre-Primary
Sound working relations	Establish lasting solutions among officials	Addressing inter-personal relation and task team formed to steer this	Bokamoso
Utilization of infrastructure in rationalized schools	Engage communities for the use of underused buildings for other projects	Mjila Ridge received section 33 but no public hearing conducted yet	Mjila

 

6.         Discussions

 

• Members were generally appreciative of the improvements in school conditions in the Eastern Cape, especially in special schools, such that they commended the Department on the work it had done thus far. Members were pleased that teacher training and development was a priority of the ECDoE but hoped that this did not infringe on the contact time with learners. They, however, were disappointed at the lack of statistics and data provided, which meant the Committee did not have a clear indication of how severe the problems were.

• Although the Committee was appreciative of the improvements as presented by the ECDoE, they expressed concern on the following:

• The issue of rationalisation that had not been adequately addressed in the report;
• Lack of proper planning with regard to scholar transport and lack of elaboration on the progress made regarding the recommendation to provide hostels for learners;
• ECDoE’s silence when it came to training of SGBs;
• The issue of retrieval of textbooks (retrieval policy) and delivery of wrong books;
• The issue of water and sanitation which is always a matter of concern when visiting schools;
• Special schools being a soft target for abuse and absence of health professionals to assist them;
•  DBE’s tendency to shift responsibility to other departments;
• The lack of emphasis in dealing with the challenge of teenage pregnancies;

• The lack of clarity surrounding how South African Police Services (SAPS) conducts checks and what processes are followed afterwards;
•  The reasons for the slow improvement in textbook retrieval;
• Curriculum of children in ECD Centers; and
• The reason of the signing of an MOU between departments only this year.

 

The MEC appreciated the words of encouragement and the spirit of positive attitude by the Committee. He admitted that the ECDoE was ‘weak’ in certain areas, but there are slow and steady improvements. He accepted the constructive critique in terms of the Province being number last and indicated that the situation had been like that since 1994 and that was a concern and was depressing. He, however, promised to keep on working hard to turn the situation around. They would take the comments of the Committee seriously and address the shortcomings that they had highlighted. A more comprehensive report would be drawn up ahead of the NCOP’s next site visit to ensure continued improvement.

 

7.         Conclusion and appreciation

 

The Committee was happy that the meeting was closed on a positive note and appreciated the interventions put in place and the changes even though Members still felt that the Province can do much better. This showed that the situation is not as bad as the Committee thought. It has been worrisome to the Committee that when all Provinces are listed in terms of performance in all categories, the Eastern Cape Province was always number last. With the kind of attitude that the Committee is reading and the kind of interventions that the ECDoE has put in place, it is clear that the Province will do better and reach greater heights in the future. The Committee is, therefore, looking forward to that stage (of improvement).

 

The Committee would like to thank the delegation from the DBE and the ECDoE. An appreciation specifically goes to the MEC who, despite the fact that he had just performed an operation and had not yet recovered, made sure that he availed himself for the important engagement.

 

1.          Recommendations

 

The Committee made the following recommendations:

• The ECDoE should ensure the availability of Senior Officials during the Committee’s oversight visits to the Province.
• The ECDoE should ensure that the process of consultation takes place and needs to be strengthened when it comes to the closure of schools.
• The DBE and ECDoE should strengthen the relationships between the districts, circuits and schools.
• Scholar transport is a serious problem hence a need to fast track the process and a need for proper planning.
• The ECDoE should provide statistics and data when reporting.
• The ECDoE should attend to the issue of the curriculum for ECD Centres, which has been left with Social Development.

 

Report to be considered.