PRESENTATION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEEON EDUCATION & RECREATION

INTERVENTION IN THE EASTERN CAPE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT (ECED) IN TERMS

OF SECTION 100(1)(b) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1996

15 FEBRUARY 2011, AT 10:00 – 13:00

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PURPOSE

To provide the Select Committee on Education and Recreation with a report on the implementation of the intervention in the Eastern Cape Education Department (ECED) in terms of section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

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INTRODUCTION• During the first quarter of the 2011 academic year, the ECED

experienced a collapse of service delivery in critical areas such as the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP); the allocation and appointment of teachers; the supply of stationery and textbooks, especially to non-section 21 schools; the provision of learner transport; and infrastructure development, especially the eradication of mud, inappropriate, and unsafe school structures.

• The problems facing the ECED were extremely serious and had to be urgently arrested and remediated. There were clear signs of dysfunctionality or a crisis in the system, resulting from what appeared to be a deep-rooted discord between policy intentions and policy implementation.

• It was also established that all efforts aimed at bringing about a sustainable turnaround of the ECED, had to effectively address all of the critical underlying challenges and ensure the creation of an enabling environment, conducive to the efficient and effective delivery of educational services in the Eastern Cape.

• On 02 March 2011, Cabinet –

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INTRODUCTION (cont.) was provided with a detailed problem statement on the state of

basic education in the Eastern Cape; noted that the Audit Opinions from the Auditor-General in two

consecutive financial years (2008/09 and 2009/10) amplified the urgency with which the risk areas had to be addressed;

also noted that there had been previous interventions that were implemented in the ECED which yielded varying levels of success;

agreed that the previous interventions had been unsustainable, hence the problems facing the ECED were found to be extremely serious and needed to be urgently arrested and remediated; and

resolved to apply section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 on the Eastern Cape Education Department.

• In terms of the Cabinet decision taken on 02 March 2011, the section 100(1)(b) intervention in the ECED focused on the following areas and scope to the extent necessary –

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AREAS OF THE SECTION 100(1)(b)INTERVENTION IN THE ECED

• the personnel and provisioning budget;• the procurement and distribution of textbooks and stationery to schools,

especially non-section 21 schools in the province;• the effective management and provisioning of subsidised scholar transport

programme across the province to reduce hardship among learners and absenteeism from school;

• the effective management and implementation of the national school nutrition programme (NSNP) to comply with the national policies regarding school feeding schemes, and the right of children to basic nutrition in terms of section 28(1)(c) of the Constitution;

• the school infrastructure development programme to address the failure to eradicate the high number of mud, unsafe and inappropriate school structures, and the consequent return of funding earmarked for school infrastructure to the National Treasury;

• the systems and operations relating to strategic management and planning; governance and accountability; budgeting and financial management; supply chain management; and human resource management to ensure effectiveness and sustainability; and

• all other auxiliary services necessary for the provisioning and delivery of quality education.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECTION 100(1)(b) INTERVENTION IN THE ECED

• The necessary steps and procedures were followed to give legal effect to the intervention, including due and proper notice to the NCOP.

• On 31 May 2011 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Minister of Basic Education (as mandated by Cabinet, and the MEC for Education in the Eastern Cape, (as mandated through a Premier).

• The MoU provides a framework for the section 100(1)(b) intervention in the ECED, as there is an absence of a legal framework to deal with interventions invoked in terms of section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution.

• On 01 June 2011 the Minister, Deputy Minister and the Director-General of Basic Education, together with MEC for Education in the Eastern Cape announced at a Press Conference held at the Stirling Education Leadership Institute in East London that –

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECTION 100(1)(b) INTERVENTION IN THE ECED (cont.)

• the first phase of the section 100(1)(b) intervention, consisting of the following areas, has been implemented –

complying with the Bhisho High Court order, the ECED has reappointed more than 4 000 temporary teachers; although there are still schools and classes that do not have teachers in front of them,

the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) has been reinstated, and has been decentralised to deserving schools,

the scholar transport programme has been transferred to the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, as per the decision of the Eastern Cape Provincial Executive Council, and

some textbooks and stationery have been procured and delivered to schools.

• the second phase of the intervention would prioritise, to the extent necessary, the following systemic and operational areas –

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECTION 100(1)(b) INTERVENTION IN THE ECED (cont.)

the development and implementation of systems and operations relating to strategic planning, governance and accountability, budgeting and financial management, supply chain management, and human resource management to ensure effectiveness and sustainability;

ensuring effective human resource provisioning across the system; ensuring effective delivery of a school infrastructure programme to

deal with the high number of mud, unsafe and inappropriate school structures; and

improving and providing delivery of quality education for the Eastern Cape learners.

• The National Intervention Team (led by Mr Mathanzima Mweli and comprising of senior officials from the Departments of Basic Education as well as Public Service and Administration, and National Treasury) with the cooperation of senior managers from the ECED –

embarked on a critical scoping exercise; and developed the Implementation Plan with specific Operational Plans

for each of the critical areas of the intervention. 8

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECTION 100(1)(b) INTERVENTION IN THE ECED (cont.)

• The strategic diagnostic analysis and scoping exercise focused on the following areas –

Poor learning outcomes in national and international assessments, including the –

National Senior Certificate Examinations, Annual National Assessments (ANA for literacy and numeracy in Grades

3 and 6), Systemic and Whole School Evaluation, Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education

Quality (SACMEQ), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMMS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS);

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STRATEGIC DIAGNOSTIC OVERVIEW OF THE CHALLENGES & THE SCOPING OF THE IDENTIFIED CHALLENGES

Teachers in addition; Displaced teachers; Teachers who are on prolonged sick leave; Inflated learner numbers; Suspended employees; Early Childhood Development (ECD); Expenses related to litigation; Irregular salary increases; Small schools that are not educationally and economically viable; Categories of schooling institutions; Budget performance of the ECED over the years; Strategic leadership vacuum; Organisational culture; Audit profile of the Department; and Organisational structure.

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Figure 1: Grade 3 ANA mean scores (2008) – Systemic Evaluation

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Figure 2: Grade 6 ANA mean scores (2008) – Systemic Evaluation

GRADE 3 GRADE 6

LITERACY NUMERACY LANGUAGES MATHEMATICS

EC 39 35 29 29

FS 37 26 23 28

GP 35 30 35 37

KN 39 31 29 32

LP 30 20 21 25

MP 27 19 20 25

NC 28 21 27 28

NW 30 21 22 26

WC 43 36 40 41

SA 35 28 28 30

Table 1: Average percentage scores after re-marking – ANA Report, 2011

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Table 2: Overall performance of candidates in the 2011 NSC

Province 2011

Total Wrote Total Achieved % Achieved

Eastern Cape 65 359 37 997 58.1

Free State 25 932 19 618 75.7

Gauteng 85 367 69 216 81.1

KwaZulu-Natal 122 126 83 204 68.1

Limpopo 73 731 47 091 63.9

Mpumalanga 48 135 31 187 64.8

North West 25 364 19 737 77.8

Northern Cape 10 116 6 957 68.8

Western Cape 39 960 33 110 82.9

National 496 090 348 117 70.2

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Figure 3: Percentage of Bachelors passes by provinces, 2008 - 2011

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Table 4: Summary of District Performance 2011

Province Total number of Districts

Districts performing below 49%

Districts performing between

50% and 59%

Districts performing at

60% and above

Eastern Cape 23 5 6 12

Free State 5 0 0 5

Gauteng 14 0 0 14

KwaZulu-Natal

120 1 11

Limpopo 6 0 1 5

Mpumalanga 4 0 1 3

North West 4 0 0 4

Northern Cape

50 1 4

Western Cape

80 0 8

Total 81 5 10 66