Western Cape Education Minister Donald Grant and Community Safety Minister Albert Fritz visited Groenvlei Secondary in Landsdowne to oversee a search...

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Johannesburg – A Schools Education Summit is expected to take place next month to look into the schooling disruptions in Soweto last year.

“This summit will contribute to mobilising and organising civil society towards our outcome of quality education for all. With Soweto’s rich history, we cannot allow it to lag behind in terms of the culture of learning and teaching,” said Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, while delivering the State of the Province Address.

The summit will bring together civil society and government, and address the disruptions which continued after the strike by teachers.

The disruptions included a protest by a student representative group, which wanted learners not to write preliminary exams after the teachers’ strike, and teachers allegedly leaving their classes to attend union meetings.

The premier, who believed that the province was on track to meet the 80 percent pass rate target by 2014, said government would continue to expand access to and improving schooling in the province.

She reported that there were 448 Early Childhood Development sites across the province, while a total of 442 Grade R classrooms were delivered to sites across Gauteng in 2010.

“It is through investment at this level that we can begin to prepare and produce dynamic matriculants of the future,” Mokonyane said.

The province has also expanded the school nutrition programme to all no-fee paying secondary schools. The total number of primary and secondary school learners that benefited from the nutrition programme during 2010 was 795 785.

Regarding health, Mokonyane said at least 21 Community Health Centres now provide a 24-hour service, waiting times have been reduced and there are now fast queues for chronic and old-age patients.

“The availability of essential medicines has improved, with dedicated vehicles to assist with emergency medication deliveries to the health institutions,” the Premier said, adding that key interventions were also made to reduce infant and child mortality in the province.

Although preliminary figures indicate that the maternal mortality rate has decreased from 154 to 139 deaths per 100 000 from 2009 to 2010, more interventions where still needed.

Mokonyane said steps have been taken to improve the neo-natal wards at Charlotte Maxeke, Dr George Mukhari and Natalspruit hospitals, with additional neo-natal ICU beds and dedicated nurses.

On HIV and Aids, the Premier reported that they were providing 357 000 people with anti-retroviral treatment. The province has set out a target of 400 000 by the end of the financial year. - BuaNews

Pretoria – Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is expected to make an announcement on the nature of a sustainable intervention in support of the...

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Ermelo - No schooling has taken place in the troubled township of Wesselton outside Ermelo since Monday. Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Captain...

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Durban – The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is already hard at work to ensure matric results for 2011 surpasses last year’s 70.7 percent pass rate.

They are also keen to improve overall results in maths and physical science and are ready to roll up their sleeves to achieve this, writes Kemantha Govender.

Education MEC Senzo Mchunu spoke to BuaNews about his department’s plans for 2011.

Before making any changes this year, Mchunu says his department wanted a very clear picture of the state of education in the province. The department also hosted an Education Summit to find solutions to the challenges faced in KwaZulu-Natal.

“Results have improved from 2009 ... Now how do we ensure 2011 becomes better? We started by analysing 2010 results – a thorough analysis of those results showed us a number of things. They showed us improvement aspects – which schools, districts and subjects improved,” says Mchunu.

The analysis gave the department vital and detailed information, which is allowing them to develop strategies to address the problems.

“Let us make interventions early ... Last week, it has been reported they (task teams) visited all schools (who got) between 0-20 percent (non-performing schools) -- meaning before the end of February, we have touched base with these schools. We have done turnarounds, we are now getting to a new phase with them, monitoring them to see the results of the first quarter,” says the MEC.

In 2010, the task teams visited 150 schools in the province to monitor their preparations for the matric exams. The department has since categorised schools into the following areas: 0-20 percent is non-performance, 21-54 under performance at lower level; 55-60 under performance at higher level.

Based on these categories, adjustments will be made at these schools. For example, if a school had a pass rate of 62 percent in 2009 and came down to 59 percent in 2010, that is still a lower performance at a higher level but there is deterioration. The department will zone in on these schools.

However, if a school’s pass rate was 55 percent in 2010, but in 2008 was at 38 percent and in 2009 at 48 percent – the strategy will lean more towards supporting the school.

“You can’t hammer that school. All you have to do is give them support but they still didn’t go up enough and fall under the category of under performance – so that is how we have grouped schools,” explains Mchunu.

The MEC says the intervention teams are now getting to the second category, where they will do more or less what they did in schools that fall in the 0-20 percent category.

In these cases, they will examine each school’s history for the past few years. The department will investigate who made up the teaching staff and management teams, their qualifications and performances.

“They will then analyse all these qualifications and performances of the teachers over recent years – questions about why teachers who have been giving you bad results are still allowed to teach must be answered,” says Mchunu.

Teachers who are not pulling their weight in subjects like maths and science could be moved around in an effort to improve pass rates in the problematic subjects.

The Education Department is not wasting time, according to the MEC, and decisions will be made immediately.

Even timetables will be changed and implemented as early as the following day if inspection teams deem it necessary.

“This is now on the new strategy – it’s very hands-on and changes must be implemented on the spot,” says Mchunu.

He adds: “If there is no teaching material, task teams will bring material. They will then say to teachers, ‘change your methods’.”

The department’s next step is to focus on teacher training.

“We want to invest in teachers. Subjects like maths and physics overall are the pull-down factors. The teachers from all those schools that got below 50 in either maths or science will become our target.”

These teachers will be put through an intensive programme which will run on weekends.

“Even if it takes three or four weekends, that’s what we will do. We will give them intense training on matric work in these subjects, concentrating on the actual work book for the first quarter, focusing chapter by chapter, area by area,” Mchunu says.

For now, the department will focus only on matric teachers, as they are expected to finish the syllabus by June/July. They are expected to start with revision in August.

Apart from maths and science, English, accounting and life science teachers will also receive training but on a less intensive level.

The MEC says for financial and logistical reasons, all other subject teachers will not receive the training. At a later stage, maths and science teachers at grade 10 and 11 levels will receive training but on a scaled down level.

“In the meantime, they must be teaching and I am going to be hard on them. We will be making unannounced visits just to make sure jobs are being done,” he says.

Assessments for performances in grade 1-9 in 2010 are also being done and some changes are expected to be made, even if they are at circuit level.

“It’s not about me sitting on the 4th floor (in my office) in Pietermaritzburg and dreaming. We have to go to the schools and find out what is happening. That is why I have the teams. We have to see for ourselves.”

On the subject of teacher supply in the province, Mchunu says infrastructure issues do play a major role.

“On paper, we have (a ratio of) 1:30 but that doesn’t translate into the classroom. We know the cause is infrastructure,” says Mchunu.

In some cases, parents lie about their addresses and this results in over population in some schools. Some times there is a sheer increase in numbers in a particular school because principals over admit learners.

These issues, says the MEC, talk to infrastructure and more analysis is needed here.

The department would rather investigate reasons children choose to leave a certain school and assist the school to become more inviting as opposed to building extra classes in an over populated school.

In addition to these strategies, the Education Department will also follow up on resolutions that came out of the recently concluded KZN Education Summit. Mchunu stressed the importance of forging partnerships with relevant stakeholders to strengthen the quality of education.

“It is imperative to stress the strategic importance of the learner-teacher-parent alliance as a vehicle that will lead us to the people's education for the people's power,” said the MEC. – BuaNews

Cape Town - From this year onwards, government has announced that it would “incrementally introduce free education at the undergraduate...

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Cape Town - The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced “a comprehensive review” on the spending priorities of the National Skills Fund, which will help to put more youth through the tertiary education system.

This, it said, was being done in order to “reprioritise its funding allocations” in line with National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS3) and SA’s Human Resources Development Strategy.

Minister for Basic Education Angie Motshekga was speaking in Parliament in Cape Town today during a briefing, which was attended by Minister for Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande, among others.

“We have also started a process of consolidating all resources of bursaries and loans under the banner of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS),” said Motshekga.

She said that the NSFAS was set to get an additional allocation of funds amounting to R150 million this year.

About 22.9 million of that would be dedicated to funding 820 first year students and R7 million towards a bursary scheme for rural students who did well in their matric examinations last year.

The minister said that R21 million would carter for 300 first year students with disabilities and the “balance of R99.1 million will be for students who are already in these fields.”

The National Skills Fund would earmark R100 million for Career Wise bursaries. Of that amount, R17 million would fund 258 first year students, R4 million would go towards the Dipaleseng Special Bursary Scheme and R11.5 million would be used to support 245 first year students studying chartered accountancy at Fort Hare University.

The reminder of R4.6 million would go towards supporting 67 “first year bursaries to fulfill the commitment I made in honour of former President Nelson Mandela in Giyani,” said Motshekga. – BuaNews

Pretoria - The gift of the gab won an Etwatwa schoolgirl top honours at a schools reproductive health debate.

Phandimfundo High School pupil, Mathapelo Malope, was named queen of debate on the topic of “Take responsibility and know your health status.”

The Reproductive Health High School debate competition is organised by the Ekurhuleni Metro annually.

The ten finalists in the competition focused on chronic ailments such as diabetes and cancer, and treatable sexually transmitted illnesses and HIV.

Ekurhuleni executive mayor, Mondli Gungubele, encouraged the debate to take the form of an advisory session to the government on the health needs of youth.

“You have come here today to help us to solve the question of how young people, being the future of this nation, can fully access their right to all health services, including reproductive health services, without fear of discrimination,” said the mayor.

Malope walked away with top honours, while Moleto Mokoena from Dawn View High School won the second prize and Martin Hattingh from Kempton Park High School took third place.

“If the robust debates that characterised this year’s competition can be used as a measuring rod to test the level of awareness of learners when it comes to issues such as reproductive health and HIV and Aids at schools, then the Ministries of Health and Basic Education have their work cut out as they plan to introduce voluntary HIV testing in schools,” said municipal spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.

Meanwhile, North West Health MEC, Dr. Magome Masike, urged parents to share the responsibility of passing on health messages to children.

“The challenge is that our target group, which is young and sexually active people of between 18 and 24 years of age, is a target group in transit. This group is in transit to adulthood and a new breed of ignorant and innocent boys and girls enters this target group stage every year. They immediately become vulnerable to the dangers of STIs, and that is why health education and the spread of health promotion messages must never stop” he said.

Masike said the department was increasingly concerned about the social behaviour, attitudes and the lifestyle of young people. “It is worrying that the youth overindulge in quite a number of harmful things like unprotected sex,” said the MEC. - BuaNews

Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma says government will focus this year on the three “Ts” – teachers, textbooks and time.

“We reiterate our call that teachers must be at school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day. The administration must ensure that every child has a textbook on time, and that we assist our teachers to create the right working environment for quality teaching to take place,” said Zuma in his third State of the Nation Address.

He said government will continue investing in teacher training, especially in mathematics and science. “We will pay special attention to the training of principals, particularly those in underperforming schools,” Zuma said.

To track progress, this year, government began the annual national assessments in literacy and numeracy that are internationally benchmarked, for Grades 3, 6 and 9.

These tests will be written at the beginning of every year, to test the levels of performance based on what the pupil should have reached at the end of the previous grade.

Through these tests, the Basic Education Department is hoping that teachers will use the individual results to inform their lessons and give them a clear picture of where each individual child needs more attention.

In the past, the assessment tests were set provincially and administered at any time of the year. But from this year, all pupils in each grade will write the same paper countrywide in Grades 1 to 9.

Zuma said government will expand access to especially children of the poor. “This includes the conversion of loans into bursaries for qualifying final year students. Students in Further Education and Training Colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted from paying fees,” said the President.

Student bodies like Sasco have been calling for free and expanded access to education, especially in rural provinces Mpumalanga and in the Northern Cape.

Zuma also went on to urge state owned enterprises to play a key role in skills development saying it provide much needed technical skills needed by the economy. –BuaNews

Pretoria - Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has encouraged stakeholders attached to the Gauteng’s Education Department to approach her office if government fails to address challenges threatening the public’s right to education.

Addressing a two-day conference organised by Gauteng Department of Education in East District on Tuesday, Madonsela said the state had a responsibility to make education available and accessible to all, in line with the Constitution.

She noted that the architects of the constitutional democracy enshrined the right to education in the Bill of Rights. “Clearly this places a responsibility on the state to make education available and accessible to all by delivering adequate infrastructure, providing learning material, recruiting capable and sufficient human resources and ensuring an environment conducive to productive learning,” Madonsela said.

She, however, noted that government had made an effort since 1994 to give effect to the right to education as demonstrated by the annual expenditure on education and attempts to equalise the distribution of resources.

Responding to some of the delegates complaints about a lack of adequate resources in schools, overcrowding in classrooms and an alleged unfair treatment of teachers belonging to certain labour unions by the department, Madonsela emphasised that in calling the state to account for its acts and omissions, she had a responsibility not only to check if the state’s conduct was lawful but to also establish if it was proper.

The conference held at the Springs Civic Centre, brought together school principals, librarians, teachers, and officials from provincial and national education departments from the district, amongst others.

It aimed to provide a platform where key stakeholders in the educations sector would collaborate to ensure functional libraries, financial accountability and sound management of resources in schools. - BuaNews