large text
regular text
Education MEC determined to improve results
Article by Thando Cezula
Department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said in light of the 0.2 percent drop in the province's matric pass rate last year, the MEC released details of the department's service delivery turnaround strategy, which will be implemented this year.
"The MEC has listed a number of non-negotiables. Among them are that teachers get to school on time, pupils aren't abused, pupils attend school regularly and on time, and that pupils respect their teachers and are committed to learning," said Pulumani.
He said the MEC was also expecting greater participation from parents this year, especially with regards to participating in school activities, supporting their children with school-related work and ensuring that their children don't bunk school.
"The MEC also expects all department officials to support schools, ensure that funds are transferred to schools on time, that learner and teacher support materials arrive at schools on time and that teachers are supported in the classroom by subject advisors," said Pulumani.
He added that the department's priorities in the next few months included ensuring the proper functioning of the Scholar Transport Programme, the provision of Learner and Teacher Support Materials (LTSM), the proper function of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) and the implementation of the 2012 Post Provisioning Plan.
He said "other teething problems" that would be addressed include pupil admission and the unavailability of infrastructure for teaching and learning.
"The department has prioritised these since they help to ensure that schools are able to start teaching on the first day of the academic year, one of the national education non-negotiables," said Pulumani.
He said the department allocated R881 million for LTSM (R164 million of which will be spent on stationery) with the remaining R617 million to be spent on textbooks.
Pulumani said teams of department officials have been dispatched to all 23 districts in the province to ensure that the academic year is underway at all schools.
"All the department's schools have received their monies for last year. On January 13 this year, the department paid out R214 million for the school nutrition programme, including R9.3 million for utensils. Additionally, the department will build 32 kitchens at deserving schools," he said.
Pulumani said the strategy would ensure that challenges experienced last year are dealt with and that all schools meet the minimum requirements for school readiness. - BuaNews
Article Tags: overhaul, education system
Previous page
Print
Email
Favourites
Export to PDFBookmark this page:
Reader's Comments
Posted by killer - 18:18 on 27 January 2012
No teachers no results. Its disgusting this thing of results improvement while temporal educators r terminated, plz people this is not a joke imbi lento. Temp teachers r the most woking teachers than permanent 1s but 2day abana salary.
Posted by Ncesh - 20:59 on 26 January 2012
I wish the Department of education could fulfil these promises and i wish that he could employ more teachers.
Posted by Nomgege - 05:05 on 20 January 2012
The plans are welcome but I want to asure the MEC that results are made in the first five months of the year. Grade 12 results of Eastern Cape went up in the poor District because of Temporal Teachers hard work. They will not burn the canndle anymore to get good results as the way they are treated now is humilation. Districts like Libode was able to do well due to the sacrifice by these Temporal teachers but now only THREE months appointment letter for them to work instead of planning for a year. This issue will bring the Department performance down for more than three years.
Posted by Concern - 11:34 on 19 January 2012
I just do not see how we can improve our results in the Eastern Cape significantly if we still sitting with overcrowded, half resourced (if any?) classrooms while the issues of redeployment and temp teachers are still hanging over our heads. I think what education managers out there don't understand or the lack thereof is simple if you want to improve, you will have to be prepared to either do it right or do not do it at all!! When I look at the implementation of the CAPS, I see lots of gaps (3 days is a wast of time to be trained for such a major improvement). You are sitting with a demoralized staff who now have to relocate even if it is within the same district. You see in my opinion moving teachers from one place to the other will not improve results, but if you invest in resources (including human resources) you will be able to improve on the current standing of things. Lots of teachers including myself have been upgrading on our qualifications lately but we are not utilized within the system. I am sitting with a Masters Degree in Education Management and are now in the process of registering for a PhD without being utilized at management level at school.
Customer Care