Department of Education Extranet

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MEC Mac Jack on the State of Readiness for 2020

 

School readiness relates to whether all schools in our Province can commence with learning and teaching on the first day of schooling, and to that effect, the Department has developed a school readiness management plan that includes:

Registration of learners ahead of the start of the new academic year to minimise disruptions to learning and teaching;

Procuring LTSM (textbooks and stationery) ahead of the opening of schools to make sure they are ready for distribution to learners in the first week of schools re-opening; and

Making sure that all schools have the necessary teachers for all grades and subjects at the start of the academic year.

To date all indicators point to a commendable state of readiness for 2020 to ensure that teaching and learning commence on the first day of schooling in our Province. Our report therefore reflects the following:

 

Admission of Learners

The Northern Cape Department of Education regards early enrolment of learners as a priority for the start of a successful academic year. In preparation for the 2020 learner admission, the Department has issued Circular No 21 of 2019 in conjunction with Circular No. 58 of 2016 to guide schools on the administration of learner admissions in Public Ordinary Schools.

 

Despite the closing date of 07 June 2019, learner admissions are still in progress as a result of late applications.  By November 1, we had received a total of 31 897 learner admissions applications compared to the 20 755 received in 2018.  This number has been growing as a result of late applications and it might increase during the reopening of schools in January 2020.

 

We received 33 455 applications from grades R to 12. To date we have placed all Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners where schools spaces do exist. Our District offices are busy contacting parents, informing them about the placements. The Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe Districts remain our high pressure areas, where we experience the highest learner enrolment numbers particularly in central towns.

 

Part of this challenge is the relocation of parents seeking employment, school hoppers and the limited number of English classes in the John Toalo Gaetsewe District, Frances Baard District and ZF Mgcawu District, which impacts on the placement of the middle grades. I will comprehensively deal with the need of English medium classes in Namakwa later on in the statement.

 

We have also received a number of applications from learners who are already accommodated in a school where the next grade is offered.  These learners (school-hoppers) will only be allowed to move from the existing schools to another school if spaces are available after all the new entrants have been accommodated. The Districts are busy finalising the placement of middle grades.

 

The placement of learners is also hampered by parental choice since most of the above-mentioned parents demand spaces at a particular school.

 

As a Department we cannot guarantee a school of choice, but every learner will be placed in a school where school spaces do exist. We cannot turn a blind eye to these applicants, as education is a constitutional right.

 

We are experiencing a challenge with regard to the placement of Grade R's, especially in the Frances Baard District and we will not be able to place all learners in Grade R classes at public schools.  We are encouraging 641 Grade R parents to start looking for placement at Early Childhood Development (ECD) community based sites, as we cannot guarantee placement at public schools. It is an unfortunate situation we find ourselves in and have therefore prioritised the construction of new ECD classrooms in 2020.

 

ONLINE ADMISSIONS SYSTEM

 

As from this year, we will also be introducing for the very first time, an online admission system. For the past 2 years we have been administrating the admissions electronically to pilot the system. This new system will enable parents to enrol their children from the comfort of their home.

 

The Northern Cape is a rural province, and therefore we will have dedicated centres in each District to assist parents applying online, especially those who does not have access to the internet. In return, the online admission system will further assist the Department to speed the placement of learners where school spaces do exist.

 

ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL IN NAMAKWA

 

An English Medium Task Team comprising of Circuit Managers, Curriculum officials as well as IMGD officials had been established at the district office to conduct a feasibility study as well as to determine the sustainability of the implementation of English medium classes at the three schools in the district. The task team had to report back to the District Director on a weekly basis.

 

The terms of reference for the task team were to:

Meet with the School Governing Bodies of Springbok Primary School, Carolusberg Primary School and Port Nolloth Primary School to consult with them on the possible implementation of English medium classes in January 2020;

Assist schools to conduct a survey amongst parents and feeder communities on the need for English medium classes at these respective schools;

Review the admissions and language policies of these three schools;

Assist parents with learner admission applications for English medium classes.

 

 

The statistics indicate that there is a discrepancy between the survey results and the actual number of learner admission applications received at the schools and the district office.

 

Upon further engagement on the above, parents and community members indicated that they support the idea of the implementation of English medium classes.

 

However, parents argued that their children are already struggling at school and if they would change to English medium, it might pose an additional challenge to them. They have also indicated that they would struggle to assist their children with their schoolwork in English.

 

The following is a breakdown of the learner admission applications received for English medium classes per school per grade:

 

NAME OF SCHOOL	GR R	GR 1	GR 2	GR 3	GR 4	GR 5	GR 6	GR 7	TOTAL
Carolusberg Primary School	0	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	5
Springbok Primary School	4	3	5	7	3	3	2	5	32
Port Nolloth Primary School	0	5	2	1	3	7	0	0	18
TOTAL	4	10	8	8	7	11	2	5	55

 

The Norms and Standards for Language Policy in Public Schools (Paragraph D: 3) stipulates that:

 

“It is reasonably practicable to provide education in a particular language of learning and teaching if at least 40 in Grades 1-6 or 35 in Grades 7-12 learners in a particular grade request it in a particular school.”

 

The challenge is that the district office received only 55 learner admission applications for three schools and that the numbers are spread across Grades R to 7. This poses a huge challenge to the district on the feasibility of the implementation of English parallel medium classes in January 2020.

 

It would therefore not be feasible for the Department to implement English medium classes as from January 2020 in the Namakwa District. In order to meet the needs of these learners, district officials would consults with School Governing Bodies and affected teachers to assist them with code switching at the respective schools.

 

We are busy engaging schools to procure English textbooks for the learners across the various subjects.

 

This strategy is proposed as an interim measure until the Department is to fully implement English parallel medium classes in the Namakwa District.

 

MIGRATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD)

 

In preparation for function shift of ECD Centres from Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education, consultation processes are underway at National level. In order to ensure that systems are in place and ensure smooth transition, the Provincial Department of Education in collaboration with Department of Social Development is finalising the alignment of all programmes in ECD centres with National Curriculum Framework (NCF).

 

Major strides have been achieved in ensuring that children have access to quality ECD centres. 98% of Primary Schools in the Province offer Grade R. We have 340 ECD Centres in the Province which accommodates 16 609 learners.

 

The Ministers of Basic Education and Social Development met on the 6 August 2019.

Both the Ministers agreed that:

There should be a Joint Concept Note;

A joint release of a joint communiqué or media statement;

There should be a meeting with other Ministers involved in ECD services in particular (DoH, COGTA, DHET, DPME and National Treasury)

A joint ECD Framework to highlight amongst other things, function shift to be transferred from DSD to DBE with timelines.

These documents have been drafted and are awaiting Minister’s signature.

A National Framework for ECD delivery is currently being finalised by DBE which considers the following:

Legal mandate;

Institutional arrangements;

Service delivery components and models;

Roles of the various Departments; and

Work Streams

 

ECD Roadshow has been held in all five Districts where the following information was shared with Principals, ECD Centre Managers, Practitioners and HOD’s on the following aspects:

 

·         Professionalization of ECD;

·         Function Shift (What it is, what has been done and what the future plans are);

·         Consolidation of Grade R;

·         Planning for Grade RR;

·         Requirements and planning on renewal of Grade R practitioner’s contracts for 2020.

 

The Premier's Office has established Provincial Macro Organisation of Government (PMOG) with all the streams and ECD will form part of the standing agenda item at these meetings. The Provincial Head Office is also seeking alternative consultations on requisite infrastructure needs on the ECD roll-out in the Province.

 

Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM)

 

The Northern Cape Department of Education (NCDOE) regards Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) as an integral and vital part of our education system and therefore provisioning of textbooks for every learner in the schooling system is a priority. The NCDOE has ensured that textbook provisioning since the implementation of Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) is finalized before starting the new cycle of procurement annually. This implies that all schools received their textbooks as per respective orders placed.

 

The key focus areas in the monitoring of LTSM provisioning are on the:

·         Distribution of workbooks; 

·         Distribution of textbooks;

·         Distribution of stationery;

·         Availability of an LTSM inventory;

·         Availability of Braille materials and other Assistive devices in special schools.

·         Availability and effectiveness of the implementation of Textbook Retrieval Policies.

    

All schools in the Northern Cape receive both a Learning Support Material (LSM) (textbook and other resource material) and a Non-LSM (Stationery) allocation.

 

Schools as part of their Section 21 functions manage all their funding, but the NCDOE has systems in place to assist schools to procure textbooks at a much cheaper rate than what they usually would. Systems of reporting on expenditure and delivery are also in place.

 

Schools placed textbooks orders from May to June 2019. Publishers started delivery from 20 September 2019 to the distribution warehouse, with 99,6% delivery from publishers. Delivery to schools commenced on 28 October 2019 and continued throughout the holiday period. To date four hundred and ninety two (492) schools out of five hundred and twenty four (524) received their orders. Delivery to the remaining thirty two (32) schools will be concluded by 15 January 2020.

 

Stationery

 

As it relates to stationery, all schools within the province have the Section 21 function and place their own stationery orders which we monitor as a department. Procurement and delivery is in progress. Circular 34 of 2019 were issued to the schools directing them on non LSM procurement and reporting.

 

All schools have placed their respective orders in 2019. Delivery to schools is at 95%. The outstanding deliveries to schools will be concluded by the 17 January 2020.

 

Workbooks

 

Schools placed orders for workbooks in February 2019 for the 2020 academic year. Workbook delivery commenced at the beginning of the third quarter. Delivery stands at 100%.

 

Our District Offices are monitoring increased learner enrolments to address challenges and shortages where it arises.

 

Textbooks

 

Retention and retrieval of textbooks at the end of the year remains a big challenge, and an advocacy campaign was conducted to encourage learners to return the textbooks to the school.

 

Parents were requested to honour their parental responsibility in ensuring that their children act responsibly and ensure that ALL textbooks loaned to their child is returned by the end of the 2019 academic year.

 

Principals of schools are required to ensure that maximum retention of textbooks is achieved. That calls for effective textbook retrieval system at every school in the province.

 

NCDOE Circular 39 of 2019 guides schools on the retention of all LTSM in schools and retrieval of textbooks issued to learners. A reporting regime from schools will allow the provincial Department to assess the retrieval rate by February 2020.

 

This campaign is aimed at all citizens, those in and out of school to ensure a strong culture of returning textbooks is emphasized. This is a societal issue. We must ensure 100% retrieval of textbooks in the Northern Cape every year.

 

Learner Transport

 

Learner transport is intended for poor farm, rural and special school learners where access to a school poses a challenge. Learners must attend the nearest suitable school to their residence.

 

The learners who do not qualify for learner transport, is where the nearest suitable school is situated within a radius of five (5) kilometres to the parents’/ guardians’ residence. 

 

We have finalised all the routes and we can confirm that learner transport will only be provided to learners that qualifies.

 

The current learner transport contracts expired the end of December 2019. All the contracts that expired in December 2019 have been extended to end of March 2020, and the tender for new contracts is only going to be published by the end of January 2020. The intention is to appoint new operators by the end of this financial year.

 

Learner transport is currently provided for 24 544 learners from 358 schools on 408 routes operated by 224 service providers across all 5 Districts in the Province. We can confirm that all 408 routes will be operational when the schools reopen in January 2020.

 

We further call on members of the public to report or notify us about any challenges experienced in their community relating to Learner Transport.

 

Staff Establishments

 

All 520 Public Ordinary, 11 Special Schools and 26 Full Service Schools have been issued with their Final Educator Staff Establishments for the 2020 academic year. The number of schools losing posts in 2020 is 117, whilst the number of schools gaining posts in 2020 is 201.

 

Schools are allocated educator posts based on their number of learners for that particular year based on a ratio of 1:32 in Public Ordinary Schools and 1:12 ratio in Special schools.

 

Management of Appeals relating to Staff Establishments issued:

A total of 38 appeals were received, of which 22 cases were based on errors found on respective Staff Establishments.

Subsequently the Staff Establishments of 8 schools were changed with material difference, resulting in the overall allocation of 7 more posts to the affected schools.

All revised Educator Staff Establishments have been published on HRMS and an explanatory letter has been issued to schools via their respective District Offices.

16 Applications were related to a need for Additional Posts, which will be addressed in the beginning of the new academic year after the first 10 days of the school year when the learner numbers are confirmed.

 

Infrastructure

 

All schools in the Northern Cape have access to water, sanitation and electricity. Numerous orders have been issued for the provisioning of furniture to schools that received new infrastructure.  The Department delivered a total of 376 chairs and 350 desks for 2019/20 financial year thus far.  Given the anticipated growth in learner numbers we are moving mobile classrooms to strategic areas to address the overcrowding.

 

We completed maintenance project s at 18 schools in the first and second quarters of the 2019/20 financial year.

 

The Department will officially open Steynville Primary School on 14 January 2020.  The following are some of the key infrastructure deliverables that will be completed during the first quarter of 2020:

Boretsetse Secondary School – Construction of a Large Ablution Block, New Science Laboratory, New Media Centre, New 5 Classroom Block as well as repairs and renovations;

Jan Kempdorp Primary School – Construction of a Double ECD Classroom, the Drilling and Equipping of a Borehole as well as repairs and renovations to existing ablution facilities;

Additional Ablution Blocks at 19 schools is anticipated to complete.

We will continue to do routine maintenance to schools and hostels, especially as it relates to the provision of water and sanitation.

 

Support visits to Schools

 

We have deployed Members of Parliament, Members of the NC Executive Council, Members of the National Council of Provinces, Members of the Provincial Legislature, Mayors and Councillors to various schools across the Province on Wednesday, the 15th of January 2020, to monitor amongst other the following:

 

Admissions and Registrations;

School Management Planning;

Teacher Provisioning;

Learning and Teaching Resources; and

Basic Infrastructure

 

The Northern Cape Provincial Government will launch the Love Your School Campaign on the 24th of January 2020, which will strengthen the community involvement and participation in the environment of their education. The programme is seeks to improve the management and maintenance of sanitation facilities in schools and further increasing awareness of good sanitation and hygiene practices.

 

The Love Your School Programme will take the schools sanitation programmes into the next phase because it will also focus on educating school staff and cleaners on how to keep their toilets clean on an ongoing basis as they continue to practice good hygiene habits. A school represents a beacon of hope in every community, where we prepare learners for success.

 

We wish all educators and learners well with the 2020 school academic as we will raise the bar of Education in the Northern Cape.

 

End.