2023 School-Readiness: DBE briefing

Meeting report

Department of Basic Education (DBE) on 2023 State-of-School Readiness

Mr Hubert Mweli, Director-General, DBE, and Ms Simone Geyer, Deputy Director-General (DDG): Delivery and Support, DBE, reported on the critical elements that informed the readiness of the system to commence with the 2023 academic year. These included, amongst others, learner admissions, the availability of teachers, Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM), infrastructure, curriculum coverage, access to information communication technology (ICT), Early Childhood Education (ECD), and others.  

The presentation outlined the learner admissions per province. 

In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the challenges noted were:

• Relocation of people from rural areas to the metro areas;
• People moving after 30 September when the admission period was closed;
• Many parents still did not apply on time, despite the province's massive advocacy;
• Death of guardians, especially during November/December; and  
• Rapid physical growth of Richards Bay (King Cetshwayo) outpaced the schools' provision.

To mitigate these challenges, parents were requested to provide proof of relocation documents to discourage them from leaving underperforming schools for better-performing schools. The provincial education department (PED) set intervention strategies for underperforming schools to discourage depopulation. In addressing rapid growth, the PED opened the learner admission process from 1 March to 30 September, which was monitored monthly. Verification visits were conducted to ascertain the capacity in schools that claimed to be full.

In the Eastern Cape (EC) and the Northern Cape (NC), challenges included schools of choice insisted upon by many parents. This was a standard concern across all provinces. Mitigations noted were that neighbouring schools had been requested to share the load, and mobile classrooms were provided.

In North West (NW), the unavailability of water caused a community protest that affected learner attendance during the school reopening period in Zeerust, and community meetings were instituted. 

In Limpopo, there were over-subscribed schools in the Polokwane and Ellisras areas, and a need for more spaces. In response, the neighbouring schools had been requested to share the load.

In Mpumalanga, it was reported that in Witbank, some political party members had prevented learners from getting into some schools until all learners were admitted. Mitigations included police intervention, meetings being held to resolve matters, and 40 brick-and-mortar classes in Mbombela were built in 2022

In the Free State, challenges in Edenville were reported, where some parents had prevented learners from getting into schools until all learners were admitted. Mobile classes were provided as a solution, and community meetings were held to resolve differences. 

In the Western Cape (WC), 1 579 placement cases (0,13%) were still being resolved compared to 1 163 179 learners that had been successfully enrolled. 

The challenges in the WC and Gauteng were:

• Increased applications by parents from independent schools due to financial distress -- parents not being able to pay the fees at independent schools;
• Parental choice, where parents who had declined offers of placement the previous year and had opted for independent schools, was now returning to public schools due to unaffordability;
• Increased number of families becoming guardians of their siblings' children, whose parents had either passed away or lost their jobs;
• Incomplete applications;
• Submission of fraudulent proof of residence;
• Delays in accepting the placement and unnecessary appeals to Members of Executive Councils (MECs); 
• Parents coming from other provinces;
• Non-South Africans who resided primarily in high-pressure areas; 
• Schools in high-pressure areas being over-subscribed; and
• Limited infrastructure and unavailability of land

Mitigations included the allocation of funds to identify schools to build 878 additional brick-and-mortar classrooms in Gauteng and 842 in the Western Cape; the provision of mobile units to over-subscribed schools that were not in the classroom building initiative; the establishment of eight satellite schools to accommodate unplaced applicants; and school capacities increased to include the use of specialist rooms.  

Gauteng might, in some areas, consider platooning as an interim measure to alleviate overcrowding.  

The 2023 post-provisioning process was outlined. Three critical processes needed to be completed timeously to ensure that there was a teacher in every class at the beginning of the school year.

Schools had to receive their final post-establishment letters for the new year by 30 September. Schools that have declared vacancies must immediately profile such vacancies and prepare for them to be filled at the beginning of the year. They also had to prioritise educators declared, in addition, bursary graduates, and other self-funded and National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) graduates. Schools that had to declare posts in addition, and the identification of educators declared, should commence with the process as soon as they received the final establishment. This ensured that educators declared and were immediately redeployed to schools with matching vacancies.

In addition to the school readiness monitoring, the Department undertook annual monitoring from January to March of post-provisioning, focusing on compliance with the norms, processes and timeframes.

Teacher provisioning

All PEDs had declared post establishments for 2023, and distributed allocation letters to schools accordingly.

Only two PEDs -- in the EC and KZN -- had experienced delays in the declaration of post establishments and distribution of letters to schools. This was expected to impact the readiness for 2023, affecting critical processes related to ensuring a teacher was in front of every class.

As part of the preparation for 2023, a provisional list of 5 027 potential Funza Lushaka graduates was distributed to the PEDs in October 2022. PEDs were expected to start with the temporary placement of graduates in identified vacant posts for 2023.  

Learner and Teacher Support Materials

The provisioning of LTSM was one of the integral components for ensuring successful teaching and learning in schools. Each year, the DBE developed and distributed the LTSM sector plan that guided the sector regarding the provisioning of LTSM. Milestone deliverables and timeframes were clearly articulated in the DBE LTSM sector plan. PEDs developed provincial LTSM management plans guided by the sector plan.

LTSM forum meetings and provincial monitoring visits were conducted as part of planning, monitoring and support activities.

Where necessary, targeted support, informed by the monitoring process, was provided to the provinces. 

The Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) of 22 November 2022 had noted that the majority of provinces had already completed the process of ordering, and the delivery of LTSM to schools was at an advanced stage. Weekly one-on-one meetings continued as part of the monitoring process.

To date, most provinces have delivered almost 100% of LTSM -- both top-up textbooks and stationery.

Provinces were currently conducting mop-up operations to ensure that all outstanding and emerging deliveries were completed.

The summary of the LTSM progress report outlined that it should be noted that the national retention and retrieval rate was at about 90%, and therefore procurement for top-up textbooks equated to about 10%. Significant progress regarding LTSM procurement for the 2023 academic year was notable in all provinces. 

Mop-up deliveries for textbooks and stationery were underway and expected to be completed by January. In addition, the delivery of Volume 1 workbooks was complete. 

The DBE would continue monitoring the mop-up deliveries for top-up textbooks and stationery, and compile a report. Therefore, the report on the delivery of LTSM for 2023 was dynamic and would change once all the deliveries were completed.

Updates on infrastructure and maintenance

To improve the maintenance of facilities, a condition had been stipulated and was currently under implementation, that 60% of the total Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) per province must be allocated to maintenance projects. An incentive allocation on the EIG was being implemented to incentivise qualifying provincial departments to address immediate challenges such as the norms, standards and maintenance. 

Challenges and mitigations involving learner transport included ensuring there were plans in place so that transport was available on reopening of schools. There were continuing efforts to mainstream road safety programmes, focusing on learner transport operators, parents and learners, to raise awareness about road safety and law enforcement. This was particularly prevalent in privately arranged learner transport, where the government had minimal involvement, as parents and operators entered into contracts. There had been an instance in the EC where providers had complained of a lack of payment. This had been resolved and did not affect the transportation of learners. Some cases of the late arrival of transport and overcrowding in buses in several provinces were reported. These were reported to the relevant officials and amicably resolved. 

Reporting on curriculum coverage, the Department said the pandemic brought about unprecedented teaching time losses, which forced the hand of the sector to develop and implement various strategies to ensure the continuation of teaching. Annual teaching/training plans (ATPs) were trimmed and implemented in the remainder of 2020 to deal with the time loss and the associated impacts. The 2021 ATPs were reviewed to ensure learning recovery in the interim period from 2021 to 2024. Implementation of the recovery ATPs started in 2021. The grade 12 curriculum remained untouched during the trimming, but additional content was included as part of the recovery ATPs for grade 12 in some subjects.

Summarising the 2023 academic year curriculum preparations, The DBE said an online teacher survey was conducted to obtain feedback on the gaps in the 2022 ATPs and the programme of assessment. Feedback from the survey was analysed. Review teams -- per phase and per subject -- were established to revise the ATPs, and some feedback was incorporated into the revised 2023/24 ATPs. There was quality assurance of the ATPs by teacher union representatives and DBE and PED curriculum managers.    

After approval of the revised ATPs by the Council of Education Ministers (CEM), the ATPs were released via Circular S33 of 2022 and uploaded on the DBE website. The circular and links for the ATPs have been shared with stakeholders. 

The DBE reported on the plans to support provinces. From Grades R to 9, there would be mediation of language study guides in selected under-performing districts, monitoring of curriculum coverage and school-based assessment (SBA) implementation, and revision and strengthening of the Early Grade Reading Assessment Toolkit for all the languages.

From Grades 10 to 12, there would be mediation of study guides for new poetry and short stories texts,

mathematics, science (life sciences and physical sciences), technology, and monitoring and support for curriculum coverage in underperforming districts and extra classes in all provinces.

Referring to learning resources, the Department said study guides had been developed for Grade 12 learners and would be distributed to PEDs. These included study guides for:

• New poetry texts for all home languages;
• New poetry texts for all first additional languages;
• Short stories for all first additional languages;
• Technical subjects, including technical mathematics and technical sciences and marine sciences.

The DBE would finalise, distribute and mediate the drama study guide for South African Sign Language (SASL) and reports for subjects with high enrolment. 

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

Referring to the state of readiness in ECD, the Department said the ECD programmes followed a less rigid academic year than primary schools, so continuous support of these programmes throughout the year was therefore critical. 

The 2023 academic year started without any unexpected challenges with the reopening of ECD programmes.  The DBE, in collaboration with PEDs, was continuing with the implementation of the Vangasali registration project to ensure that the state-regulated all ECD programmes currently providing early learning services to children. PEDs were also being supported to ensure that the fourth tranche of subsidy payments would be paid to eligible ECD programmes during the first quarter of the academic year. 

Provinces were also in the process of training ECD practitioners on implementing the National Curriculum Framework and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 4 and 5 qualifications. 

ICT and virtual platforms for learners

The DBE and PEDs developed, packaged and distributed digital materials to learners. Pupils learning without the direct guidance of teachers required support to facilitate self-study, which would include using digital platforms and materials that support remote learning.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) made a call to governments across the world to explore the use of distance learning programmes, open educational applications and platforms that schools and teachers could use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of the pandemic on education, and this was supported by many educationists and educational and technical organisations. 

The DBE and PEDs had made strides in pushing for technology to support learners through virtual classrooms, broadcasting, video streaming and online content resources.

The DBE reported that its ICT learner support programmes included virtual classrooms; TV and radio broadcasts; online content and support resources through educational portals and websites; the use of social media platforms; the rollout of connectivity to teachers and learners ; engaging tutor support in critical subjects through partnerships; providing learners with access to e-learning packages; platforms to provide learner access to online textbooks; and collaborative partnerships with private sector organisations and sister provinces on content resources and communication platforms.

The challenges were that PEDS were at different levels of ICT-enabled learner support. The support was mainly on mathematics, science and technology (MST) and highly enrolled subjects. Some learners had no access to ICT devices, and radio, television, and YouTube broadcasts had limited engagement. Connectivity to support remote learning was costly. There was a lack of learner devices and data to access online content resources, and a lack of network coverage in some rural areas.

The Department's recommendations were:

• The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) should expedite the rollout of SA Connect;
• More educational websites needed to be zero-rated by all network providers;
• Additional budget should be allocated for ICT;
• The DCDT must be engaged to ensure the availability of the network in all rural areas.

National School Nutrition Programme

The school nutrition programme's procurement model was outlined. In the decentralised model, the

Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and North West had all received their allocations from the DBE on 8 December for food items for January to March 2023. In the centralised model, all provinces currently had contracts in place for the delivery of food items for this quarter. In Gauteng, the new service providers would start in June. In KZN, the province was busy with the appointment of new service providers for April 2023.

In Limpopo, service providers were contracted till 2024. In Mpumalanga, the service providers were on a month-to-month contract after their contracts expire, and in the Western Cape, new service providers were appointed to start in April 2023.

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) applied for a budget increase for menu improvement, and R1.5 billion was granted in November 2022 for a three-year cycle from 2023 to 2025. The budget was for breakfast, a processed chicken liver pilot, and its phasing in.

Auditor-General's findings

Each province had reported on the progress of how they were dealing with the Auditor General's findings during the inter-provincial meeting of 21-22 October 2022. The DBE would continue to support the provinces and monitor the progress.

School safety programme

The DBE highlighted the national school safety programme. Digital training was developed in 2020, and the online National School Safety Framework (NSSF) training was now South African Council of Editors (SACE) Accredited. A circular was released in September 2022, encouraging school safety committees to enrol in digital training. The NSSF online training would also be used in the fourth phase of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) in 2023.

Prevention of violence, bullying, corporal punishment, drugs and substance abuse

The inter-departmental campaign on the prevention of violence, bullying, corporal punishment, drugs and substance abuse in schools was championed by the Deputy Minister and supported by other deputy ministers and partner departments. The objectives were to raise awareness of social ills impacting negatively on schooling, targeting school management teams (SMTs), school governing bodies (SGBs) learners, parents and the community at large. It had been rolled out in four provinces -- Gauteng (Gauteng West), Limpopo (Sekhukhune East), Mpumalanga (Nkangala) and North West (Dr Kenneth Kaunda District).

The campaign was accompanied by pre-cursor events and the main events. The next campaign would be hosted in the Eastern Cape in February.

Disaster management

The Department had partnered with SANTAM and the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to develop a disaster risk management tool. Its actions included disaster risk management/assessment training in the provinces. Training took place over two days, with day one specifically for the district and provincial officials, such as education, infrastructure, school safety, provincial disaster management, and fire chiefs from municipalities. The second day was for schools' assessment tool training (special schools).

An Ethiopian delegation was hosted in 2022, and the feedback was very positive, especially the draft lesson sets in the life orientation (LO) textbooks, which supported disaster risk reduction know-how in the classroom.

Social cohesion programmes

In terms of the medium term strategic framework (MTSF) Priority 6 on social cohesion and nation building -- to promote national identity and patriotism -- a communique to schools was distributed for:

 

• Recital of the Preamble of the Constitution on the first day of each school term and all school events;
• Protocols around the hoisting of the national flag and the African Union (AU) flag;
• Promotion of the national anthem and AU anthem;
• In terms of the National Development Plan Vision 2030 (towards building safer communities), distribute tips for parents and learners to ensure the safety of children from exposure to harmful content found in the online and cyber community when utilising e-learning and digital learning devices;
• Tips for younger learners inserted into learner workbooks on what a learner must do to report and reduce the risk of sexual assault;
• In terms of the National Strategic Plan to end gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), a circular had been sent to schools for convening school assemblies to end school-related GBV and bullying, using the "Connect with Respect" guidance of the United Nations; and
• An at-a-glance summary of the protocol for managing and reporting sexual abuse and harassment in schools. 

District monitoring

District monitoring on implementation of the National School Safety Framework (NSSF), social cohesion, sport, and enrichment programmes was conducted annually in 75 districts. Sixty districts were monitored in the 2022/23 financial year across eight provinces. This excluded the Northern Cape. 

In quarter four, 15 districts would be monitored.

School governing bodies

The DBE also reported on SGBs, which monitor all aspects of the schools and hold the SMT accountable for delivering quality education in the school.

Learner dropouts and solutions were highlighted. Dropping out was ideally understood as an undesirable departure from the schooling system. This should thus exclude, in particular, movement to a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college. Dropping out was challenging to measure because of the lack of synergy between the DBE and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) systems, meaning that school-college movements needed to be correctly tracked. Despite this, South Africa had relatively good data to quantify the phenomenon.  

Underperforming secondary schools

Underperforming secondary schools were noted to be a significant challenge. 1 711 secondary schools -- those that obtained less than 65% in the 2021 national senior certificate (NSC) examinations -- were identified as underperforming.

A monitoring tool was administered at 819 underperforming secondary schools to check if the PEDs supported them. The main focus was on the number of support visits, where the expectation was that at least two support visits should be conducted per annum, the support from subject advisors on the subjects whose average was below 30%, the support of circuit managers (CMs) on leadership and management, and how the SMTs managed the curriculum.

Observations were that there had been an increase in the number of support visits by district officials to underperforming schools; support by CMs and subject advisors (SAs) translated to an improvement in curriculum management by SMTs; the accountability by subject teachers was strengthened; data utilisation by SMTs had improved; the number of underperforming secondary schools continued to decline in all the provinces -- from 2 018 in 2020, to 1 711 in 2022 -- and there was a decrease in chronically underperforming schools, from 573 in 2020, to 500 in 2022.

School improvement support coordinators (SISCOs) support SMTs of underperforming schools in developing data-driven academic performance Improvement Plans (APIPs) and interventions that were informed by data, and by strengthening curriculum management.

Support was provided for Grades 8 and 9 mathematics and natural science. The senior phase was the cause of poor performance in NSC mathematics and physical science. The support programme was designed and implemented in 14 districts in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Training manuals had been developed through the subject specialists, and were available for other schools.

Information about personnel handling mathematics in schools was critical. A mathematics teacher audit would be developed this year, showing the disaggregated number of teachers, their qualifications and ages. This information would guide the differentiated forms of support needed to improve mathematics.

Support was also provided for Grades 8 and 9 economics and management sciences. The senior phase had been identified as the cause of poor performance in accounting and economics. A support programme had been designed and would be implemented in 2023 and 2024, in collaboration with the E-cubed project that was currently running. Training Manuals would be developed through the subject specialists, and made available to other districts.

The presentation outlined the general findings per province:

Eastern Cape

• Inappropriate toilets 
• Storm-damaged schools
• Late coming of the principal and teachers
• Shortage of teachers 
• Shortage of toilets 
• Schools not fenced
• Shortage of classrooms

Free State

• Inappropriate toilets.
• Dysfunctional SGBs.
• No water supplies. 
• Dilapidated buildings and fencing.
• No quality learning and teaching campaign (QLTC) structure, or QLTC was not functional.
• Toilets were vandalised.
• Toilets and plumbing equipment were stolen during the festive season.

Gauteng

• Shortage of classrooms.
• Uncontrolled access to schools.
• QLTC was not functional.

Mpumalanga

• Classroom overcrowding. 
• Dysfunctional toilets. 
• Shortage of classrooms.
• Collapsing school building structure.
• Unpaid temporary educators (six months).

Northern Cape

• Insufficient toilets.

North West

• Classroom overcrowding. 
• Dysfunctional toilets. 

Western Cape

• Undocumented learners.
• Inadequate fencing of some schools.

The DSB concluded that all school-specific challenges had been brought to the attention of provincial heads of the Department, who had been requested to provide plans to deal with these within a month. Some of the challenges required a sharper sector focus. These include rationalisation of schools and their quintile ranking. 

 

(See the briefing document for further details).

Discussion

Ms M van Zyl (DA) noted concerns about learner dropouts. She asked whether the Department had considered measures to reduce the amount of administration for teachers. How did it plan to support learners who required additional assistance? Regarding tracking and placing of learners, she requested an update on the auditing of the school system. On school readiness, she asked when the Department would resolve the issue of late placements.

Regarding the shortage of teachers, she requested the DBE to brief the Committee on the steps to fill vacant teacher posts and to elaborate on its interim solution to ensure the quality of teaching. On ECD, she asked the DBE to expand on the type of structures, and to account for the expenditure. She also requested the Department to outline its readiness to implement mandatory Grade-Rs if the Basic Education Law Amendment Bill (2022 BELA Bill) was enacted. She queried why there was an increase of 32 % in learner transport needs in KZN, and why only schools in the North West and Western Cape were trained on drug testing. 

Mr P Moroatshehla (ANC) commended the Department on the improvements, particularly the matriculation results. He referred to the challenges observed during the Committee's oversight visit to KZN. He asked the Department to respond on measures to address the safety of boreholes used for drinking water at schools. He also asked how the challenge of learner transport would be effectively addressed, particularly for learners with special needs. 

Mr E Siwela (ANC) noted his concern for post-provisioning and delays in the transfer of teachers between schools. He said that the moratorium hindered the appointment of new teachers. He requested that the Department resolve this matter urgently to ensure the quality of education was preserved. On the issue of protests, the education of learners was disrupted. He encouraged the DBE to collaborate with the police, to prioritise the safety of learners and teachers, and to ensure that schooling was not interrupted. 

Mr S Ngcobo (IFP) also expressed concern over the safety of boreholes for drinking water at schools, and asked the Department to outline what testing measures were in place to test the water quality. He emphasised the importance of recruiting and appointing quality educators and subject advisers in the Department. 

Ms N Mashabela (EFF) said that the report by the Department did not reflect the reality on the ground. She was concerned about the lack of quality of education for black learners. She highlighted the challenges of timely admission of learners, learner transport, the delivery of LTSM and the provision of adequate sanitation facilities, particularly in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. She asked whether the DBE conducted regular audits to address this issue. 

The Chairperson commended the Department for successfully commencing the 2023 academic year. However, she noted various concerns, such as the under-performance of secondary schools, and requested clarity on which schools and districts this pertained to. She referred to learner transport concerns, particularly in the larger provinces and rural areas. On the maths issue, she asked for the percentages of poor performance. She asked how often the school governing bodies were trained on their roles and functions, and for the DBE to provide the timeframe for filling vacant teacher posts. How did provinces decide on which model to implement school nutrition effectively?

 

DBE's response 

Ms Geyer responded to the issue of dropout rates, and emphasised that the migration and movement of learners was critical. In order to report effectively on the migration of learners, a comprehensive indicator analysis and database for both independent and public schools was required.

Regarding ECD, the Department was working on a universal access programme for Grade Rs.

The LTSM challenges and the reasons for the challenges varied per province. For example, in some provinces, paper shortages affected the printing of textbooks. 

Ms Leticia Munday, Director: Human Resource Planning, DBE, said there was no excuse to justify teacher vacancies. Provinces should ensure that temporary teachers were allocated while the recruitment of permanent teachers was in progress. Promotional posts required a three-month prioritisation completion. 

Mr David van der Westhuijzen, DDG: Infrastructure Development, DBE, responded that most schools and ablution facilities were built according to traditional and conventional methods. The Department also employed alternative building technologies. He also noted that the budget for infrastructure at an ECD level was limited.

Mr James Ndlebe, Director: Education Management and Governance Development, DBE, emphasised the overall improvement in learner placements, particularly in the Western Cape. He said one of the main reasons for some delays was the late commencement of the online placement.

The training of SGBs was conducted regularly and continuously throughout the three-year office period on various relevant topics.

The tracking and tracing of learners had been substantially affected by the transfer of learners from independent to public schools.

Regarding nutrition in schools, a significant challenge has arisen in the context of combined primary and junior secondary schools. Thus, the policy should be reviewed on adequately feeding children in this context.  

The Chairperson requested clarity on plans to use integrated data, and what key outputs were expected from the quality learning and teaching campaign. She also asked what the plans were to use alternative building technology to close the infrastructure gap.

Ms Geyer said that the DBE would conduct in-depth research and draft a research report on the utilisation of integrated data and the migration of learners. QLTC was based on the principles of community and working with community leaders on cross-cutting issues such as socio-economic challenges, to overcome the challenges collectively. 

Mr van der Westhuijzen responded to plans to use alternative building methods to close the infrastructure gap, and said that substantial progress had been made. Regarding sanitation technologies, the Department was working with the Water Research Commission on various pilot projects to test sanitation technologies. Regarding building technologies, some required assembling -- for example, mobile classrooms. Therefore, the cost was a crucial factor. 

Mr J Kumalo, DBE, commented on the specific contributions of the QLTC. He said that the Department was often required to provide urgent interventions in volatile situations, such as the challenges of learner placements, drug abuse, gangsterism and bullying in schools, and the QLTC leads in identifying and addressing curriculum challenges. 

Mr Mweli said that alternative building and sanitation technology would require change management and public representatives' support to ensure that communities embraced it. 

Mr Ngcobo referred to the Committee's oversight to KZN, and observed that the DDG had stressed the importance of the independence of the powers and functions of SGBs from the provincial Department. 

The Chairperson requested the Department to provide information on the maths teachers regarding the percentages of poor performance.

Committee matters

The meeting scheduled for next week Tuesday would be postponed to an alternative date and time. This would be communicated to Members. 

The Committee considered and adopted outstanding minutes of the Committee. The draft minutes of the previous meetings held on 6 December 2022 and 24 January 2023, and the draft report on the 2022 official NSC results release were unanimously adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.