Hon Chairperson, the disjointed nature of the working relationship between the national Department of Education and the nine provincial departments of education leads to inadequate and unsatisfactory levels of co-ordination and communication in the South African education system. This state of affairs negatively affects the education administration nationally, including, amongst others, human resource management which eventually has an adverse effect on the quality of education in the classrooms. Without compromising the autonomy of the provincial departments, the role and responsibilities of the national Department of Education towards its provincial counterparts should be improved drastically.
Against this background, it is therefore of utmost importance that the Minister responsible for planning and the Minister responsible for monitoring and evaluation urgently take note of the situation and act accordingly since education is the number one priority in our country.