Chairperson, after numerous complaints had been received from schools about the late or nontransfer of allocations to schools, particularly to no-fee schools that had been assigned functions in terms of section 21 of the South African Schools Act, the Minister of Education amended the national norms and standards for school funding.
The effect of these amendments was the following: In terms of the amendment, the transfer of funds from provincial departments of education to schools must take place in two instalments, firstly, on or before 15 May; and, secondly, on or before 15 November of each year.
We anticipate that this will assist in eliminating the problems experienced in the past. What used to happen in the past is that schools would receive one allocation. That allocation would be in May. A school's calendar year starts in January. The result is that the monies are spent in a particular calendar year, with no resources available for the next year. By splitting it in the way we are doing now, schools are already in possession of the money for the following year in November of the preceding year, and are therefore able to budget and plan better. In relation to the second part of the question, if any instance is brought to our attention the Ministry would indeed intervene. We would, however, urge members to report noncompliance to their provincial MECs responsible for education. That does not detract from our national responsibility, but we do believe that noncompliance would be managed more appropriately by the MECs for education in the provinces. Thank you.
Chairperson, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister for his reply. My question is: How will the Minister inculcate the culture of a work ethic in schools?
Even if the funds are available, some of the educators are not there. What is the Deputy Minister going to do to address that issue?
Chairperson, that is not a follow- up, but it speaks to an aspect that the President has mentioned repeatedly, namely the non-negotiables in education: The teacher should be in class, on time, doing the task at hand; the learners should be present at school, learning; the parents are responsible for sending their children to school and ensuring that they do their homework.
This comprehensive plan by the ruling party, which was adopted by government and repeatedly endorsed by the President in his state of the nation address, addresses what has been raised by hon Bloem. It states that it is not only about resources being allocated to schools; education must be regarded as a societal issue. Unless and until all of us - district officials, circuit officials, teachers, principals, parents, and communities at large - take collective responsibility, we will not succeed in creating the kind of transformation in education that we want. So we do believe that your party in particular will have an enormous role to play in assisting us to achieve this outcome. Thank you.
Chairperson, my question is a follow-up on the issue of no-fee schools.
It is with regard to quintiles 1, 2 and 3. I don't have any information on the ratio of quintile 3. I would also like to know the formula which is used to classify schools into quintiles 1, 2 and 3, as there are so many inconsistencies. Thank you.
Chairperson, if I understand the hon member correctly, what he said was that he was not very clear in terms of how and on what basis we arrive at different quintiles.
There are five quintiles, encompassing the poorest schools to the most affluent schools. Various factors are taken into account when determining a school's quintile rating: whether the school community is urban or rural; whether the community living in the area surrounding the school is affluent or poor; what the school's infrastructure is like; and what resources are available to the school.
So, many factors are considered and weighed in order to establish the quintiles. We have discovered, however - and I think this is a concern of the hon member - that the quintiles that had been established some time ago, have changed.
You might, in certain instances, find that a school has the infrastructure of a quintile 5 school - in other words, of a most affluent school - while the surrounding community or the learner population in that school belongs to quintile 1 - in other words, learners who should actually be exempted from fees. In such a case, it would not be appropriate to place that school in quintile 5.
We thus revise these quintiles annually. In fact, we are going to amend the legislation even further to allow provincial departments and MECs to change the quintiles, from quintile 1 to 2, depending on the variation that occurs within that learning environment.
So, these quintiles are not etched in stone. MECs for education have, in terms of our practice, always had the right to change them. In fact, while the Minister declares no-fee schools, the MECs for education - as the Minister of Health, who was a former MEC for education in Limpopo, would know, and, in fact, when he was, did something quite extraordinary: instead of declaring for just two quintiles, he declared for three quintiles, in terms of poverty alleviation in his particular province - have the right and discretion to increase the allocation and amend the identification of schools in terms of the no-fee school policy.
So, what we are saying then is that the national Minister determines in consultation with the provinces, but the MECs for education do have the right, the authority and the mandate to include or expand on that number, based on changes that may occur within the quintile arrangement of those particular schools.
I hope that has helped the hon member. Thank you.
Voorsitter, ek gaan die vraag in Afrikaans stel, as dit in orde is.
Ek wil dit aan die agb Adjunkminister stel dat daar verneem word dat sommige van die provinsies nie die volle bedrag wat aan die leerders by geengeldskole toegeken word, oorbetaal nie en dat 'n sekere bedrag deur die provinsies teruggehou word. Ek wil graag weet of daardie inligting aan die Adjunkminister bekend is, of hy bereid is om die saak te ondersoek, en wat sy optrede in di verband sou wees?
As daar so 'n voorval in u gebied sou plaasvind, maak dit gerus aan ons bekend. Ons sal die nodige stappe doen.
Wat wel in die verlede gebeur het, is dat daar nie 'n uniforme benadering ten opsigte van die uitbetaling van toelaes aan skole was nie. Volgens die huidige norme word daar wel 'n meer uniforme benadering toegepas. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Chairperson, I am going to ask the question in Afrikaans, if that is all right.
I would like to put it to the hon Deputy Minister that it is understood that some of the provinces are not transferring the full amount that has been allocated for the learners at no-fee schools, and that a certain amount is being held back by the provinces. I would like to know if this information is known to the Deputy Minister, whether he is willing to investigate this matter, and what action he would take in this regard.
Should such an incident happen in your area, please make it known to us. We will take the necessary steps.
Indeed, what happened in the past was that there wasn't a uniform approach with regard to the payment of grants to schools. In accordance with the existing norms, however, a more uniform approach is being applied. Thank you.]
Chairperson, I have requested the ratio from the Minister for quintile 3. I have done so because in the booklet that we were given by Treasury only the allocations for quintiles 1 and 2 were indicated. There is no indication for quintile 3. I would like to draw a comparison because I have gathered information at a particular school that, for quintile 3, R100 per learner is allocated. I would like to determine whether this is correct.
I really don't want us to put the Minister on the spot here by asking for quantitative information, which he might not have available. Maybe we could agree that the information could be supplied by the department at a later stage. Is that okay? Thank you very much.
That brings us to the end of Question 14.
Safety measures at Sithembele Matiso Secondary School
16. Ms M W Makgate (ANC) asked the Minister of Basic Education:
Whether there are any safety measures in place at Sithembele Matiso Secondary School in the Western Cape where the acting principal was shot; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? CO82E
Chairperson, I want to thank Ms Makgate for raising this issue. The Sithembele Matiso Secondary School, situated in New Road, Gugulethu, is one of the 109 high-risk schools identified by the Western Cape department of education. A risk assessment was conducted by the department of education in the Western Cape education, safety and management unit.
The following infrastructure and safety measures are in place: The school fence consists of a solid steel palisade and is in good condition. The school also has palisade fencing between the various block sections. With regard to windows, they are fully secured and some of the windows are fitted with burglar bars and others with mesh stone guards. With regard to doors, all the classroom doors are fitted with steel safety glass. The entrance to the administration building is fitted with safety gates, and all corridors and entrances are secured. The school has an alarm system that is linked to armed response, and it is part of the closed-circuit television, cctv, pilot, which is fitted with 26 cameras, including pan, tilt and zoom cameras on a nine-metre mast on the perimeter.
The Western Cape department of education has, through partnership with the department of community safety, deployed five school safety volunteers at the school who assist with access control and patrol the school perimeter and hotspots on the playground, as identified by the school safety committee.
What we can say to you is that we share in the loss experienced by the school and the community. The Minister of Basic Education, the Deputy Minister of Basic Education and the Deputy Minister of Police visited the school, and we also had an opportunity to visit the family.
It does appear that even if you have the best measures in terms of safety, there is an important dimension that we tend to ignore, ie that of conflict management, values and attitudes that are so critical in ensuring that we create a safe environment that is conducive to learning. Thank you.
Chairperson, since this sporadic shooting happened and the community is threatened, is the Minister planning to declare that school a firearm-free zone?
Chairperson, I can share with the hon member that that is a firearm-and drug-free zone. In fact, most of our schools are encouraged to do so, and we have also provided for opportunities for search and seizure to take place. So, that is definitely a firearm-free zone.
Particulars regarding set standard for numeracy and literacy for grades 7, 8 and 9
18. Mr M J R de Villiers (DA) asked the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) Whether there is a set standard for numeracy and literacy for grades 7, 8 and 9 learners; if not, why not; if so, what is the standard;
(2) what is the information of the standard on numeracy and literacy achievements for grade 7, 8 and 9 learners currently;
(3) whether the set standards on numeracy and literacy are being achieved; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the reasons for the set standards not being achieved;
(4) whether any measures have been taken to improve the standards; if not, why not; if so, (a) what measures and (b) when will it be implemented? CO84E
Chairperson, the reply is as follows: In relation to the first part, yes, our protocol and assessment defines adequate achievement in mathematics and language in these grades as scores between 50% and 59%. In relation to the second part, currently, information on learner performance in these particular grades resides at individual school level. With regard to the third part, achievement of this standard varies from school to school.
There are learners who achieve and exceed the standard, but some do not. With regard to the reasons, I can say my department is currently piloting an external national assessment of performance in mathematics and language at Grade 9 level to better understand factors that might impact on the achievement of learners.
From 2010, the Department of Basic Education will have this information at provincial and national levels. However, studies that have been conducted at Grades 3 and 6 indicate that some of the factors are associated with poor learner performance. Amongst others, there are the following: availability and proper use of appropriate resources, in order words, many schools don't have adequate resources, including books and the appropriate calculators and equipment; language of learning versus the home language, where opportunities present themselves to teach in the home language schools tend to favour a language that is foreign to the learner in terms of his or her home language; teaching methods are not appropriate and often the educators are underqualified. Our current interventions therefore target these factors.
What we can share is the fact that, as a result of our assessments in Grades 3 and 6, which are conducted nationally, we have noticed an improvement in literacy, and particularly in numeracy in the nine provinces. However, the reality that the achievement and performance of learners in both numeracy and literacy is not satisfactory is not acceptable and much more has to be done to intervene in those areas.
The last part is part four. It's answered in three, and part four relates to the interventions that have been made. Thank you.
Position regarding current number of beds at children's homes
19. Mr M J R de Villiers (DA) asked the Minister of Social Development:
(1) Whether there are any problems with the current number of beds at children's homes; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what are the problems and (b) at which homes;
(2) whether any measures have been taken to address the backlog; if not, (a) why not and (b) who is responsible for the drawing up of these measures; if so, what measures;
(3) whether any steps are in place to ensure that these measures are implemented; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what steps and (b) when will it be implemented?