2023-w1900 - 12 June 2023

Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

What measures has she put in place to improve the ability of teachers to identify, teach and accommodate learners with autism in local schools?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 12 Jun 2023

In 2014, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) promulgated the Policy on Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS). The purpose of the Policy on SIAS is to provide a policy framework for the standardisation of the procedures to identify, assess and provide programmes for all learners, including autistic learners as they require additional support to enhance their participation and inclusion in school. To date, 178 757 ...

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2023-w2000 - 12 June 2023

Constance Nonhlanhla Mkhonto to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

What are the main contributory factors to lower primary learners performing poorly in (i) arithmetic, (ii) reading and (iii) writing, (b) what period has the specified poor performance been a negative factor in the performance of her department and the cognitive development of the learners, (c) what turnaround strategies are in place to address the long-term problem, (d) on what date will the strategy be implemented and (e) who are the (i) stakeholders and (ii) role players identified as key participants in addressing the challenge?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 12 Jun 2023

(a) Learners wrote the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) late in 2021, after almost two years of unprecedented interruption to schooling and learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The PIRLS results show that as much as the pandemic had a negative impact on education in general, reading literacy development was specifically impacted. Further to this, when the Department of Basic Education (DBE) was preparing to ...

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2023-w2159 - 12 June 2023

Siphosethu Lindinkosi Ngcobo to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

(1)       With reference to her reply to question 2189 on 23 June 2022, wherein she revealed that close to 91 000 learners fell pregnant in the year 2021 which inevitably has a negative impact on such learners’ schooling going forward, what other programmes, apart from basic sex-education offered in schools, has her department embarked on to bring the figure down and ensure that barriers in girls’ education are removed; (2) whether there will be any interdepartmental co-operation between her department, the Department of Health and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, amongst others, in bringing back television shows and programmes such as loveLife, Soul Buddyz and Soul City which are aimed at educating the youth on practicing safer sexual behaviours; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant detail?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 12 Jun 2023

(1)       In addition to sexuality education offered through Life Skills and Life Orientation, the department offers care and support programmes to mitigate barriers to teaching and learning and ensure that learners are retained in school to complete basic education. These includes amongst other but not limited to Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP), National School Safety Programme , National School Nutrition  Programme, Peer Education programmes, School ...

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2023-w2040 - 07 June 2023

Anna Maria Van Zyl to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

In each province and (b) in each of the past five years, what was the total number of learners at each school that (i) utilised scholar transport, (ii) qualified for learner transport and (iii) were provided with learner transport?

2023-w2086 - 07 June 2023

Siphosethu Lindinkosi Ngcobo to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

What action measures has her department put in place to date to counteract the catastrophe shown by recent statistics that 8 out of every 10 children in the Republic are unable to read for meaning by the age of 10, which the Government has come out in its defence to blame COVID-19 and the loss of teaching and learning time during the pandemic as the reason without providing tangible solutions to the specified problem?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 7 Jun 2023

The Department of Basic Education (DBE), in collaboration with a team of reading experts from civil society and academia, is reviewing the Integrated Sector Reading Plan. A revised National Reading Literacy Strategy is therefore being developed, and central to it is the need to improve the teaching and learning of African home languages reading literacy on a large scale, in the emergent and early ...

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2023-w2203 - 07 June 2023

Anna Maria Van Zyl to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

(1)       How are the preferred subjects that qualify for the Funza Lushaka Bursary determined in each year; (2) whether the preferred subjects to qualify for the Funza Lushaka programme are determined according to each province; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so; (3) whether she will furnish Ms A M van Zyl with a list of preferred subjects of each province for the 2023 academic year; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 7 Jun 2023

1. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) determines the priority subject areas using various means for the purposes of replacement of teachers into the correct phase and subject specialisation using the Funza Lushaka Bursary funding in training the teachers required in the sector.  Secondly, the Department caters for the newly introduced subjects (currently about 26 new subjects) which require new teachers are also considered. Furthermore, each ...

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2023-w2039 - 07 June 2023

Anna Maria Van Zyl to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

(1)       What are the details of the progress that her department has made to standardise the function of learner transport; (2) whether a decision has been made to award the function of learner transport to either her department or the Department of Transport; if not, why not; if so, at what stage is the process; (3) whether any legal opinion was sought as to where the function belongs; if not, why not; if so, (4) whether she will furnish Ms A M van Zyl with a copy of the specified legal opinion; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 7 Jun 2023

1. The Department of Education in collaboration with the Department of Transport (DoT) published the Learner Transport Policy in 2015 with the main intention of standardizing the implementation of Learner Transport Function. Both the DBE and DoT are currently reviewing the Learner Transport Policy to address among others issues of unmet Demand, insufficient funding, and varied provincial cost models.  The Review is expected to ...

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2023-w2087 - 07 June 2023

Siphosethu Lindinkosi Ngcobo to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

What measures has her department put in place to strike a balance between the representation of minority groups and languages and the inclusion and non-discrimination of other learners on the basis of language, in light of the alleged resistance to dual-medium education by certain groups of society (details furnished)?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 7 Jun 2023

The Department has been engaging with School Governing Bodies (SGB) of affected schools to find amicable solutions under difficult circumstances. The current powers given to SGBs in the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 makes it difficult to resolve such cases. The current BELA Bill aims to remedy this situation  by allowing Heads of Departments to intervene when elements of discrimination in the language and ...

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2023-w2243 - 07 June 2023

Sophie Suzan Thembekwayo to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

Whether she has been informed that a gas cylinder in the CCTV camera room exploded in the Thuto Thebe Secondary School in Ward 7, Lekwa Local Municipality, in Mpumalanga on Wednesday 24 May 2023, causing learners to inhale the gas and 14 learners were taken to the nearest hospital for treatment; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what is her intervention regarding the specified matter?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 7 Jun 2023

The question asked by the Hon Member falls within the Executive Authority of the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for education in Mpumalanga, and therefore should be referred as such. 

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2023-w1600 - 02 June 2023

Paulnita Marais to ask the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education

Whether her department has the power to provide any relief measures to nurse aides working at the Eros School for Cerebral Palsy and Learning Disabled, who have been working for more than 15 years as casual workers with no employment benefits; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what relief and (b) by what date will the nurse aides be employed on a permanent basis?

Reply from the Minister of Basic Education to ask the Minister of Basic Education on 2 Jun 2023

Please note that the national Department of Basic Education does not appoint health workers to schools, but the respective provincial education departments (PEDs) do. The Hon Member may refer the question to the relevant province for response. 

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