(1) Whether her department has taken any steps to intervene regarding the allegations of poor management and financial irregularities at the Settlers Agricultural High School in Limpopo; if not, why not; if so, (a) on what date, (b) what are the relevant details of the specified intervention and (c) who has been appointed to perform the functions of the school governing body;
(2) whether an audit investigation has been conducted into the utilisation of school funds; if not, why not; if so, what were the findings of the audit investigation;
(3) whether she will furnish Mrs D van der Walt with a copy of the report of the findings of the audit investigation; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) what measures will be put in place to ensure that the (a) specified school returns to its status as one of the top agricultural schools in the Republic and (b) hostels of the school are run with adequate resources for all learners?
Whether the Minister of Basic Education has taken any steps to intervene regarding the allegations of poor management and financial irregularities at the Settlers Agricultural High school in Limpopo. If not, why not? If so, (a) on what date, (b) what are the relevant details of the specified intervention and (c) who has been appointed to perform the functions of the school governing body? ...
Whether her department has any functional interdepartmental agreements in place with other departments to (a) tackle bullying in public schools and (b) address substance abuse amongst adolescents; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Yes, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) does have functional agreements in addressing bullying and substance abuse amongst adolescents in schools. These agreements are as follows:
1. Inter-Departmental Campaign on the Prevention of Violence, Bullying, Corporal Punishment, Gender-Based Violence, Teenage Pregnancy, Drugs and Substance Abuse.
The Department and its partner Departments: Social Development, Justice and Constitutional Development, Correctional Services, Health, Communications and Digital Technologies, Home ...
(1) Whether, with reference to the committee meeting on 31 May 2023, she will furnish Dr W J Boshoff with a list of all the documents drafted by the Unit of Social Mobilisation and Support Services as indicated by the Deputy Director-General of the specified unit, Dr Granville Whittle; if not, why not; if so, (a) by what date will she furnish Dr W J Boshoff with the specified documents, (b) what is the status of the documents, (c) who were on the stakeholder lists of the unit and (d) who advised the unit on the drawing up of the documents;
(2) whether the documents will be released for public comments; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has drafted two documents awaiting approval by the Council of Education Ministers (CEM). These documents are:
- Protocol for the Elimination of Unfair Discrimination in Schools
- Guidelines for the Socio-educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics- (SOGIESC) in Schools
The DBE is currently doing further developmental work on the two documents, following comments gathered ...
Whether, with reference to displaced educators in the Republic, particularly at the Lulamelani Secondary School in the Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga, (details furnished), her department has a standardised process of removing displaced educators from schools in place; if not, (a) why not and (b) when will she determine a process to deal with the issue of displaced educators as this happens throughout all provinces?
The question is based on a direct context of Lulamelani Secondary School in the Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga. The question can therefore best responded by the the Executive Authority of the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Mpumalanga . The Member is kindly requested to refer the question to the MEC for Free State as per section 92(3)(b) of the Constitution and Rule 134 (5)(b) of ...
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With reference to her reply to question 549 on 17 April 2023 that her department intends to deal with overcrowding in schools through the Special Intervention Programme on Overcrowding in Schools, (a) which schools have been identified, (b) what are the relevant details of (i) assistance envisioned for each identified school and (ii) timeframes for the programme to be concluded in each identified school?
A total of 70 043 additional classes were identified from 8 133 over crowded school across all provinces. The special programme was put on hold when Treasury implemented cost containment measures.
The building of additional classes will follow the normal infrastructure programmes until we are advised differently by Treasury.
The number of identified schools and classes per province are attached.
Whether she has been informed that in Khehlekile Primary School a young queer boy was allegedly bullied by his school teacher which resulted in the boy committing suicide; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what disciplinary steps have been taken against the specified teacher?
1) The Department is aware about the sad incident involving a Grade 6 boy from Khehlekile Primary School in Thokoza (Ekurhuleni).
2) The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) instituted an investigation which was conducted by an independent law firm. A report with recommendations was compiled and shared with the family and the school. The GDE has started a disciplinary process against all implicated officials at the school, ...
Whether her department has any functional interdepartmental agreements in place with the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development to assist each other in decreasing the number of teenage pregnancies and/or HIV/AIDs infections in (a) public and (b) private schools in each province; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Yes. The Department of Basic Education has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Departments of Health (DOH) and Social Development (DSD) to implement the Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP) in order to provide health and social services to learners including Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) information and services. The three departments have also developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the provision of SRH services ...
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Whether her department has records of the number of (a) public and (b) private (i) primary and (ii) high schools in each province that have been closed or shut down in the (aa) 2018, (bb) 2019, (cc) 2020, (dd) 2021, (ee) 2022 and (ff) 2023 school years; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(a) and (b) The number of schools closed as per the School Rationalisation and Realignment Process (SRRP) since 2012 is 2 547. See attached Annexure for detailed breakdown per province.
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What (a) is the state of readiness of her department for new learners who will be starting Grade (i) 1 and (ii) 8 in 2024 and (b) measures have been put in place to ensure that all learners are placed in schools and that no learners are left behind in each province?
a) All primary schools and secondary schools started preparing for admissions of grade 1 and 8 respectively, as early as the beginning of term two in 2023. By October 2023, reports on placements from Provinces indicated that almost 65% of learners in the two grades have been placed.
b) The Department is receiving accumulative statistics on placements from provinces on a monthly basis as ...
(1) Whether credit cards issued to (a) her, (b) the Deputy Minister and (c) any specified officials have been over their credit limit; if so, (i) whose credit cards have been over their limit and (ii) what is the reason for the credit cards exceeding the limit;
(2) whether any action has been taken against any of the specified persons for exceeding the credit card limit; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1) No credit cards were issued to the (a) Minister, (b) Deputy Minister or (c) any other official, therefore there was no credit card that was over the limit; (i) N/A and (ii) N/A;
(2) N/A
