Most of the challenges facing the education system include substantial backlogs in buildings and facilities, insufficient number of qualified teachers, poor school management and high absenteeism among students. The funding of R40 billion to provinces in the baseline to eradicate unsafe school buildings is welcomed and the committee will monitor the performance of such allocations. During its oversight visit undertaken in August 2010, the Committee found that, some provinces were under spending on certain conditional grants particularly those that are earmarked for school infrastructure. The under-spending persisted despite the high level of inappropriate structures including mud schools.