North West Department of Education and Sport intervention update, 25 July 2018
The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga held a series of meetings in Mafikeng, North West, today (Wednesday) to look at progress made in the 8 areas identified for the section 100(1) (b) intervention, as well as to brief the critical education stakeholders about the intervention itself.
The initial meeting was with the MEC, Mr Jonas Sello Lehari as well as Senior Managers from both the National and Provincial Departments to receive an update from the Department’s Administrator, Mr Nkhono Johannes Mohlala, the provincial SG, Ms Stephinah Semaswe and senior managers on the various areas of the intervention.
One of the major areas reported on was that of curriculum coverage, and implementation of the catch-up plan for those learners who were negatively affected by the community protests that resulted in school closures earlier this year. The province reported positively that catch up plans were underway and that many of the learners had attended successful winter camps to recover teaching and learning time lost.
The Minister of Basic Education places enormous emphasis on the involvement of stakeholders in the sector in order to achieve the desired basic education outcomes. With this in mind, she met with a number of education stakeholders to take them through the various areas of the intervention to bring them on board with the turnaround plans for the North West Department of Education and Sport Development.
These stakeholders included Education Sector Unions that are active in the province, followed by School Governing Bodies as well as over 1500 school principals.
The Minister and the Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, introduced the stakeholders to the Administrator and took them through the areas of the intervention. The section 100(1)(b) intervention that the Ministry and Department of Basic Education is responsible for, includes the following intervention areas:
- addressing matters of emphasis reported through the regularity audits by the Auditor-General of South Africa; and non-compliance challenges reported through the DPME’s Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT);
- ensuring sound and accountable financial, fiscal, budget, supply chain management and human resource management;
- ensuring sound and accountable management of Conditional Grants;
- ensuring that post provisioning is in terms of and complies with norms and standards;
- addressing the challenges identified in the quarterly In-Year Monitoring (IYM) Reports;
- reviewing and ensuring accurate and reliable education data management through the integrated education management information system (EMIS) in general, and through the South African Schools Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS) in particular;
- strengthening the implementation, monitoring and evaluation oversight of curriculum management and delivery;
- ensuring and providing monitoring and evaluation oversight on the resourcing and capacitation of district and circuits;
- ensuring timeous school infrastructure provisioning, and the maintenance of existing infrastructure; and
- ensuring safe learner transport provisioning for deserving learners;
First and foremost the intervention will focus on stabilising teaching and learning activities in the province, which is the core business of the department, as well as getting irregular expenditure under control.
Following today’s meetings the Minister has welcomed the levels of cooperation received from the provincial department as well as the support garnered from the various stakeholders.
Enquiries:
Elijah Mhlanga
Cell: 083 580 8275
Troy Martens
Cell: 079 899 3070
