Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
Deputy Speaker
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Legislature
The Annual Report that is tabled in this house today shows very clearly that during the 2010/11 financial year we have made further advances towards our goal of creating an equitable and quality education system that will contribute to a better life for all our people and building a better Gauteng.
I am happy to announce that the department has received a financially unqualified audit report with a few findings on compliance and also received a clean audit report in the Audit of Performance Information, with no findings. I may add that this is the second consecutive year that the department achieved this outcome in both elements of the audit.
The audit revealed that significant progress in systems, controls and accountability has reduced the number of finding in the audit and management report. Three major matters have been eliminated since the 2009/10 audit. There are six remaining matters that prevented the department from receiving a clean audit.
We have formulated an action plan to address these matters raised as emphasis of matters and the finding on other legal and regulatory requirements. The plan also addresses matters with inherent high risks and proactive predictability concerns. These action plans are monitored weekly and subjected to combined assurance reviews by management, internal audit as well as the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA).
The programmatic performance of the department is also showing signs that our strategies are beginning to pay-off. The past year was a successful year for education in Gauteng because we focussed hard on continuous improvement and bedding down the interventions introduced over the past two years.
The province managed to achieve a pass rate of 78.6%, in the Senior Certificate 2010 Examination up from 71.8% in 2009, a 6.8% rise. This means that the department is only 1.4% short of our 2014 target of an 80% pass rate. For the first time ever, Gauteng is the top performing province in the whole country. Much of the success of the Matric results can be attributed to the implementation of the Secondary School Intervention Programme (SSIP) and October camps which focused on the drilling of exam papers and exam preparation technique.
A total of 170 schools, just under two-thirds of the schools in the SSIP programme, improved their performance in 2010. This year we have put into place measures learnt from the 2010 experience to enhance the delivery and effectiveness of the programme. These measures have resulted in improved attendance at SSIP sites and the introduction of direct support to teachers in underperforming schools in key subject content areas.
To address educational backlogs across the system we adopted a combination of strategies. We are focusing our efforts across all four phases of schooling, each with a distinct set of interventions addressing the specific challenges experienced in each of the phases. The core focus of all our transformation strategies is the learner and the quality of learning attained for effective and lifelong growth, development and well-being.
This is why we spent time last year on laying the foundation for Gauteng Primary Literacy Strategy (GPLS). We are focusing on improving basic literacy and numeracy and improving language competence for transition to a new language of learning and teaching in the foundation phase. During the 2009/10 and the 2010/11 financial years, we put in place key elements of the strategy for a successful implementation in the 2011 academic year and to lay a firm foundation of the extension of the programme to other Grades in 2012. This will allow learners to move into each successive phase with greater levels of learning and with greater confidence to succeed.
In support our system-wide strategy, the Gauteng Mathematics, Science & Technology (MST) Improvement Strategy was formulated and aimed at the achievement of a sustained and significant improvement in MST teaching and learning. In 2010 academic year, we focused on 792 primary and 276 secondary underperforming schools.
The department therefore supplied all public primary schools in the province from Grades 1 to 6 were also allocated lesson plans for mathematics. All primary schools in Quintiles 1-3, including the 792 underperforming primary schools, were also supplied with two mental maths kits, two numeracy kits and a total of 715 technology kits and all educators received support on the utilisation of the kits.
With regard to improving maths, science and technology-teaching, the Department trained a total of 2 127 Foundation Phase teachers in numeracy and a total of 2 111 Intersen teachers were trained in maths, natural science and technology. We also introduced a substitute teacher programme in 2009.
A total of 104 teachers were appointed in the Relief Teacher Programme to support the Maths and Science Teacher Development Programme. The relief teachers are deployed to schools to allow teachers to be taken for intensive training. A total of 527 mathematics teachers have been trained through this MST programme so far.
During the year under review, the Grade R implementation strategy was revised to meet the 2014 Early Childhood Development (ECD) targets of the province and an integrated implementation plan was developed. To date we have established a total of 2 421 Grade R sites in 1 221 public schools serving 75 824 learners across the province, of which 314 Grade R sites have been registered in 2011 alone.
In total 95 249 learners are in Grade R programmes in both public and independent grade R classes. To achieve this, we have to deploy 337 prefabricated and customised Grade R classes. The rollout of new classes was supported by a full LTSM kit and all existing sites received LTSM and a top-up of consumables. We also intensified the training of Grade R practitioners on both National Qualification Framework Level 4 and 5 resumed in January 2011. A total of 1200 practitioners attended the training.
To support learning in classrooms, a number of education support programmes were expanded.
Firstly, the National School Nutrition Programme was expanded to incorporate secondary school learners from Quintile 2 schools. In total, nutrition was provided to a total of 795 785 learners, of whom 553 644 are in Quintile 1-3 primary schools, 85 305 in Quintile 4-5 primary schools and 176 836 learners in Quintile 1-2 secondary schools. Plans were also implemented to expand the programme to Quintile 3 secondary schools learners in the 2011/12 financial year.
Secondly, to address the growth of learners from informal settlements and newly established townships, the department had to accommodate an increase in the number of learners using the scholar transport programme. In total, 55 769 learners in both primary schools and secondary schools were bussed to the nearest schools. To ensure the safe transportation of learners, all contracted buses are subjected to compulsory testing every six months.
Thirdly, all quintile 1-3 schools in the province have been declared no-fee schools. In addition 164 Quintile 4 and 5 schools that sought to be reclassified as no-fee schools. There are currently 1 170 no-fee schools in the province servicing 879 161 learners.
Finally, to ensure that learners attend schools close to where they live and in schools with educationally sound infrastructure, a total of 24 new schools, 9 brick and mortar schools and 15 mobile schools, were opened in January 2011. A total of 77 ordinary schools and 16 special schools had condition-based maintenance work carried out and a total of 1 278 unplanned maintenance projects were carried out in ordinary schools, Learning, Skills and Employment Network (LSEN) schools; Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) centres and offices across the province. To ease overcrowding in existing schools, the Department has to date delivered a total of 1 682 mobile classrooms.
The department carried out checks on mobile classrooms and toilets to check that they met all safety and construction requirements. To improve the safety of learners, 495 underperforming schools received new fences and 45 had their fences repaired.
The goal of the department is to provide a safe, respectful and welcoming environment for learners to perform optimally. The School Safety Strategy has been adopted with a five-year implementation plan.
To reduce crime around and in schools, a total of 1 000 schools are participating in the Linking Schools to Police Stations programme, which was launched on 1 October 2010. In addition, random searches were conducted at 30 schools throughout the province to prevent weapons and illegal substances being brought to school. The partnership with the Department of Community Safety, the Department of Health and Social Development, the South African Police Services (SAPS) and the Gauteng Liquor Board has resulted in several illegal shebeens within a 500m radius of the schools being shut down.
With regard to the auditing of schools to determine the level of compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, a total of 237 schools were checked and plans put into place to address the findings of the audit. In addition, a total of 274 officials were trained in safety measures and officials from 900 schools were provided with disaster management and first aid training.
A number of other areas of weakness were also identified and is being addressed through management interventions.
To address challenges experienced with regard to Grade R spending last year, the Department has established a dedicated team to manage the expenditure and the process to universalise Grade R. In addition, for the first time in the 2011/12 financial year, the province will allocate a subsidy to all Grade R sites for schools to utilise in improving the quality of Grade R provisioning. The department will retain the salary portion of the ECD practitioner and pay the practitioners through PERSAL on behalf of all the schools.
In respect of spending on Conditional Grants, we have committed ourselves to ensure effective and timeous utilisation of the grants. Last year, at short notice, we implemented a school fencing programme in support of our school safety plan and also provided mobile classrooms to relieve the pressure in overcrowded schools.
This year, to ensure that we are able to spend the maintenance budget we are concluding with Department of Infrastructure Development and the Department of Finance on ways to decentralise maintenance to school level. This will include allocating schools with a track record of good financial management a larger maintenance budget to undertake urgent repairs themselves. Schools will be supported by localised school-based maintenance teams that will be contracted by the schools to undertake the repairs. We have also increased our internal capacity to plan and monitor infrastructure service delivery.
In the other areas such as HIV and AIDS, we are improving the scheduling of activities to avoid competing activities organised by our quality intervention programmes and in relation to Technical High Schools Recapitalisation we have put into place measures and controls for the effective refurbishment of classrooms.
Conclusion:
During this 2011/12 financial year, I am looking forward to intensifying the plans and hope to achieve greater results with regard to ensuring that quality learning and teaching takes place in every classroom every day.
In conclusion, Speaker, I need to reiterate that we are convinced that the interventions to improve the quality of learning, as led by this government, is moving in the right direction. What we need to improve is intensifying our programmes and to ensure that there is commitment by all in the programmes that are being implemented. We need more effort of focused, comprehensive, deep, and sustained interventions in order to see tangible improvements.
Thank you.
