results, open source software
16 August 2006
âThe Department of Education has paid serious attention to the Human Rights
Commission (HRC) report of the public hearing on the right to basic education
(2006) and has engaged fully with its recommendations,â said the Minister of
Education, answering oral questions in the National Assembly today (see full
replies below and check against delivery).
Question 100
Mr RPZ van den Heever to ask the Minister of Education:
(1) Whether her department has a programme of action to address the reported
deficiencies in the provision of quality education as outlined by the Human
Rights Commission; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are
the relevant details.
(2) Whether she will make a statement on the matter?
Reply:
The Department of Education has paid serious attention to the HRCâs report
of the public hearing on the right to basic education (2006) and has engaged
fully with its recommendations.
I have had a number of constructive meetings with the Chairperson of the
Committee and agree with many of the recommendations proposed in the report.
The Department is in the process of finalising a written response, so that we
can give renewed force and attention to those areas where work is already under
way and initiate action where it is required.
As soon as the Departmentâs response has been finalised, the aspects
requiring attention will form part of the strategic plan of the Department.
I will not make a statement at this stage.
Question 89
Mr VC Gore to ask the Minister of Education:
(1) What is her departmentâs policy with regard to the provision and use
of
(a) open-source and
(b) proprietary software?
(2) Whether her department has received any
(a) discounts, (
(b) donations and/or
(c) sponsorships for the provision and use of the abovementioned software for
each of the previous five years; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) The Education Department supports the open source movement in principle.
However, in practice our position is that schools must be able to choose
between proprietary and open source software. Through making agreements with
Microsoft and Symantec, for example, we have made it possible for managers,
teachers and pupils to choose whether to use proprietary or open source
software.
(2) Yes, a number of computer companies have donated software to our
schools. For example, in 2002 the Department signed a three-year agreement with
Microsoft under which over 4 000 schools, 60 000 teachers and 2,8 million
pupils in all provinces benefited from the use of software to a market value of
R83,6 million.
In 2005 Microsoft extended the agreement for one year only. However, the
agreement also included teacher training, the establishment of a School
Technology Innovation Centre, a hardware refurbishing centre, and research into
the use of ICT in education.
We are currently negotiating the extension of the agreement with
Microsoft.
Another example is our agreement with Symantec. In 2005, Symantec agreed to
provide all schools with free anti-virus/security software. Provision to
provinces is currently taking place and the agreement ends on 31 December 2006.
The Department is currently negotiating with Symantec to extend the period for
three more years.
Question 90
Mr LW Greyling to ask the Minister of Education:
(1) How many public schools are
(a) operational in South Africa and
(b) have libraries?
(2) Whether her department has any plans in place to provide libraries to
all public schools if not why not, if so, what are the plans?
Reply:
(1) (a) 26 599
(b) Currently few schools have libraries. Some provinces (Western Cape,
Gauteng, Northern Cape) have libraries in one out of every two schools. Limpopo
and the Eastern Cape have very significant gaps in this area. Nationally one
out of every five schools has a library.
(2) A national reading strategy has been developed to ensure children have
access to various kinds of library, classroom libraries, mobile libraries,
community libraries (working in collaboration with the Department of Arts and
Culture) and fully fledged school libraries. Elements of this strategy are
already being implemented with over 5 000 foundation-phase classrooms provided
with reading books in 2006 to initiate classroom libraries and a further 6 000
primary schools set to benefit at the beginning of the 2007 school year. Beyond
this the Quality Improvement and Development Strategy (QIDS UP) implementation
plan includes the provision of libraries to schools.
Question 101
Adv AH Gaum to ask the Minister of Education:
What steps will be taken to ensure that, in practical terms; smaller
languages of tuition are not overwhelmed and eventually swallowed by
English?
Reply:
There are three simple principles to our language policy in schools.
First, our language policy encourages the use of the mother tongue as a
language of instruction in the primary school phase. The policy recognises that
past policy and practice has disadvantaged millions of children. Consequently,
it promotes the use and learning of all the languages of South Africa,
including previously neglected indigenous languages.
Second, our policy requires all schoolchildren to learn to speak and write a
second language.
Third, our policy requires all schoolchildren to learn to speak a third
language. All learners are required to have studied a South African indigenous
language for three years by the end of grade nine.
Our intention is to develop all languages so they can be used as languages
of learning and teaching. In addition, we have focused on the revitalisation of
the teaching of indigenous languages in universities, to increase the number of
students taking them and also to increase the pool of teachers with the
necessary depth of understanding to teach in these languages.
Question 110
Mr GG Boinamo to ask the Minister of Education:
(1) With regard to the fact that grade 10 learners in the Western Cape had a
60 percent failure rate in their mid-year exams which was structured according
to the Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum
(a) what is her departmentâs explanation for this result?
(b) what are the shortcomings in the FET curriculum? and
(c) how does her department intend rectifying these shortcomings?
(2) Whether there are any plans to review the training of teachers who have
to implement the FET curriculum; if not, why not, if so, what are the
plans?
Reply:
(1) The Western Cape Education Department report that the failure rate
varied widely across schools and my colleague MEC Dugmore answered a question
on the specific reasons for failure in the provincial legislature only
yesterday. I draw your attention to that response, but let me highlight two
points he made.
First, there are no higher and standard grades in the new curriculum. In the
past a higher grade failure could be converted into a standard grade pass. This
cannot happen any longer. So in some schools the poor pass rate in home
languages increased the number of learners who failed quite dramatically. This
subject is compulsory.
Second, some schools reported on sections of assessment only and did not
include Continuous Assessment (CASS) or oral marks as required. That also
affected results negatively.
But beyond the specific details there are some general remarks that need to
be made about the higher standards demanded in the new curriculum.
It is important to note that the new curriculum for grades R to 9 has been
available for teachers since 2002 and teachers have been encouraged to work
towards the new higher standards in preparation for full-scale implementation
in 2006 and 2007. In the same way the new curriculum for grades 10 â12 has been
available for teachers since 2003 and teachers were encouraged to prepare for
2006. Many schools have done this and report good progress. However, changing
to the new curriculum is not going to be easy and will require a very special
effort by parents, learners and teachers.
It is not so much that âchange is difficultâ or that âthe curriculum
requires a change in teaching approachâ. Much more significant is the fact that
the curriculum is more cognitively demanding. It requires extensive reading and
extended writing. It requires that all learners study some form of mathematics;
that learners solve problems and apply their knowledge in known and unknown
situations.
(2) No, we are not going to review the training of teachers. We have already
reviewed the training of teachers on the new curriculum. Initially when we
began to introduce the new curriculum we trained teachers to focus on the
principles of child-centred pedagogy through a light programme of afternoon
workshops.
However in 2005 we adopted a different approach for the new high-school
curriculum. The focus was on subject knowledge, provided through a 100 hours of
instruction, with monetary incentives for attendance and knowledge
acquisition.
This teacher training programme continued in 2006 for grade 11 and 12
teachers. Training will continue in September 2006 and in the April and July
holidays of 2007 and 2008. Many teachers have also taken responsibility for
developing their knowledge and understanding of the new curriculum and are
commended for these efforts.
Question 117
Mr AM Mpontshane to ask the Minister of Education:
Whether her department plans to investigate the allegations recently made by
the National Teachers Union (NATU) that the no fee schools policy has seriously
affected teaching at some rural schools and placed the lives of principals at
risk; if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
No complaints had been lodged with my department or me. The administration
of no fee schools is a provincial matter and is being managed by the
KwaZulu-Natal Education Department.
I have however, noted the concern raised by NATU at their national
conference.
The departmentâs payment of its no-fee contribution to some schools was
delayed, partly because of late communication from schools on funding required
for operating expenses and partly because of delays in schools setting up bank
accounts.
The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has assisted all non-section 21
schools to open bank accounts and the necessary transfers have been
affected.
Section 21 schools have been instructed to account for their failure to
submit audited annual financial statements and to submit annual financial
statements on time in future.
The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department issued a press statement on 21 July
2006 to clarify policy around no-fee schools.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: (012) 312 5538
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education
16 August 2006
