the opening of schools for 2007
16 January 2007
School bells will start ringing at each of our 6000 schools tomorrow when
some 2,7 million of our children go back to school for the new school year. To
many it will be their first day at �big school� and I am sure there are many a
mum and dad just as excited as our little ones about this huge moment in their
children�s lives.
There are approximately 200 school days in a year. Research has proven that
children who attend school regularly perform better. We appeal to our children
to be at school for each of the 200 school days this year. We urge our parents
to ensure that our children attend school from Day One when the first bell
rings and to be at school until the final bell rings for 2007.
I was pleased to read in the Ilanga that the Grade 12 parents and learners
of Ogwini Secondary School are so serious about their education that they
started a week earlier. Well done! We would also like to commend the teachers
at this school for sacrificing a week of their holidays for the sake of our
learners.
At the same time we would like to warn educators, who �bunk� school at the
expense of our children that their time has run out. The Department will come
down very hard on teachers who use class time for their own business. We will
also seriously consider replacing school managers, who have failed our
children, despite support and assistance rendered by the Department. Meanwhile
officials, who have failed to deliver, will not be spared.
Premier Sibusiso Ndebele, Superintendent-General Dr Cassius Lubisi and I
will be monitoring school functionality at some schools from 17 to 19 January,
while Departmental officials, together with members of the KwaZulu-Natal
Legislature, will visit other schools. Checklists will include the starting
time of the schools visited, learner attendance, delivery of learner support
materials, the involvement of school governing bodies, the physical condition
of the school and class sizes.
Strategies to getting KwaZulu-Natal learning from Day 1
A. Late registration:
The Department intensified its campaign that started in 2005, using
pamphlets, radio messages, bill boards and talk shows to explain the benefits
of early registration to our parents. While teachers are expected to start
teaching from Day One they can only do so when parents register their children
at the schools in the previous year. Early registration ensures that all school
hours are used for teaching and learning and not on trying to sort out
administrative issues. We will continue in 2007 to prompt parents to register
their children early to make certain that our children get the education they
deserve.
A new clause added to the school admissions policy of the KZN Department of
Education states that principals must determine the number of learners that can
be accommodated by their schools before August each year. This regulation will
curb overcrowding caused by principals who oversubscribe their schools at the
expense of neighbouring schools. The capacity of a school must accord with the
current teacher/learner ratio. According to the 2006 teacher/learner ratio the
average KZN class has one educator per 32,35 learners but there may not be more
than 40 children in a class. (The 2007 teacher/learner ratio is 1:31,36).
Should there be a need for exceeding the maximum class size the school must
apply to the Ward Manager for permission to enrol above the maximum.
Meanwhile the Department will deal with unavoidable last minute
registrations resulting from movements of parents due to job transfers and
similar occurrences. We will assist these pupils to be admitted in schools. It
might not be in the school of their choice but they will be placed. No child of
school going age will be without a school.
Parents are reminded that when a school is full they should approach their
local departmental officials in the circuit and district where they live. These
officials will make sure that all children get placed in a school.
B. School fees:
a) Every child can learn � Every child must learn
Our school fees campaign to inform parents of their rights seem to start
paying off but we still receive reports of cases where schools withhold report
cards because parents have not paid school fees. The law is clear about the
issue. No child may be denied education or be victimised because parents cannot
afford to pay school fees. Every child can learn � Every child must learn.
Reports may not be withheld.
Schools are obliged to inform parents of their rights relating to school
fees. Those who can afford to pay school fees are obliged to do so. Those who
can�t must apply either for a full exemption from the payment of school fees or
a partial exemption. We appeal to parents to apply now for exemption and not to
wait until the end of the year and to attend the annual budget meetings of
their children�s schools and to discuss the proposed budgets. If parents feel
the proposed school fees are exorbitant they must say so at the budget
meeting.
b) New school fee regulations
The re-assessment of the school fee situation culminated in an amendment to
the South African Schools Act, which was published on 18 October 2006 by the
national minister. Draft regulations on the issue of exemptions were published
in 2004 for public comment, which led to the passing of the amendment on 26
January 2006.
Besides the �No Fee� schools, which are an integral part of government�s
strategy to alleviate the effects of poverty and redress the imbalances of the
past, individuals may apply for either total exemption or partial
exemption.
A copy of the Government Notice with the regulations and the table for
partial exemption is in the media pack.
Exemption from school fees
Total exemption:
Any learner, who is an orphan or abandoned or for whom a poverty linked
state social grant is paid, does not have to pay a cent for school fees. Total
exemption also kicks in when the school fees at the school are 10% or more of a
parent�s annual income or the combined annual income of parents.
Example one: If the school fees and other compulsory fees are R2 520 per
year and the parents� income is R25 000 per year, the school fees is 10% of
their income. These parents do not have to pay any school fees.
No exemption:
Example two: If the school fees and other compulsory fees are R2 520 per
year and the parents� income is R126 000 per year, the school fees is 2% of
their income. These parents must pay the full amount of R2 520 as they do not
qualify for any exemption, unless they have six or more children at school,
then they would qualify for partial exemption.
Partial exemption:
If the school fees are less than 10% but more than 2% of a parent/parents�
yearly income they qualify for partial exemption.
Example one: If the school fees and other compulsory fees are R2 520 per
year and the parents� income is R30 000 per year, the school fees is 8,4% of
their income. According to the table provided in the new regulations the
parents qualify for a 91% fee exemption and the parents only have to pay
R225.
The sliding scale gives clear guidance to schools to determine the level of
exemption of all their parents. It also gives direction that applies to a
parent with more than one child at school.
c) No Fee schools
The no fee policy was introduced to make sure that all children of school
going age have access to education. Many children have been denied access to
schooling because of the low socio-economic status of their families. Children
from poor families have had their report cards and examination results
unlawfully withheld because their parents could not afford to pay compulsory
school fees. The introduction of the policy will ensure that children at
schools declared no fee schools have access to education. Voluntary
contributions from parents and community members who could afford to do so are
however welcome.
Last year KZN had 20% of its schools declared as �No Fee� schools. From this
year (2007) more than 50% of KwaZulu-Natal schools, representing 42% of our
learners have been declared �No Fee� schools. As part of government�s redress
programme schools in quintile two have now also been added to the �No Fee�
schools list. Each of the 3 341 schools was informed in writing of its �No Fee�
status last year and a circular was sent via district offices to all
schools.
The basic norms and standards allocation per learner for these quintiles has
been increased to accommodate the loss of income through school fees and a
total of R703 million has been budgeted for the �No Fee� school
allocations.
Schools in quintile one will receive R629 per learner per annum in total,
while schools in quintile two will be funded at R560 per learner per year. The
allocation that schools will receive is split into two portions, an amount that
has been ringfenced for textbooks and stationery and another portion that can
be used for operational costs, e.g. electricity bills, petrol, etc.
�No Fee� schools can have section 21 status, where the money will be paid
directly into the schools account or they can be non-section 21 schools, whose
accounts are held and paid by the Department.
To assist schools with cash for operational costs non-section 21 schools
will receive 10% of their allocation into bank accounts to get them started,
provided that the school has an active bank account.
Financial management training will be provided to all �No Fee� schools in
February and March.
C. Re-ranking of schools according to the poverty index:
The first poverty index was established in 1998 and implemented in 2000
through the National Norms and Standards for School Funding.
Education departments across the country have since learnt major lessons
regarding the required management training for schools, financial accounting
systems and the importance of understanding how best to use the allocation in
the interests of school improvement and the support of the curriculum.
After two assessments in 2001 and 2003 a decision was taken to determine the
ranking of a school based on the level of poverty of the community around the
school, rather than on the existing infrastructure of the school.
This exercise has now been completed and the re-ranking has become national
policy in 2007. Schools have been re-ranked into five quintiles, based on
information from the 2001 national Census that was conducted by StatSA. Qintile
1 represents the poorest communities, while schools in Qintile 5 serve more
affluent communities.
A national formula was used to calculate scores for the schools in order to
promote a pro-poor funding framework that treats equally poor schools equally,
regardless of the province they find themselves in. In more affluent provinces,
such as the Western Cape, only 6,5% of schools fall in Qintile 1, where 24,2%
of schools in KwaZulu-Natal are in Qintile 1.
To determine a school�s poverty index each school was linked to a specific
geographical area that can be considered the catchment area of the school.
Census information about place names closest to the particular school was used.
The three poverty indicators that were taken into account was the average
income per household, dependency ratio or unemployment rate and the level of
education of the community.
All schools in KwaZulu-Natal were informed about their new rankings and
notices were also published in the media. Schools may dispute the correctness
of the poverty index through the Head of Department where they believe their
cases warrant special consideration. E.g. where new developments have changed
the poverty level of the surrounding community or where the geographical
position of a school was incorrect or where there are inadequate places in
local schools and the Head of Department has determined that the community
should make use of schools at a distance from the local community.
D. Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM):
a) Background
When I assumed office, I found a system of procuring and distributing
textbooks and stationery that left much to be desired. We then took a decision
to introduce a new system to improve this aspect of our work. Admittedly we
have gone through teething problems, which, I must assure you, gave me many a
sleepless night.
With the original system the Department had very little control once the
requisitions were submitted to the suppliers. As a result suppliers did not
always supply the correct and full orders to the schools and sometimes omitted
to do deliveries at all.
In attempt to address the issue, the Department appointed two managing
agents, EduSolutions (textbooks) and Indiza Motswedi (stationery), who would be
responsible for the administrative and logistical functions of LTSM.
To monitor deliveries in 2007 and 2008, we have now also appointed a full
time project manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to co-ordinate the reporting from
the two managing agents and to assist the Department with the monitoring of the
LTSM.
b) Delivery report
It is pleasing to report that the efforts made by the Department have led to
huge improvements in the delivery of LTSM for the 2007 academic year. According
to the reports we have received 97% of all textbooks of schools that ordered on
time had already been delivered last week on Thursday (11 January). The
stationery managing agent has committed itself to deliver 100% of all core
stationery such as exercise books, pens and pencils to all schools by the end
of this week. We are monitoring the situation closely.
It needs to be pointed out that the Department is only responsible for the
procurement of LTSM of non-section 21 schools. However, some section 21 schools
chose to use the Department�s managing agents voluntarily.
Unfortunately 230 schools missed the submission date of 15 September 2006
for their orders and we had to extend the deadline to 30 November 2006 for such
schools. I find this grossly irresponsible as this will now mean that children
at these schools will have to wait longer for their textbooks and stationery.
This lack of respect for the education of our children by some of our
principals is disgusting and the Department will not tolerate it.
Due to a national decision to change the Grade 9 National Curriculum
Statement (NCS) implementation date, the Grade 9 catalogue was only released in
August 2006 by the national Department of Education and schools that offer
grade 9 could only order their Grade 9 textbooks from September 2006 onwards.
Therefore there are outstanding orders for the grade 9 syllabus at 1 397
schools.
The above has resulted in our schools being put into two categories:
Category A
Schools that submitted correct requisition forms within the 15 September
deadline (2 094)
Category B
Schools that ordered late (230)
Grade 9 orders (1 397) � late release of national catalogue
Schools that submitted incorrect requisitions and had to re-submit (1
688)
Schools that have exceeded their LTSM budgets due to various reasons, e.g. an
increase in learner numbers.
As a result these orders were placed late last year and they will therefore
not receive their deliveries on time.
b) Out of print textbooks
There are some schools that will not receive all the textbooks they ordered
as these books are out of print and the schools will have to order alternative
titles.
Both managing agents have furnished us with the delivery plans for
outstanding orders.
c) Monitoring and Evaluation
All circuit managers have been provided with a template to report on the
progress of the delivery on a weekly basis. The contract of the casual workers
has been extended to May 2007. The casuals will be assisting the circuits with
the monitoring and reporting.
E. Bursaries:
The Department changed the bursary scheme in 2005 to deal with the critical
shortage of teachers in gateway subjects, such as Mathematics, Science and
Technology. The new bursary system also addresses the number of applications
for financial assistance from learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, who
passed their matric examinations and want to study at, or are already at
tertiary institutions in KwaZulu-Natal.
Instead of giving our limited funds to students to study in fields not
related to education the Department now enters into agreements with students to
study towards a teaching qualification in scarce and critical fields. In 2005
the KZN Department awarded bursaries to 55 students to study towards BeD
degrees. After completion of their studies they will be employed by the
department for at least an equal number of their study years.
For 2007 the Department will be funding 60 students, who will be studying
towards a BeD degree, specialising in
Mathematics/Science/Technology/Accounting. The students will receive R35 000
per year to complete their studies.
We are very grateful to our partners in education who have also awarded
bursaries to invest in the future of our country. Partners in education, who
invested into bursaries for our students in 2007 include Thuthuka (South
African Institute for Chartered Accountants), SITA, Telkom, Mr Pandor from Gem
School Wear, African Americans Connecting Together (ACT) and famous radio
personality Linda Sibiya.
The education of our children is everybody�s business and I appeal to all
our teachers, parents, students, officials and community members to assist us
in getting KwaZulu-Natal Learning � not wasting one minute of our children�s
precious education.
Getting KwaZulu-Natal Learning!
Enquiries:
Christi Naude
Director: Media and Citizen Liaison (Acting)
KwaZulu-Natal Education
Tel: (033) 355 2453
Fax: (033) 342 0275
Cell: 083 262 8829
E-mail: christin@kznedu.kzntl.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
Government
16 January 2007
