I Cronje: Report on re-opening of schools and plans for
improvement

15 February 2007

Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members:

I thank you for providing me with the opportunity to report on the
re-opening of schools for the 2007 school year and to brief the legislature on
our Department's plan to eliminate dysfunction and improve performance in our
underperforming high schools.

1. Re-opening of schools

The year 2007 saw an unprecedented effort by the Premier, members of our
legislature and officials of the departments of education and works to ensure
that education gets off to a good start on the first day of the school year.
This truly gave meaning to the old saying that education is everybody's
business.

Members of the legislature and our officials worked tirelessly for three
days, from 17 to 19 January 2007, traversing the length and the breadth of
KwaZulu-Natal with the aim of getting KwaZulu-Natal learning from the first
day. Twelve teams were formed consisting of both members of the legislature and
departmental officials to monitor the functionality of a sample of 108 schools
in all districts.

We organised the monitoring visits with the aim of establishing:
* whether schools started well on the very first day
* whether all the necessary and critical resources and systems were in place to
ensure the functionality of our schools.

In this report, I shall provide a summary of the general picture that
emerged from the visits to the 108 schools and our general impression of the
situation in the rest of our 6 000 schools.

Teaching and learning on day one:

It was evident that the overwhelming majority of schools began teaching and
learning on day one. In fact we witnessed and received reports from many
schools that began classes a week before the official opening date. These
include schools in both affluent and less affluent areas of our province.

The small minority of schools that appeared not to have started teaching
were found to be:
* still busy enrolling learners
* having some of their educators out writing university examinations
* having principals who did not seem to have plans for ensuring that there were
no classrooms without a teacher.

In instances where such evidence was found, we sent our officials to again
visit the schools and to ensure that teachers and learners were in classrooms
doing what they came to school for that is, teaching and learning
respectively.

Teacher attendance

The visits to the 108 schools showed that a large majority of schools had an
educator attendance of over 90% during the first week of school. Whilst this is
an improvement, it is still unacceptable as we expect 100% attendance from our
teachers and principals. Where they are absent for legitimate reasons such as
serious illness, contingency plans must be made.

It is therefore a matter of concern that in some schools teacher absenteeism
varied from one to four. This matter will be given attention in the follow-up
visits by our ward and circuit officials. This is crucial if we are to
capitalise on the gains made thus far in regard to the functionality of schools
from the first day of the school year.

Learner attendance

The picture emerging from the monitoring reports of the 108 schools is that
learner attendance was very good, with most schools recording learner
attendance figures of over 95%.

Eighty-seven of the 108 schools (81%) visited by members of the legislature
and our officials had provisional attendance registers. The rest of the schools
were still registering new learners who had showed up in the new school year
and therefore could not produce properly marked class attendance registers.

Honourable Speaker, I am disappointed that we still see many learners
seeking to register in January despite our campaign through radio, the print
media, posters and pamphlets for parents and guardians to register the children
between September and November of the previous year. We appeal to parents to
act responsibly in future and enrol their children from September to November
this year for the following year, 2008.

Delivery of learning and teaching support materials

The delivery of textbooks and stationery is a matter that has occupied my
mind since I assumed office. I am on record as having said that we shall not
rest until we have perfected the procurement and delivery of textbooks and
stationery to our schools, especially non-section 21 schools.

I am happy to report that the delivery of textbooks for the 2007 school year
showed significant improvement from 2006. This was also evident in the fact
that 95% of the schools visited by honourable Members had 100% deliveries in
terms of basic stationery and textbooks. Five percent had outstanding
deliveries in specific grades, especially grade 9 in respect of textbooks. It
was also ascertained that some of the schools claiming not to have received
their orders had not placed orders at all, while others had submitted orders as
late as December 2006.

The textbook delivery story for the rest of our schools can be told by the
categorisation of schools into groups, namely Category A and Category B.
Category A schools were schools that placed their orders on time and with
correct details. These schools had all their available textbooks (not out of
print) delivered by 30 November 2006.

The Category B schools were schools that placed their orders late and
submitted incorrect requisitions. Schools with Grade 9 fall into this category,
as the Grade 9 catalogue was only published by the national Department of
Education in September 2006, leading to those schools placing their orders
late. Due to administrative difficulties in regard to Umzimkhulu, schools in
this circuit also fell into this category. I am happy to report that this has
now been resolved.

The managing agent responsible for textbooks also faced the challenge of
publishers informing the agent that there were books that had been ordered but
were out of print. Those books had to be reprinted wherever the numbers ordered
justified reprinting, hence some of the out of print books were delivered late
to the managing agent others are still not available from publishers.

Therefore, to date, all schools have had textbook deliveries of all
available titles made to them. We were assured by the managing agent that the
outstanding out of print textbooks that have not reached some schools would do
so by 15 March 2007, provided that the publishers fulfil their undertakings to
the managing agent.

In regard to stationery, honourable members are aware of an ongoing dispute
between the Department of Education and Indiza. Indiza demanded to be paid an
amount of R128 million rand for previous work. I wish to reiterate that at the
time Indiza indicated that they would stop deliveries and refused all
communication with the Department, almost all schools had received basic
stationery such as exercise books, pens and pencils. Learning and teaching
should therefore not have been adversely affected by Indiza's actions. In
addition, reports from our schools and circuits indicate that some deliveries
are indeed still taking place.

Only eight schools have now reported to us that they have not received the
core stationery from Indiza. The Department is currently analysing the status
of the schools and the orders supposedly placed with Indiza. It is only then
that we can verify whether the schools did place orders or whether they should
have ordered stationery on their own, depending on whether or not they are
section 21 schools. Section 21 schools had the 2007 school funding norms
allocation transferred to them in the second half of 2006 already and would
therefore be able to purchase their own stationery from an alternative supplier
should Indiza fail to deliver.

Let me place it on record that the sum of R128 million owed by the
Department is not in dispute. The issue is who it is that the Department should
pay. The Department awarded a contract to a joint venture called Indiza
Motswedi. However, the invoices received came from Indiza Infrastructure
Solutions, a different legal entity. We therefore cannot pay this entity
without risking litigation against us from Motswedi. We have organised several
meetings between Indiza and ourselves, five of which were unilaterally called
off by Indiza. We believe firmly that it is in everyone's interest if this
matter were to be speedily resolved through the Department being provided with
invoices from Indiza Motswedi as well as details of their bank account. I wish
to signal that we have no intention of leaving this matter to go on without an
end. In this regard, should such details not be provided, we intend approaching
the High Court to expedite the resolution of this matter.

National School Nutrition Programme

The monitoring visits to primary schools that form part of the National
School Nutrition Programme found this area to be well organised, with the
exception of a few cases where about five schools had no cooking space. This
matter will be considered as part of a broader rollout of cooking facilities to
schools that lack such facilities. The rollouts of these facilities
understandably compete for the same funds with the classroom construction and
sanitation programme.

Physical condition of schools

Honourable Speaker, our monitoring visits to schools had good and not so
good stories to tell in regard to toilets in the schools visited. For most of
the schools, the provision of toilets was found to be adequate. In some of the
schools we visited the renovation and construction of toilets was in
progress.

There were however six schools that had acute problems with ablution
facilities, among these being inappropriate structures. The hygienic state of
ablution facilities in many other schools visited was less satisfactory.

In respect of classrooms, the situation was also found to have positives and
negatives. It was established that while space was still a problem in some
schools, many were on the fast-track infrastructure development programme and
the system was pulling out all stops to provide more classrooms and to do
renovations on aging structures.

Honourable Speaker, lest we forget, I wish to remind the House of the
physical infrastructure legacy that we inherited when I assumed office in
2004:

* there was a backlog of over 14 600 classrooms
* 32% of schools (about 1 900) were in extremely poor physical condition
* 34% of schools (about 2 000) had no administration buildings
* 51% of schools (about 3 000) had pit latrines
* about 500 schools had no toilets at all
* 60% of schools (about 4 000) had no electricity supply
* there was a severe shortage of school libraries and laboratories.

It is with this context in mind that any judgment on our achievements in the
past two and half years has to be made. As some would say, "judge us not by the
heights we have not yet climbed, but by the depths from which we come".

While we still have a long way to go to address infrastructure inadequacies
in our schools, we have recorded significant progress since 2004. In the
2004/05 financial year, we built 1 153 classrooms, in 2005/06 we built 1 571
classrooms and as at 31 January 2007 we have completed 1 039 classrooms in the
2006/07 financial year. In all, we have thus far built 3 763 new classrooms and
in addition 15 new state of the art schools.

During the same period, we have done even better in building new toilets in
our schools. In 2004/05 we built 2 728 toilets, while in 2005/06 we built 3 001
toilets and as at 31 January 2007 we have built 1 830 toilets in the current
financial year. This represents a massive 7 559 new toilets built since
2004.

We shall not rest until the dignity of our people has been restored through
the provision of proper physical infrastructure in our schools. As far as this
area is concerned, for us it is A luta Continua!

Overall observation

Honourable Speaker, despite all the challenges encountered by our schools, I
am pleased to conclude that teaching and learning in the vast majority of our
schools started with a big bang at the beginning of the 2007 school year. Our
call for school functionality from day one is yielding positive fruit.

2. Plan to improve performance in grade 12

Honourable Speaker, when I announced the results of the senior certificate
examination on 28 December 2006, I indicated that the Department would take
bold steps and adopt a plan to improve learner achievement in underperforming
high schools in the province. I am pleased to announce that after a summit held
in Durban on 25 January 2007, the Department adopted a comprehensive plan as
part of the national strategy on learner attainment to improve performance in
schools that achieved a pass rate of less than 50% in the 2006 senior
certificate examination. The plan is organised according to nine key
performance areas that require of different components of the department,
principals and teachers to perform certain functions to enhance teaching and
learning (see annexure A).

The first key performance area is the provision of critical resources. In
this area we aim to provide underperforming schools with their full quota of
textbooks by today, 15 February, which according to reports that we are busy
verifying we have done, to provide severely underperforming schools that have
acute classroom shortages with mobile classrooms by 30 March, to urgently fill
all vacant teaching posts in key subjects by 1 April and to provide
underperforming schools with learning and assessment guides, video and audio
materials in key subjects such as English second language, mathematics,
biology, physical science, economics, history, geography and travel and
tourism.

The second key performance area is teaching and learning. In this area,
principals and teachers have been directed to organise study periods at school
outside instructional time (after school and weekends) and to set homework
regularly. The Department will also organise winter schools to support learners
in underperforming schools.

In the third key performance area of teacher support, teachers will hold
monthly subject meetings to share teaching ideas, discuss common controlled
tests and to review learner performance in their subjects. The Department will
also be deploying retired teachers in key subjects to support teachers in
underperforming schools. The Department will also be employing more subject
advisors in key subjects during the year. I am pleased to report that
advertisements inviting applications in this regard have already been published
by all major Sunday newspapers.

The fourth key performance area is learner assessment. This area seeks to
strengthen the assessment of learners and to better prepare them to face the
demands of an examination such as the senior certificate examination. In this
regard, schools will be setting common controlled tests in key subjects and the
Department will be setting quarterly tests and a trial examination in key
subjects to be written by all underperforming schools.

The fifth key area of performance is management and governance. In this
area, the Department will be deploying special task teams drawn from a pool of
retired managers to support principals of underperforming schools. Principals
of underperforming schools will be twinned with principals of high performing
schools for purposes of mentoring and the former will also be offered targeted
short training programmes to improve their management repertoire. All
principals of underperforming schools are expected to monitor teaching and
learning including the coverage of the curriculum, the setting of homework and
assessments and learner performance throughout the year.

In the sixth key performance area, principals of schools that achieved pass
rates of less than 50% in the 2006 senior certificate examination had to submit
turnaround plans for their schools by 2 February 2007. I am pleased to report
that this was complied with. I am however concerned that some of the turnaround
plans require major revision. The Department is already assisting the
principals concerned to revise their plans in line with the provincial
plan.

Under the seventh key performance area of community involvement, we aim to
encourage improved participation of parents and local communities in the
wellbeing of the underperforming schools, which often have disturbingly low
levels of community involvement. In this regard, parents and guardians will be
kept abreast of their children's progress on a quarterly basis. An advocacy
campaign will also be conducted by underperforming schools during March 2007 to
mobilise parents and guardians to provide learners with space and time to do
school work at home. Schools have also been directed to identify local
expertise (in the form of electricians, artisans, retired teachers, etc) to
assist in specific areas of the school's operation on a voluntary basis.

The eighth key performance area is monitoring. Principals are expected to
ensure that teachers and learners are in classrooms at appropriate times. The
sight of large numbers of learners roaming the local streets during school time
is truly intolerable. Ward managers will be monitoring the implementation of
the turnaround plans of underperforming schools on a regular basis.
Occasionally, ward managers will base their operations at underperforming
schools to enhance monitoring and support.

The ninth and final area of key performance is accountability. In this area,
we aim to hold schools, principals and managers to account for the performance
of their schools. In this regard, a school that obtains a senior certificate
pass rate of 50% or less for two consecutive years will be declared a special
measures school. Principals and management teams of special measures schools
will be required to undergo compulsory training in key competences of school
management, during which time an acting principal would be appointed. Where
such support provided to the principal of a special measures school does not
yield any fruit, the Department will consider redeploying that principal to
another function outside school principalship. A school's overall pass rate and
pass rates in individual subjects will be considered in the annual appraisal of
principals and learners. Each underperforming high school will set a learner
achievement target for the senior certificate examination. Such targets will
also be set for ward managers whose schools are on average underperforming.

We adopted this plan with the view to ensuring effective learning. Our focus
is ultimately the classroom, to get KwaZulu-Natal learning. In this regard, we
are urging all officials, principals and teachers to be guided by the clarion
call of our plan, 'Gijima, back to the classroom!'

I am currently on a programme to meet the principals of all underperforming
schools in the province. I have so far been to the lowest achieving districts
of Obonjeni and Umzinyathi. Tomorrow I shall be in Ulundi to meet principals in
the Northern Cluster, while meetings with principals of the Midlands and
Coastal Clusters would be held next week. These meetings are aimed at
communicating our plan to the principals, getting them to adapt their own
turnaround plans in line with the provincial plan to lay down the law in
respect of their responsibilities as leaders and managers and to motivate
them.

Honourable Speaker, I count on the support of the honourable members of this
legislature to ensure that the provincial plan which is attached to this
report, works and that the schools of the poor are turned around to provide
quality education which is the only ticket out of poverty for millions of our
people.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
Government
15 February 2007