The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has noted that some progress has been made by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) regarding library and information services and e-education in schools in the country.
But Committee Chairperson Ms Hope Malgas feels that the progress of implementation has been too slow. “The White Paper on e-education has been in existence since 2004. Not much has been done since and we are already in 2013.” Her comments follow a briefing by the department yesterday in conjunction with a separate presentation by the Department of Communication (DOC) on the issue.
The Committee heard that although policies were in place and were “fine”, weaknesses existed with their implementation and this needed strengthening. Some 47% or 10 721 of schools in the country do not comply with the minimum standards regarding libraries. If centralised school libraries and classroom libraries were to be provided to these schools, it would cost more than R16.5 billion.
Mr Allan Subban, DBE: Acting Chief Director, indicated that the department has a strategy to incrementally increase libraries over a period of three years. Centralised school libraries and classroom libraries, for secondary and primary schools respectively, will be targeted in provinces with the least coverage, namely Eastern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State and North West.
Mr Phil Mnisi, DBE: Director, said in 2002 a total of 39.2% of schools in the country had computers for administration purposes with 26.5% of schools having computers for teaching and learning purposes. By 2011 the number of school with computers for administration increased to 44% but the number of computers for teaching and learning decreased to 24%. The department emphasised this could be due to the amount of schools that also increased over this period or some schools not being able to afford connectivity anymore as no agreement could be reached on e-rates.
Committee Member Ms Nomalungelo Gina said the percentage of computers in schools is still very low. “It is years later and it seems like we have just been talking. In my opinion we have failed up to now.” She wanted to know why a memorandum of understanding between DBE and DOC has not been undertaken.
Ms Annette Lovemore, another Committee Member, said she missed a sense of urgency. “Our literacy levels are low and kids need access to books.”
Ms Malgas further stated that the plans presented by the department were in a draft form and were not yet approved. “We were not really satisfied with what was being said. There are new innovations everyday in ITC and we have to see that our schools are not left behind,” she said.
