It is my pleasure to brief and update you on the progress pertaining to the 2014 procurement and delivery of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) in the province. You will recall that the main aim to procure and deliver these LTSMs a year prior to the applicable school calendar year, is to ensure that teaching and learning commence on the first day of the reopening of schools at the beginning of the year.
In the previous years, the procurement and delivery of learning and teaching support materials, was solely a function of the Limpopo Department of Education. As from this year, the Provincial Executive Council has resolved to play a pivotal role in these processes. This position should not be viewed as the Provincial Executive Council’s lack of confidence on the MEC for Education and her department, but should be viewed as a commitment of the Limpopo Provincial Administration that the education of the children of the province, must indeed be the responsibility of all citizens of the province. The determination of the Ruling Party in Government, nationally and in our province, to make education its top priority, must translate to the direct involvement of the Provincial Executive Council taking its rightful position to provide the required leadership in this area.
We must stress the fact that education is indeed a societal matter. For everyone to go down the trenches to ensure that the children of Limpopo enjoy their right to basic education, it is our responsibility as the Provincial Government to inform our communities, our stakeholders, and our schools about this important activity. For our people to take ownership of our provincial education enterprise, we strongly contend that we must inform them about the facts at hand. Public consultation is vital and we stand firm on the principle of an open and transparent process.
The Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) roadmap to a better education, The Action Plan to 2014, gives impetus to Government’s Outcome 1, Improving the Quality of Basic Education. Through goal 19 of the Action Plan to 2014, the DBE seeks to ensure that every learner has access to a minimum school bag – that is a set of textbooks, stationery and workbooks required for each Grade.
The crucial role that the learning and teaching support materials plays in supporting and strengthening curriculum implementation, was highlighted during the process of the review of the implementation of the Revised National Curriculum Statement (NCS), and the ultimate finalisation and implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). The implementation of CAPS required a simultaneous roll-out of textbooks for respective Grades – that is Grades 1, 2, 3 and 10 in 2012; Grades 4, 5, 6 and 11 in 2013; and Grades 7, 8, 9 and 12 in 2014.
During the 2011/12 and 2012/13 financial years, our province had no doubt experienced enormous challenges of budget constraints that impacted negatively on our capacity to procure and deliver textbooks on time. You will recall the resultant assault on the integrity of Government in this area. We have learnt our lessons, and have done our level best to prepare for the 2014 LTSM procurement and delivery processes.
We wish to state that Limpopo, like its sister provinces, is on its path to ensure that all learners in the province have the prerequisite core LTSMs in all subjects and languages of learning and teaching. The people of Limpopo must be told that the procurement and delivery of LTSMs is a lengthy complex process, which may be adequately managed and coordinated in a period not less than 12 months. Ideally it takes 18 months to manage and coordinate the LTSM procurement and delivery processes. I will not overstate the fact that in Limpopo, this process had to be undertaken in 8 months for both the 2012 and 2013 school calendar years – a mission impossible indeed.
Exacerbating the already impossible mission, where tendencies of unprecedented magnitudes that surfaced. Let me explain myself here. Education planning, budgeting and provisioning is in the main based on learner numbers. We have been lamenting the unreliability of learner data stored in the education management information system of the Limpopo Department of Education. Just to mention a few ironies about this – these learner data are used for the provisioning of classrooms; these learner data are used for the provisioning of water and sanitation; these learner data are used for the coordination of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) and the National Senior Certificate examinations; these learner data are used for the provisioning of the school nutrition programme; these learner data are used for determining the teacher post baskets per schools; and these learner data are used for the transfer of funds to schools in terms of the National Norms and Standards.
We must emphasise the fact that these learner data are collected at the beginning of each school calendar year, verified on a quarterly basis, and published as the Annual School Survey data at the end of each school calendar year. No problems have ever been mentioned on the areas I have just outlined. What then gives rise to the enormous challenges when it comes to the procurement and delivery of learning and teaching support materials when the same learner data are used? If, as citizens of Limpopo, we do not make it our responsibility to deal with these negative tendencies, no school calendar year will pass without its fair share of negative publicity in this area.
At this time, the Limpopo Department of Education (LDoE) is hard at work and has put processes in place to ensure the procurement and delivery of textbooks to Grades 7, 8, 9 and 12; as well as textbooks for Grades 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 that were not included in the previous year’s National Catalogues as well as stationery packs to all Grades (from Grade R to 12).The LDoE has ensured that the Provincial LTSM Sector Plan has been aligned to the DBE Sector Plan to guide the provincial procurement of LTSMs. This plan is intended to assist our Department to effectively and timeously deliver on all the milestones for each stage of the process, and then monitor activities based on the set timeframes.
To ensure the correctness of schools’ textbook requirements, schools were requested to complete a template which required learner numbers per subject per language of learning and teaching per Grade in each school. This information was verified by our Circuit Managers and District Senior Managers before submission to Head Office. The submitted information was further verified against the data stored in our Education Management Information System (EMIS) for accuracy. Where discrepancies were discovered, officials were deployed to the identified Districts or Circuits or schools to correct the identified anomalies.
We needed to do this to ensure that the orders placed with the Publishers were correct in all respects (quantities as per learner numbers, languages of learning and teaching per Grade). Orders for the CAPS-aligned textbooks for Grades 7, 8, 9 and 12; Xitsonga First Additional Language (FAL) as well as Natural Science and Technology for Grades 4, 5, 6; as well as Afrikaans (FAL) for Grades 10 and 11; and Agricultural Management Practices for Grade 11 were placed on 08 July 2013. Publishers are currently delivering textbooks books to this central warehouse, from which deliveries to schools will be made.
The total quantities of textbooks ordered per Grade and subject from publishers were determined by the learner numbers supplied by schools to the Districts. The LDoE inflated the orders by18% for Grade 12 and by 5% for Grades 7-9 to cater for any discrepancies of learner numbers and learner migration at the start of the school year. The LDoE is therefore confident that we will have sufficient quantities of textbooks come 2014. We are therefore confident that the textbook coverage in the Grades in which the CAPS will be implemented in 2014 will be 100%; and that there will be no shortages experienced for the 2014 school calendar year in the Grades I have mentioned earlier.
A total of 6 071 451 textbooks and teacher guides have been ordered in our province, the biggest order since the inception of CAPS. Approximately two million of these textbooks consignments have already been delivered to the central warehouse (leased from the Limpopo Economic Development Agency). More than 80% of deliveries from Publishers are expected by 23 September 2013; with the completion of deliveries by Publishers expected on 04 October 2013. Deliveries to schools will commence in the week of 01 October 2013; and the delivery completion date is planned for the mid-November 2013. The South African Post Office (SAPO) has been appointed as the warehousing and distribution agent, and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the SAPO was signed on 21 August 2013. SAPO will take responsibility for textbook deliveries directly to schools.
The LDoE is confident that the delivery process has been enhanced by the availability of an electronic monitoring system which allows for real time monitoring of receipting of delivery by Publishers, deliveries to schools, uploading of evidence of delivery (Proof of Delivery – POD), and allowing for access to delivery reports to stakeholders. Therefore, it can be seen that the 2014 LTSM procurement and delivery processes has involved two Government entities – LEDA for the central warehouse and the SAPO for warehousing and distribution. This approach, in our view, gives us a better scope to monitor all the activities of the procurement and delivery processes.
The stationery tender for the 2014 school year closed on 27 August 2013. Only manufacturers of stationery have been invited to submit their bids. The delivery of stationery will be synchronised with the delivery of textbooks. The placement of orders and the signing of the SLAs with the selected manufactures will be completed by 23 September 2013. Deliveries to schools are expected to commence from 01 October 2013.
May I conclude by reminding Principals, educators, school governing bodies, parents and learners that the retrieval of textbooks already delivered to schools is not negotiable. No country – developed or developing – can afford to repeatedly procure and deliver the same textbooks on a yearly basis. South Africa is no exception here. Our textbooks have been quality assured to at least last for five years. It is therefore imperative to ensure that all textbooks are kept in a good condition and returned back to our schools as such. By retrieving the textbooks, we can ensure that we alleviate the burden on the budget and we minimise the pressure that Government may face on a yearly basis. All schools must commit to textbook retrieval, and this must be actualised as from the end of the 2013 school calendar year.
The MEC for Education and I recognise the importance of regular communication with all stakeholders. Providing information on the process and status of the procurement and delivery of LTSMs with all stakeholders, namely, School Governing Bodies Associations, Teacher Unions, National Economic Development and Labour Council partners, Schools, Districts, Circuits and Media, is critical.
At the same time, we need to deal quickly and efficiently with challenges and difficulties that may surface. We have already started the process of identifying challenges and have taken the necessary steps to find solutions to ensure that textbooks are available to learners and educators before the start of the 2014 school year.
We therefore humbly implore everyone who has a vested interest in the delivery of quality education to the children of Limpopo to hold hands with us and ensure that the 2014 school calendar year commences without glitches.
