Question 2500
Dr J C Kloppers-Lourens (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
Whether the government has taken any steps to resource school libraries fully; if not, why not; if so, what are the (a) plans and (b) proposed timelines for her department to provide every school in the country with a (i) properly equipped library and (ii) trained school librarian?
Reply:
(a) To enable the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to address infrastructure provisioning holistically two significant documents have been developed namely the:
- National Policy for an Equitable Provision of an Enabling School Physical Teaching and Learning Environment. Through this policy, the department will realise the provision of all essential spaces and facilities, including school libraries. This policy will be followed by the norms and standards for school infrastructure
- National School Library and Information Services Guidelines. Through these guidelines provisioning and support of libraries in the system will be addressed.
(b) (i) In terms of the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure all new schools will have libraries. National Treasury has allocated an additional R2 billion for the next two financial years to provide libraries, laboratories and grade R classrooms 2011 and 2012. This amount is over and above the infrastructure budget allocated to provinces. The department is also in the process of developing a strategy that aims to accelerate the delivery of schools infrastructure and more specifically, aimed at the improvement of existing schools infrastructure to achieve
Optimum Functionality level in targeted schools infrastructure within the 2010 to 2014 Strategic Plan Period and beyond. The targets related to this initiative are being finalised. From their budgets in this financial year, provinces will be providing 146 libraries to new and existing schools.
(ii) The provision of teacher librarians will have to be made within the context of broad post provisioning according to priority needs in the system.
Source: Department of Basic Education
