Question no. 1784
Mr DC Smiles (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) What was the cost incurred by (a) her department and (b) private companies for the Maths 911 project;
(2) How many schools in each province (a) received the workbooks and (b) must still receive workbooks;
(3) How is the impact of this project measured;
(4) Whether there is any relationship between this project and the Dinaledi Maths and Science project; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. (a) Liberty Life and Independent Newspapers produced and distributed 240 000 copies of the resources to schools for free. The Department of Education purchased 7 200 copies of the Maths 911 for grade 11 and 7 200 for grade 12 at a discounted price of R14 per copy. The total cost was R196 922. Funds were paid from the maths and science budget.
(b) Liberty Foundation developed and produced the resources in collaboration with Department of Education experts. Independent Newspapers printed and distributed the resources. The total cost contributed by Liberty was R3 million. Mondi paper also contributed 94 tons of newsprint.
2 (a) 820 schools received the grade 11 and 12 textbooks directly from Liberty Foundation and Independent Newspapers. The Department of Education monitored 760 schools. These schools were supplied with Maths 911 resources where no maths support resources were available. In addition schools that requested assistance were supplied with the resources. Resources were also handed out at the Tourism exposition which was held in KwaZulu-Natal and the Cape Town book fair.
(b) No other schools are scheduled to receive books.
3. No official measurement has taken place yet.
4. The Maths 911 workbooks are very useful resources that have provided additional support to Dinaledi schools and poor schools in the learning of mathematics.
Source: Department of Education
