The Department of Basic Education rejects in the strongest terms the assertions that it has failed to deliver on its mandate. The department, since it was created in 2009, has made progress in many areas that have seen an improvement in the system.
Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI)
The success story of ASIDI goes far deeper than that of bricks, metal and cement. It tells of a human story of perseverance and triumph.
To date ASIDI has handed over more than 40 schools to communities in the Eastern Cape. In excess of 6 957 jobs have been created in the building process with expenditure of R1,28 billion to date. The program is largely emphasised in the Eastern Cape but its impact can be felt across the length and breadth of the country with Water and Sanitation projects in the Western Cape and Limpopo to mention but a few.
Early Childhood Development
There are about seven million children in South Africa aged six and younger. Of these, some 3.8 million children (55%) live in circumstances of poverty. However, there has been considerable progress since 1994. The number of ECD centres registered with the national Department of Social Development has increased to 19,500; the number of children in ECD provision has increased and the quality of provision has improved.
There are currently about 836 000 children in registered ECD centres, of which 488 000 (58%) received the ECD subsidy. Many more children are in unregistered ECD centres. No recent survey of total ECD provisions has been done. The number of children in Grade R has trebled since 2001 and the quality of Grade R services has improved.
By June 2013, 11.3 million children had been accessing the ECD Grant. The department has improved access from 39.3% in 2002 to 84.8% of Grade 1s. All in all, in 2012/13 we had 12.433 949 million learners in over 25 000 schools. In line with the drive to build an equitable system, in 2013/14, we’re prioritising inclusive education.
School Nutrition programme
Providing quality meals to over nine million learners in over 21 000 schools every school day is a massive undertaking. This is up from four million in 2004. School feeding promotes access, attendance and participation in education for learners from the poorest communities.
The programme has been extended to learners in secondary schools whereas at its inception, it was only in primary schools. All learners in beneficiary schools are provided meals.
The quality of meals has improved. School meals are cooked and consist of a protein, starch and fresh fruit and/or vegetable. Pilchards, a good source of Omega 3 and 6 which improves cognitive ability, are served once a week.
The budget of the programme has increased from R832 million in 2004 to over R5billion currently. Through engaging volunteers to cook and serve the meals, the programme now provides over 54 000 people with a stipend.
The Integrated School Health Programme
The Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP) is designed to scale up school health services to reach all learners in the schooling system (approximately 12 million) over the next five years. The Programme builds on the successful collaboration of the Departments of Basic Education and Health since 2010 that has reached approximately 1 174 810 learners through bi-annual School Health Weeks and other means.
The department has also purchased 1 897 scales, 2 025 stadiometres and 12 659 Snellen’s charts that have been invaluable in ensuring service provision.
National Senior Certificate
The Class of 2012 achieved 73.9%. This is an increase of 3.7% on the 2011 results (70.2%). This is also an increase of 13.3% since 2009 (60.6%). This growth is very encouraging bearing in mind that when we came into office, we had put the targeted growth at 75% by 2014. Now at 73.9% our target is within reach. From this year, we will work even harder not only to sustain this growth but to push for an even higher pass rate, beyond 75%.
The quality of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations has continued to improve steadily with every year that passes and this year the department introduced strategic security measures to further protect the integrity of the NSC Examinations.
Workbooks
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) distributes more than 50 Million Workbooks every year. This is part of the commitment to improving literacy and numeracy skills of learners, with specific targets set from now until 2014. To achieve this, the department has produced a series of workbooks to assist learners in Grade R-9.
In 2013 thus far the DBE has provided in excess of 50 million workbooks (50 140 860 is the actual number) for Grades 1-9 in both volume 1 and 2, a total of 3 600 000 Grade R workbooks (Grade R learners receive 4 workbooks - 1 book for each term) and an excess of 16 million Natural Science workbooks for grades 4-6. The total amount of workbooks distributed by DBE in 2013 alone is 70 million.
We call upon those making baseless claims to acquaint themselves with the facts before publishing falsehoods that mislead the public.
