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Good morning, members of the media and, through you, the entire nation of South Africa.

We have called this media conference as we approach the end of the financial year 2022/23. 

The Council of Education Minister met recently and discussed a number of issues affecting the basic education sector. A considerable amount of time was spent on the issue of school infrastructure. As a sector we had been working on programmes to roll out school infrastructure across the country, but the matter became even more urgent after COVID restrictions were lifted. We were faced with a major overcrowding crisis that we need to urgently address.

After CEM we were due to host a media briefing to update the nation regarding the work done on school infrastructure  but we received the news of the demise of Free State MEC Tate Makgoe, may his soul rest in peace. In the same week we received news of the death of LangaLam Viki whose body was found in a pit latrine at Mcwangele JSS in the Eastern Cape. I would like to repeat government’s heartfelt condolences on this tragedy.

You might recall when Lumka Mketwa died in a pit latrine in 2018, I said in a statement that Lumka had died in an undignified manner that I found incredibly disturbing. I added that, at the time, to know that as a sector we had not been able to address these infrastructure issues fast enough, for a number of reasons, broke my heart. 

I then promised that when a tragedy like this occurs, it made us more resolute of the continued need for the Accelerated School Infrastructure Initiative, then, so that we could continue to fast-track these schools that are in desperate need of infrastructure and make them safe havens for our children.

Since the time I uttered those words, we have taken action on two fronts.

The first is we increased the technical capacity of officials in the infrastructure team by recruiting five built environment specialists, including a head of infrastructure, who are solely focused on implementing our infrastructure projects.

Secondly, as you are aware, the President launched the Sanitation Appropriate For Education (SAFE) initiative to specifically address the infrastructure backlog in our schools. The rapid and successful rollout of Grade R in our schools meant that just under 4000 schools were found to be lacking in either age-appropriate infrastructure, in particular, or adequate infrastructure in general.

Now, when you have lost a child, it is not a time to be throwing statistics around but we feel it is important that we draw attention to the fact that government has been hard at work to keep the promise the President made at the launch of the SAFE initiative. To be precise, therefore, the department identified 3398 schools that were lacking in infrastructure in one form or another as I just mentioned, that is either not age appropriate or simply inadequate. Since that time, we have delivered 2478 projects to schools across the country. I would like members of the media to bear in mind that, during this period, we had the COVID pandemic which forced the lockdown of the country and significantly impacted implementation on the ground.

I must pause here to pay tribute to those private sector companies who responded to the President’s appeal for the corporate social investment contribution to the entire effort. Indeed, out of the number of completed projects that I have given you, 184 were allocated to donors of which 117 have been completed.

I must also hasten to remind the nation that the ASIDI programme, which was created to eradicate schools built from inappropriate material, in their entirety, is nearing its end in the next financial year. Since the launch of ASIDI, government has delivered 315 entire schools out of a target of 331, 317 electrification projects, 1259 water projects and, to come back to the specific subject at hand, all 1 053 planned sanitation projects.

So, ladies and gentlemen, you can clearly see that we have not been sitting on our laurels. The death of a child is something really serious and it is unseemly to use that death to cast aspersions at government or paint a picture of an uncaring, under-performing government. As I said earlier, the President appealed to the private sector for their participation, since SAFE was launched in the middle of the financial year, and they responded positively. There is a lot we can achieve whether practically or in terms of national cohesion when we all pull together. That is not to say government must not be held to account but, at the very least, we call for a modicum of objectivity.

Now, having said that, allow me to introduce a measure of controversy and I want to make absolutely sure that the media does not misrepresent my remarks. There are certain questions that we are interrogating and that we invite the media to interrogate as well.

The school where Langalam died had been provided with new South African National Standards approved infrastructure. In other words, the school had new toilets.

Langalam was found in the tank of a senior toilet, not the age appropriate toilet where he would have normally gone. He was also found fully dressed. Three things arise here:

Why would have gone to a senior toilet?

He was not found on the pit side. It is physically impossible for a human body to make its way from the pit side of the toilet to the back of the toilet and Langalam was too young to lift the manhole that covers the tank. How did he then end up in that section of the toilet?

Lastly, any child using the toilet would pull their shorts down but he was found fully dressed.

These disturbing questions can only be answered by law enforcement. Of course, there are other questions that pertain to management:

Why would the bus have left one learner behind? Every school where scholar transport is provided is meant to have a transport coordinator who ensures that every child is on the bus?

This incident happened after hours. How did Langalam access the premises?

I ask these questions, not to absolve government of responsibility, but we all owe it to ourselves, to Langalam and the notion of justice, to ensure that all these questions are thoroughly interrogated and, hopefully answered. The media in this country is very good at investigative reporting and, perhaps, together with law enforcement and our own queries we can get to the bottom of how a child could die in a school that had infrastructure that met the norms and standards could lose in this way.

Lastly, just to get a little bit technical. As I have alluded to, all our solutions are South African National Standards approved. All of them. Your typical pit latrine is a hole in the ground where someone squats maybe with some floorboards or just impacted earth. The toilets we provide are both for areas where a reticulation system is available via municipalities or where this is simply not possible, in which case we apply the most adequate solution whether it is Ventilated Improved Pit, Amalooloo or Enviroloo solutions for non-water-borne sanitation. I hope that clarification is clear.

But despite all these activities, just to deal with overcrowding only – and not maintenance, repairs, renovations required in our schools, by last December we had estimated an urgent need for additional classrooms.  We would also agree that class size is another important determent for quality teaching and learning; and overcrowding just simply undermines this process. Shortages of classrooms and desks undermine the recovery programme of the Department. The matter was exacerbated by the full return of learners to schools after two years and storm damages to some schools. 

National Treasury has allocated funding to DBE to enable the Department to continue to support provinces to deal with infrastructure challenges and specifically with overcrowding in schools. 

The intervention programme involves the supply of additional classrooms to affected schools at a reduced cost and time, that it would normally cost and take when following conversional methods of procurement and appointing service providers. 

At this time, I would like to appreciate our sister department involved in infrastructure build programmes especially the bridge building project which has prioritised areas where learners cross rivers to schools. 

Together we will indeed be able to do more and at a faster pace to ensure that all our learners are given an equal opportunity to complete their schooling.

Now let me take this opportunity to update on a few other related matters that the sector is seized with.

On the Rationalisation of schools

One of the matters that the sector has been dealing for a very long time is that of the rationalisation, merger and closure of small and non-viable schools. We have these schools in all provinces. As part of our monitoring we identify schools that should not be allowed to continue to operate as a result of declining enrolment numbers. The smalls schools face a number of challenges including poor quality of teaching and learning, limited subject choices in Secondary Schools; high dropout rate; high progression rate and teacher overload among others. As a result of this the Director-General has established a Project Steering Committee from Deputy Directors-General Provide a platform to discuss, address and align policy matters related to the rationalisation, closure and merger of schools. 

We want to streamline all our schools for efficient and effective teaching and learning to ensure that no school and no child is left behind.

BELA BILL public hearings 

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education commenced with Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill Public Hearings. These have taken place in Limpopo, Free State, North West, Mpumalanga provinces.

The Bill proposes to amend the South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996) and the Employment of Educators Act (EEA),1998 (Act No. 76 of 1898) to align them with developments in the education landscape and to ensure that systems of learning are put in place in accordance with the right to basic education as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The eight themes identified for discussion and input, include Access to Basic Education; Compulsory Learner Attendance; Language; Governance and Professional Management of Public Schools; Budget and Finances of Public Schools; Home Education; Independent Schools; and Educators. 

It has been encouraging to observe members of the public coming out in numbers to make their input at the various venues. 

The Portfolio Committee will soon be going to KwaZulu-Natal. We urge interested stakeholders to continue to participate in the process. 

On the General Education Certificate

The Department undertook further piloting of the General Education Certificate (GEC) in a representative sample of schools during latter half of 2022. This has led to the refinement of assessment frameworks with great strides made on introducing dynamic and innovative assessment forms into the GEC assessment model. The purpose of the GEC is to provide learners with expanded opportunities to display their capabilities on inquiry based learning, solving real world problems and designing practical solutions which will better prepare them for further education and training and the world of work. The assessment instruments have been designed to integrate the learning of 21st century skills within the scope of expected curriculum competencies. 

In 2022, the assessment model of the GEC was administered in almost 270 schools randomly selected across the nine provinces. In 2023, the piloting of the GEC will be increased to 1000 schools plus the inclusion of all schools of skill. 

This will provide further learnings on how to strengthen the quality of the assessment tools, their infusion into school based assessment and how to generate a holistic GEC report card for learners. 

In 2023, the number of participating schools will also represent all 75 education districts with further up-scaling planned for 2024. In 2025, all schools are expected to participate in the GEC at the grade 9 level. 

On Systemic Evaluation

I am glad to report that the Systemic Evaluation study has been conducted. The study represents a comprehensive account of measuring learning outcomes in grades 3, 6 and 9 linked to a structured understanding of the teaching and learning context in South Africa. The assessment involves testing learners’ level of understanding of key skills and competencies in Mathematics and Reading Comprehension. 

The administration of the study involved almost 3600 schools across the 9 provinces and was completed in December 2022. 

The analysis and report writing are currently underway. The results will be technically checked and quality assured against international benchmarks for large-scale assessments by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) before its anticipated release in the second quarter of 2023. 

The assessment involves assessment instruments linked to cognitive and contextual frameworks. Using an international matrix design of equivalent assessment forms, Mathematics and Reading Comprehension skills are used as proxies to establish learners’ capabilities on schooling outcomes. Data from the learner assessments are used to link cognitive performance to contextual constructs associated with learner background and resources, parent and home contexts, teacher and teaching dimensions, in-school factors and out-of-school system factors. One of the key objectives of the study is to enable provincial education departments to have credible and reliable data to structure and support their intervention programmes on improving learning outcomes. 

Lastly let me congratulate the winners of the Coding and Robotics Challenge that took place last night at the University of Mpumalanga. 

Ozius Tavhana Secondary School in Vhembe West District won STEM lab worth R1,1 million and Bredarsdorp High School, in the Overberg District in Western Cape got second position won Cyber lab worth R600 000.

In the third position is Ntulabakayise Secondary school in UMkhanyaugude district KZN who won themselves a Cyber lab worth R300 000.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) identified the need to expose learners in the General Education and Training (GET) band to digital skills and competencies, including coding and robotics. This will expose learners to 4th Industrial Revolution Skills that prepare them better for the skills of the future. In order to enhance coding and robotics in the schools and to advocate for better implementation of coding and robotics curriculum, the DBE has committed to a programme with the State Information and Technology Agency (SITA) to expose all the learners in the piloting schools. We thank SITA all the prizes and for the partnership and we truly appreciate their commitment to ensure that our learners are supported. 

Conclusion 

I will now ask the Director-General, Mathanzima Mweli, to make a presentation which provides the latest details regarding the work being done to deliver school infrastructure.

Issued by GCIS on behalf of The Department of Basic Education