On the road to improved education

THE Eastern Cape stands at a crossroad. The one path offers a far brighter future. This route is shaped by the understanding that we can build prosperity by improving the capacity of our schools to educate more Eastern Capers, by raising the quality of teaching, leadership and management.

The other path offers a future in which our province continues to lose ground in providing our young citizens with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the 21st-century workplace.

While the general picture looks disappointing – the 59. 3% pass rate compared to 2015’s 56.8% is only a 2.5% improvement – the provincial government continues to play its part by creating the right environment for our teachers to flourish, by investing more in education and ensuring that where there are shortcomings, action is taken. For our long-term planning, we have identified the following challenges:

Unviable schools with few learners;

Some principals are incapable of leading and managing schools as centres of curriculum delivery;

Slow, or lack of, monitoring of the performance of schools;

Subject combinations that are detrimental to the future of learners;

Addressing the plight of the progressed learners to ensure that they get the opportunity to attain the NSC;

Focus on maths and science, given the low pass rate in them that tends to pull the provincial average down;

Teacher development to ensure that educators are adequately equipped to deliver; and

Timeous filling of educator posts.

So what are we doing to address the above challenges? We have initiated a three-year Education Transformation SevenPoint Plan in Basic Education outcomes. The seven-point plan covers:

Increasing number of functional schools;

Rationalisation and realignment of unviable schools;

Capacitation and functionality of districts and head office;

Mobilisation of social partners and the change agenda; Supply of trained educators; Adherence to national budget allocation norms; and

Unqualified audit.

So what progress has been made in terms of the seven-point plan since August last year?

To increase the number of functional schools, the following have been achieved:

Provision of water to schools increased from 23 schools in 2014 to 342 schools to date;

The provision of sanitation facilities has moved from 47 schools in 2014 to 287 in 2016, and we are working hard to reach the target of 400 schools in 2017;

Electricity supply to schools has increased from 25 in 2014 to 127 schools in June 2016;

262 special classrooms were built in public schools against a target of 131. In addition, 821 classrooms were built against a target of 763;

The government has met the target of transporting more than 65 000 learners from disadvantaged areas to schools;

More than 1 759 301 learners are benefiting from the school nutrition programme; and

Of 2 272 posts for principals, deputy principals, heads of department and teachers advertised, 976 have been filled and the process to fill the remaining posts is under way.

As part of the province’s rationalisation and realignment of schools, including the closure or merger of schools based on a viability study, 560 schools have so far been gazetted and 2 077 schools are being reviewed.

The provincial government has endorsed a proposal to significantly reduce the number of education districts in an effort to make for better management and closer supervision of schools. The aim is to reduce the 23 education districts in the Eastern Cape to just 12.

To improve opportunities for elearning, 253 schools have been placed on the telematics platform. Thanks to social partners and stakeholders, Wi-Fi-enabled local area networks have been established at over 273 schools.

Developing every learner’s full potential means having high expectations for them and constantly working to remove the many barriers to their success. To succeed means that the provincial government, parents, teachers and administrators, must constantly summon courage to contribute to the education of the students we so prize and want to see conquer the world.

Our children are our country's greatest asset, and every student deserves quality education.

Phumulo Masualle is premier of the Eastern Cape