It is fraud that costs the system money’
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“I have dedicated the function to appoint professional posts which is head of departments, principals and deputy principals to the Cluster Chief Director. This notion that the head office is delaying appointment, I don’t know where it is coming from.
“It’s been useful to tell them, listen this is the power that is lying within you. Please by end of this month finish appointing on these bulletins," said Netshilaphala.
The acting SG said they have looked at how they can help learners in the meantime since some teachers have not been appointed.
Netshilaphala said the im- portant thing is about making sure Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) are ordered and delivered on time.
Netshilaphala said she also shared with them the challenges that the department is facing. She said she needed them to also think about how to deal with the challenges.
The acting SG said some of the projects the department has implemented are not loved.
Especially the project that dealt with inflated learner numbers. She said the department is going to take action against the people who are inflating learner numbers.
“Learner numbers in the ed- ucation system equal money, it equals money that is transferred to school in terms of norms and standards which is at the moment for a public school is 1 177.
“It equals books that we buy for your school for learners that do not exist, it equals the teachers that we give to you school for learners that do not exist and it equals the extra classrooms that we think we need to build for your school when you don’t have the learners but have just inflated the numbers.
“So it is a serious fraud if you inflate learner numbers and it is fraud that costs the system a lot of money,” said Netshilaphala.
She said the session with the principals was a valuable information sharing session but it has been a valuable opportunity for her to tell them to behave properly. Netshilaphala said now there is no way that the department would not take action against people who are misbehaving.
“This is not about us, it’s about the education of our children. So we cannot allow people who are misbehaving. The meeting has also been a valuable interaction for us to say what is extra that we need to do for the countdown to final exams.
“Now what remains is to do what we need to do and pray for better results.”