Education report slammed

EDUCATION advocacy group Equal Education (EE) rejected an annual report by the national Department of Basic Education (DBE), saying it lacked detail to be for public use.

The 2015/2016 report presented to Parliament last month cast the spotlight on planning, implementation and the monitoring and evaluation of programmes in the country’s education sector.

According to the report, spending on basic education constitutes about 5 percent of the country’s GDP.

“This has begun to pay significant dividends. Pre-school education and early childhood development (ECD) have expanded massively, there is gender parity in school enrolment and the retention, as well as throughput ratios, have improved substantially up to Grade 9,” the report read.

EE and its Law Centre compiled a shadow report in response, which it said avoided serious discussion of some of the crucial and difficult topics impacting South Africa’s basic education system.

Of the issues the organisation raised there was no mention of a deadline as to when the department would fix all schools made of inappropriate material as part of its ASIDI project.

ASIDI is a grant administered by national government and was introduced in 2011/12 to target the worst-off schools across the country, easing the load of infrastructure backlogs for provinces with insufficient funding through the Education Infrastructure Grant.

By November 29 this year, all schools built with inappropriate materials were meant to be eradicated, and all schools must have water, sanitation and electricity.

EE said the Treasury conceded that “underspending of the grant has been a problem since its inception in 2011/12”.

“The Annual Report states that targets for infrastructure provision have been met: 99 percent of schools have access to sanitation, 98 percent of schools have a water supply, and 96 percent of schools have an electricity supply. With a staggering 23 595 public schools in South Africa, these figures are misleading… In fact, significant backlogs remain: As of June 2016, there were 171 schools with no water, 68 with no sanitation and 569 with no electricity,” EE said yesterday.

DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga cited poor contractor performance for the delays.

In the province, 20 schools have already benefited from the grant and five have yet to be completed. He said the department encouraged engagement to ensure the department is held accountable.

“Any individual or organisation has a right to express themselves on any matter raised by the department regarding its performance over the past financial year.” francesca.villette@inl.co.za

@FrancescaJaneV