Department on track – report

The department of basic education (DBE) has made positive steps towards the development of policy frameworks and the right to basic education over the past five years, despite regressive funding and failures to meet targets, according to a report published by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC).

Senior researcher Rubeena Parker, who presented an overview on the EELC state of education report to parliament, said some of the key systemic challenges included funding and spending; coordination; data systems and processes; and implementation barriers.

“While acknowledging that there has been some progress made by the DBE during this time, the report questions whether such progress has been ‘substantial’ in the light of regressive education funding, chronic underspending and a consistent failure to meet set targets,” said Parker in the report.

Parker said the purpose and scope of the EELC report was to provide a five-year review of some of the key issues in education.

She said the report revealed critical system failures relating to data collection, the coordination and cooperation of government departments and other stakeholders, as well as severe legislative and policy gaps and implementation barriers.

Parker said despite the fact that government had continued to assert that school infrastructure was a key priority and that significant strides had been taken in addressing school infrastructure challenges, there was declining funding commitments to school infrastructure and a substantial failure to implement binding legislative norms and standards over the past five years.

Parker noted that the failure to ensure effective provisioning of school infrastructure had resulted in various litigious challenges with the courts ultimately ordering government to improve legal frameworks and ensure infrastructure delivery.

“The report recommends more effective oversight mechanisms over provincial infrastructure spending as well as coherent implementation plans to ensure that significant failures over the previous period are remedied,” she said.

One of the other key challenges identified in the report was the implementation of the transport policy and the failure to accommodate pupils with disabilities.