Finetown learners are denied access to basic education due to continuous disruption of schooling

The learners at Finetown Secondary School are being denied access to basic education due to parents protesting and disrupting schooling as well as the shortage of water in the area.

It is unacceptable that there has been no schooling since Monday and learners continue to lose much of their learning time.

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, Khume Ramulifho MPL and the DA Johannesburg Ward 6 PR Councilor, Nonhlanhla Sifumba, conducted an oversight inspection at the school. They were shocked to discover that there was no learning and teaching taking place at the school. The learners were standing outside the school gate while some were idling around the schoolyard.

The frustrated parents have been protesting over the shortage of teachers, overcrowding in classrooms and shortage of chairs and desks. They are demanding that the rotational learning system ends and that the school infrastructure is fixed.

The mobile classrooms are old and were erected 11 years ago; the infrastructure is dilapidated and is in dire need of regular maintenance.

The school has 1820 learners; the classrooms are severely overcrowded and not conducive for learning and teaching. It is unacceptable as our learners are being denied the dignity of learning in an adequate environment.

Currently, there are 36 teachers, and the ratio is one teacher to 50 learners, which is unacceptable. There is also a shortage of teachers for the following subjects: Mathematics, Life Orientation, English, and Technology.

Despite the government ending the rotational learning system, teachers at this school are continuing with the rotational learning system due to a shortage of classrooms and teachers.

The DA is appealing to parents to refrain from disrupting schooling as it is affecting their children’s futures. We encourage them to find ways to engage with the department when there are matters of concern without disrupting learning and teaching.

The DA has engaged the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi demanding his immediate intervention to ensure that learning and teaching resume at this school. We also demand that MEC Lesufi fix the school’s dilapidated infrastructure and provide the school with all the necessary resources needed for schooling.

We will also be tabling written questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain when the school be replaced with a brick-and-mortar structure; when the school will be provided with teachers, furniture and additional classrooms as well as when the school infrastructure will be fixed.

It is the responsibility of the department to eradicate all the ageing infrastructure and ensure that our schools have adequate classrooms, teachers and learning materials and equipment.

Grade R learners suffer due to the GP Education Department’s delay in payments for teaching material

Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been economically affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this has been worsened by the Gauteng Department of Education’s delay in supplying learning material.

The Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) fourth quarterly report for the 2021/2022 financial year indicates the department’s gross over-expenditure of R194.7 million in the procurement of Teaching Supporting Material (TSM) for Programme 5: Early Childhood Development (ECD).

The programme was allocated R1.4 billion for the year and has spent R380.5 million or 205% from a quarterly allocation of R185.8 million.

The over-expenditure is said to be caused by delays in the delivery by suppliers during the first and the second quarter.

However, this is not the sole reason as the department also delayed payments which impacted on the commencement of the programme in schools.

The ECD is a vital programme which aims to provide public and ordinary schools with the necessary resources required at a Grade R level across the province and to provide sufficient support to educators in due course.

With the above mentioned, the delayed deliveries by suppliers and delays in the creation of purchase orders by the department have had a negative impact on the progress of learning in the province.

As a result of this, only 195 Grade R learners were found to be supported by the GDE Multi Certification Programme after an oversight was conducted at 99 schools in all 15 districts.

The early years of a child should be of priority to the GDE. However, these delays only contributed to many Grade R learners falling behind in the curriculum.

The DA will table questions to the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain the reasons for the delays from an administrative side and to determine which measures are being put in place to ensure that suppliers deliver goods in time.

The DA believes that every learner in Gauteng deserves all opportunities afforded by the government to meet their basic right to education.

Delays in opening the 2023 online admission process will result in learners missing months of schooling

Delays in opening the online admission process for Grade 1 and Grade 8 for the 2023 academic year will result in many learners across the province missing months of schooling due to late placements.

Based on previous experience, delays in opening the online admission process have had a negative impact on the future of children as they will be denied their right to access basic education.

The DA is disappointed to learn that the Gauteng Department of Education will only be opening the online admissions for Grade 1 and Grade 8 for the 2023 academic year on 22 July 2022 and, it will close on 19 August 2022. The performance and functionality testing of the admission online application system will only be done in June.

This means that the DA’s plea to the department to open the online admission process in April has been blatantly ignored.

Here are the reasons why the DA is suggesting that the online admission process must be open as early as April each year:

• It will ensure that school placement will be done timeously before the new academic year begins.
• To ensure that the department identifies the schools with high enrolment demand and allocates all the necessary needed resources according to the number of learners.
• To ensure that the department allocates all the resources to the schools such as classrooms, teachers, and furniture.
• The schools are also given time to plan and prepare for the new academic year to ensure that schools begin without any disruptions.
• Allowing parents to lodge appeals and be able to choose a school for their child.
• The parents can plan and budget to buy uniforms, arrange transport where needed and buy stationery.

Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi should put politics aside and consider our proposal in the interest of the future of our children. We will continue to hold MEC Lesufi to account for our children’s missing months of schooling because of the department’s incompetency to ensure all learners’ placement.

The DA will also monitor the online admission process to ensure that glitches in the system are attended to and that all parents are allowed to apply on behalf of their children.

Scholar transport disputes deprive learners of valuable learning and teaching time

Thousands of learners in Midvaal and Emfuleni have been denied access to everyday learning and teaching due to an ongoing dispute between the old and the newly appointed scholar transport service providers.

This is unacceptable, as learners will continue to miss out on the much-needed everyday schooling.

The DA has been inundated with calls, SMSs, and emails from parents whose children have been affected by this dispute which has resulted in a scholar transport strike.

Many learners have been severely impacted as their parents cannot afford to pay for alternative transport while some are now forced to walk vast distances to and from school.

In many cases, they are also missing school because of the department’s failure to urgently intervene and ensure that this essential service is not disrupted.

This is worrying as learners across the province have lost out on valuable education time due to rotational learning and teaching and they will continue to miss schooling due to this scholar transport dispute.

The DA will engage with the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi to seek his department’s immediate intervention to ensure that learners in Midvaal and Emfuleni have access to uninterrupted scholar transport.

Delays by the department to solve this scholar transport dispute are denying these learners their basic right to education and potentially robbing them of future opportunities.

We will not allow such disputes to deprive our children of access to learning and teaching.

Open 2023 online admissions now will ensure that no learner misses a day of schooling next year

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is proposing that the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi opens online admissions for Grade 1 and Grade 8 for the 2023 academic year now in April to ensure that no learner misses a day of schooling next year.

The DA is also proposing that the school placements must be concluded before September this year.

Moving the online admission earlier will ensure that school placements will be done timeously before the new academic year begins.

This will also ensure that schools with high enrollment demand are identified and are allocated more resources such as classrooms, teachers, and furniture before the new 2023 academic year begins.

Based on previous experience, delays in opening the online admission process have had a huge impact on the future of children, where thousands of learners across the province have missed months of schooling due to late placements.

Furthermore, this will also avoid last minute interventions where resources are allocated at the beginning of the new academic year when schooling has resumed, and learners miss out on valuable teaching and learning time.

The DA believes that there should be no child of school-going age who stays at home because the department has not yet allocated them to a school.

This will also quell the uncertainty and anxiety among the parents and guardians as they will be made aware before the end of the year where will their children be placed, so they are able to plan and budget to buy uniforms, arrange transport where needed and buy stationery.

For far too long the DA has been pleading with the department to open the online admissions at the beginning of April, a suggestion that has been ignored.

We will continue to exert pressure on MEC Lesufi to consider our proposal for the interest of our children as the department has failed in the past to use the online admission system to plan for the new academic year placement because the process begins too late.

Learners left without critical education resources as over R2 million lost in burglaries, vandalism and theft in Gauteng

School children in Gauteng are being left without critical educational resources as schools have lost over R2 million due to vandalism, burglaries and theft leaving our children. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is shocked to learn that 1 231 cases have been opened by Gauteng schools since 2020 to date.

It is concerning that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) continues to lose millions in theft, burglaries, and vandalism of schools while not much is being done to safeguard assets. GDE and the Department of Community Safety have dismally failed to prevent such incidents of vandalism, theft, and burglaries in our schools.

This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, in a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

According to MEC Mazibuko, the schools in Gauteng have opened 1 231 cases of vandalism, theft, and burglaries.

Of these cases reported, 300 suspects were arrested in 147 cases and only 34 cases resulted in the conviction of 37 accused persons.

It is very worrying that there are low arrest and conviction rates despite the high number of cases reported.

This means that no arrests were made in 1 084 cases and 1 197 cases did not make it to the court row.

The department’s school’s safety strategy is ineffective, and it is evident through the number of cases reported. This is a clear indication that the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) is also failing to prioritise school safety with adequate police visibility.

Furthermore, the department has lost R2 225 611.00 on these incidents of vandalism, theft, and burglaries in our schools. This money could be used to eradicate asbestos schools and fix deteriorating infrastructure across the province to ensure a conducive learning and safe teaching environment. 

Untrained and unarmed school safety patrollers alone will not be able to safeguard our valuable school’s assets. There is a need for community members to take ownership of the schools and for the department to explore the feasibility of employing permanent security guards to safeguard schools, particularly in areas that have a high crime rate.

In addition, DA proposals such as the installation of fences or walls surrounding schools, installation of CCTV cameras and alarm systems in hotspot schools linked to the nearest police stations would make a profound difference in preventing such incidents from happening again.

MEC Mazibuko must also liaise with the Gauteng SAPS Commissioner, Lieutenant General, Elias Mawela to provide an update with regards to the SAPS intelligence unit investigating the syndicates that are involved in vandalism, theft and burglary of our schools so that the perpetrators can be apprehended and there is a stop to this criminal element.

Schools are precious resources and harming a school is harming the future of our children and the future of their generation.

Local Government Elections are coming up! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Guarantee uninterrupted learner access to schooling by ensuring online admission system is used to plan allocation of school resources

To ensure that no education-deserving child is denied access to schooling, with no disruptions to teaching and learning due to shortages of resources, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) MEC, Panyaza Lesufi must use the online application system to adequately plan the allocation of resources and budget for schools before the start of the 2022 academic year.

The department has constantly failed to place learners in schools on time, and to provide adequate resources such as additional classrooms as well as teachers to schools that are experiencing high demand of admission. This has resulted in learners at such schools being taught inside school halls and overcrowded classrooms where the environment is not conducive for learning and teaching.

In May this year, there were still learners in the province who have not yet been placed in schools since the beginning of the academic year. Many of their parents claim that they applied on time, yet their children had still not been placed. These learners continue to miss out on schooling while other learners are progressing with the curriculum. How is a child now expected to catch up with such an unnecessary delay in their education?

The DA welcomes the opening of the online admission; however, we have been calling on the department to open it as early as April to ensure that all learners who applied on time are placed by the end of October.

By so doing, this ensures that no learner misses a day of schooling when the new 2022 academic year begins and there is no repeat of what has been happening in previous years.

It would also enable parents to choose where their children are placed, to budget for school uniforms and arrange for scholar transport while there is still time.

The DA urges parents and guardians to start applying for their children immediately, and not to wait for the last minute, while those who do not have internet access should go to their nearest designated centre to be assisted with the online application.

We also call on the department to regularly communicate with parents or guardians by informing them whether their child or children have been placed to a school to avoid incidents of the past two years where parents applied but did not receive any feedback from the department. The department should also regularly monitor the system to ensure that the manipulation of the system by school principals and district officials is eliminated.

Furthermore, we will continue to monitor the online admission process to ensure that the system is transparent and all parents who applied on time are prioritised, and their children are allocated schools. We will also be regularly engaging with the department when parents raise issues with us with regards to the online admission process to ensure that there are immediate interventions.

Local Government Elections are coming up! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

A rapid vaccination of teachers and support staff will ensure stability of teaching for students

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is urging all teachers and support staff across the province to get vaccinated to avoid any further disruption of schooling and risking the future of our children.

The DA shares the concerns of parents and different stakeholders that the Covid-19 pandemic is severely affecting the education sector. However, we do not support the idea to shut down schools. 

We demand that both the Gauteng Department of Education and the Department of Health should prioritise the vaccination of teachers and support staff and ensure that there are enough vaccines to avoid any further unnecessary delays in the school curriculum since the start of the academic year.

Since schools have adopted the rotational system due to the Covid-19 pandemic, learners have fallen behind in the curriculum, yet some organisations are advocating for the schools to be shut down.

We cannot allow anyone to gamble with the future of our children as the pandemic is something we all have to learn to live with.

The Covid-19 pandemic should be viewed as an opportunity to focus on innovative education and fight inequality gaps by creating more opportunities for all.

 We have noticed that children whose parents have access to resources will continue to attend school online while those who do not have will fall behind.  The total closing of schools will only make the inequality gap bigger.

The DA is appealing to all teachers and support staff across the province to get vaccinated, maintain health protocols standards and wear their protective personal equipment. We believe that all education stakeholders must do their best to ensure that we protect the interests of learners and teachers. 

A rapid vaccination of teachers and support staff will ensure a faster return to conducive teaching, where children will be at less risk of falling behind in learning. 

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

SIU Report: DA calls for suspension of top Gauteng Education Department officials

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling on MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi to immediately suspend Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) Head of Department (HOD), Edward Mosuwe, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Johan van Coller and Supply Chain Management Chief Director, Samora Mhlophe following the Special Investigative Unit’s (SIU) report findings that 173 service providers appointed to decontaminate Gauteng schools were not accredited and not on the Central Supplier Database.

The Gauteng Department of Education irregularly spent more than R431 million on decontamination of schools within three months. 

The DA welcomes the SIU’s report findings and progress made so far and believes the recovered money should immediately be allocated to eradicating asbestos schools and classrooms, as well as the construction of more classrooms to alleviate overcrowding in schools. This will ensure more effective teaching and learning for students. 

The SIU has frozen the assets of 14 entities linked to over R431 million school decontamination tenders. The SIU was granted an order by the Special Tribunal to freeze assets and bank accounts worth R40.7 million which belong to seven companies, five individuals and two family trusts, to which the department awarded contracts.

This is a step in the right direction to ensure that they recover all our monies meant to ensure that our children receive quality education and are taught in a conducive environment.

The SIU report described the selection and appointment of suppliers to sanitise schools as haphazard and unfair as the Supply Chain Management Division was not involved in the process. The names of the service providers that were appointed were received via WhatsApp from the department’s officials. The fee paid to the service providers bears no relation to the work done.

All this points to the HOD, CFO and the Supply Chain Management Chief Director’s failure to adequately review and monitor compliance in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act and treasury regulations.

These three top officials of the department failed in their responsibilities to ensure that this tender is above board and that policies of supply chain management, procurement processes and financial management are adhered to.

They must explain what happened, where they were when all this happened and what role they played during this process. These three individuals are the main signatories and the decision makers within the department and should be taken to task and held accountable. 

So far, the SIU findings has revealed their incompetency and inability to lead this department as they have failed to follow proper supply chain and tender processes which has resulted in an irregular expenditure of more than R431 million.

We will not allow the behaviour of three individuals to bring the department that have a crucial role to play on the future of our children, to its knees.

The DA will continue to monitor the progress of the SIU investigation to ensure that those who are implicated are brought to book and they pay back every cent owed to the education of our children.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

DA condemns SGBs disrupting learning and teaching at Braamfischer schools

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng condemns the disruption of schooling at Moses Kotane and Julius Sebolai Primary Schools in Braamfischer, Soweto, today, and calls on the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi to intervene with immediate effect to ensure that teaching and learning resumes in those schools.

The DA has been reliably informed that the members of the School Governing Bodies (SGB) in both the schools are picketing outside the schools and prohibiting learners from entering the schools’ premises.

It is alleged that the SGB is demanding full control of the schools’ finances.

While the SGB plays an important role to ensure that schools operate in a fair and transparent manner, they have no right to prevent learning and teaching from taking place.

Considering that schools have adopted the rotational system due to the Covid-19 pandemic, learners are already behind with regards to the curriculum, yet some parents are disrupting schooling for all learners.

It is unacceptable that some parents, who are meant to ensure that they protect the right of children to access basic education, are disrupting learning.

The DA is appealing to the SGB to find alternative ways to engage with the department without disrupting learning and teaching as it is putting the future of our children at risk. We believe that all education stakeholders must do their best to ensure that we protect the interests of learners and teachers.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.