Feedback on Implementation of Recommendations of Oversight Visit Dr E. V Nzama Head of Department: KwaZulu-Natal Dr E. V Nzama Head of Department: KwaZulu-Natal

Allegations of religious discrimination of learners at certain schools The Department conducted an investigation following reports of various forms of discriminations in schools. Circular 20 of 2017 and KZN Circular No. 73 of 2016 were issued to inform schools to comply with the Bill of Rights in respecting human rights as entrenched in the Constitution. SGBs advised to re-visit their individual school policies to ensure that they do not contradict with the SASA The same should not discriminate in any form either religious, sexual, colour, race etc. Click for Circulars

Processes of filling of vacancies School based post are prioritized SMT post are advertised twice every year Level 1 posts are filled immediately using excess Educators and Bursary Holders to ensure continuity of curriculum delivery Office Based Educator and Public Service posts are frozen immediately upon becoming vacant by Treasury Any post to be advertised and filled, the recommendation and approval of the Premier is mandatory.

Shortage of textbooks and workbooks Queries raised were in respect of seven (7) school, namely: Bizimali HS, Mnyakanya HS, Mpotholo PS, Sigananda PS, Velangaye HS, Zinqobele SS and Amazondi JS The schools and others not in the list have low enrolment hence unable to purchase all books from their annual allocation An audit of schools with extra textbooks was conducted in order to reallocate such books to the most needy schools Schools have been encouraged to opt for central procurement in order to benefit from maximum discount thereby getting more with less

Review the subject streaming/combinations for affected schools KZN is reviewing guidelines (in collaboration with DBE) for the streams/packages that can be offered by schools. This is done taking into account the enrolment of each school and the availability of resources (physical, human and financial).

Consequence management over staff The department has policies in place that are applied to all its employees in cases of breach of codes. These are applicable to all personnel whether Educators or Public Service. Compulsory Induction Programme is conducted for all new appointees to ensure that policies of the department are well understood and adhered to

Learner Transport and ensures that all qualifying learners Due to low enrolment, some small schools are unable to have sufficient Educators to teach all subjects. This requires that the Grade 12 learners be relocated to a nearby reasonably bigger and better performing school which in turn has implications of Learner Transport. This special arrangement requires a separate allocation of transport to those affected learners. The other learners in lower Grades are assisted by deploying excess educators to be placed over the PNN until permanent relocation/merging has been finalised. The Department allocated a budget of R10 million to this cause.

Attracting qualified and experienced Maths & Science educators Shortage of Maths and Science educators is a National challenge. Funza Lushaka is one vehicle to train educators in the field After graduation, the educators are deployed to mostly rural districts where it would have been impossible to find a fully qualified educator. A challenge remains of retaining such teachers in rural areas as they tend to have a wider choice that the rest in other subjects – they often find it easy to relocate [a policy should be developed which forces them to serve in disadvantaged districts for a certain period before they are allowed to relocate]

Schools without running water and electrification Municipal bills remain unpaid by some schools if their allocation is low as per PPN. The Department tries to assist but sometimes too late – this attracts interests and legal fees from Municipalities COGTA is negotiating on behalf of the Department of Education on possible lowering of the municipal tariffs for schools to lessen the burden of municipal debt of schools.

Allegations that certain schools had not resulted learners Some schools had their results withheld due to various reasons. These were mostly instances of allegation for mass copying which then necessitated further investigations to be conducted. Below is the latest report on the status of schools where results were not released. Non Resulted Schools Report

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