A SOCIAL MOBILIZATION PLATFORM FOR MAKING EDUCATION A SOCIETAL MATTER QUALITY LEARNING AND TEACHING CAMPAIGN (QLTC) Portfolio Committee Briefing 04 August 2015

BACKGROUND Education must be elevated from being a Departmental issue into a societal matter; QLTC is a social compact between education department, stakeholders and communities. QLTC endeavours to promote accountability to all signatories to the pledges and in striving to adhere to the non- negotiables; The major thrust of the QLTC is to provide a platform for communities and broader society to actively and constructively become involved in the improvement of teaching and learning; QLTC still remains a campaign in the form of a social compact between the Department and the social partners.

Participation: Communities and other stakeholders are consulted and contributing to a particular programme/intervention and are able to define and control their own development; Collaboration: Leaders must be involved consistently through all phases of the programme – on an equal basis; Partnership: Is the shared recognition for implementation and success, transparency, and joint decision-making by all stakeholder; Equity: Success for the implementation of the programme must rest on equity being applied across all areas of society – gender, race, class, literacy, and even health status. “The quality of being just or impartial,”; Quality: Quality must be achieved in all components of a successful campaign. All stakeholders must strive for quality PILLARS UNDERPINNING COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

KEY FUNCTIONS QLTC structures are striving to ensure: Since 2009 QLTC structures started working with different community structures and social partners in education throughout the country, in mobilizing society to play key and meaningful roles in education. It is launched in all the nine Provinces with varying levels of capacity, visibility and impact on the education system. North West, Free State, Mpumalanga and Qumbu District in the Eastern Cape have shown factors of good practise, and good models of State, Civil Society and Business partnerships in the education sector.

CRITICAL ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS QLTC Launches Nationally: By the end of 2012 every province had established a Provincial QLTC committee and many had launched QLTC committees at a district as well as at school level. Issuing of the QLTC Guide: An amount of R1.5 million was set aside by the Department to produce an official QLTC document to use as a guide. The documents were designed, printed and copies distributed across all provinces, translated into all official languages; The Success of the QLTC / ELRC collaboration: ELRC funding of QLTC has contributed significantly during 2012/13, and subsequently extended to the 2013/14 financial year, has resulted in a dramatic improvement in the implementation and success of the QLTC with no less than over schools QLTC committees having been established and trained since September 2013; The Dynamic and Consequence of Community Involvement: In provinces such as North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State, where the QLTC structures are functional, the community involvement is significant with representatives growing in confidence as they experience the rewards in improving teaching and learning. As examples of their involvement parents are monitoring non-negotiables in schools, e.g. late coming of learners, bullying of learners, etc.

CRITICAL ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS (Cont.) Nedlac Accord – Adoption of Underperforming Schools Campaign: The QCT was directed to advocate and monitor the NEDLAC Accord which has had the important consequence of no less than 1410 schools having benefitted from the partnership with business community, communities and individuals. Significant Relationships with SACE and ELRC: The SACE code of conduct and SACE programmes are at the core of the QLTC and it is noteworthy that the QLTC and SACE have a healthy and supportive working relationship which is mutually beneficial. QCT has been able to support the ELRC by monitoring on a school and district level labour matters in 42 districts visited since 2012; QLTC has managed to collaborate with other Departmental Units to support and monitor critical Departmental programmes; e.g. monitored the state of readiness in preparation for the reopening of schools – School Readiness Monitoring Template was developed and shared with QLTC stakeholders and Parliamentarians and councillors; QLTC Directorate collaborated with National Examination and Assessment Directorate to monitor the writing of NSC examinations. The Areas or Districts identified as hot spots were mainly targeted for support and monitoring; It is in the interest of the QLTC to have functional SGB’s in schools. Hence the QLTC Directorate collaborated with the EMGD Directorate to mobilise communities and relevant stakeholders and monitored the 2015 SGB’s in all schools as from 6 – 29 March 2015.

In the past financial year QLTC achievements are as follows: The Ministry of Basic Education visited Limpopo Province on ten occasions dealing with various aspects of community involvement in education such as, Kha ri Gude roadshows, SGB elections, communities calling for service delivery in education. Infrastructure challenges, that included sanitation and water. Through QLTC mobilization these izimbizo were successful and achieved their intended goals. In Mpumalanga the QLTC facilitated community meetings and stakeholder engagements working with the Ministry. Included in these meetings were school Principals and other education stakeholders. Through these stability returned in areas which were unstable and the Province’s performance is showing good signs of improvement. In the Eastern Cape, the QLTC was able to pay special attention to two troubled districts, Sterkspruit and Fort Beaufort. Communities and stakeholders were having tensions with the PED over several matters such as the post provisioning basket, redeployment of teachers and school mergers. QLTC developed interventions strategies and engagements and resolved some of the tensions. This work is ongoing. QLTC ACHIEVEMENTS 2014/15

Through QLTC a major Education Summit was held in KZN, and that summit influenced the MEC’s budget speech of 2015 / 2016 financial year, which was talking to how to strengthen QLTC structures in the Province, and resources allocation. In the Northern Cape Province QLTC worked hard to demobilize tensions between the Road Forum and the PED and other formations. For a period of a month QLTC consulted with communities, Road Forum, PED and churches in making sure that there was constructive dialogue, preparing for the Minister and the MEC for Basic Education to go and appeal to the community to allow learners to go back to school. North West the QLTC presents the country with a good model of how a functional QLTC can positively impact on the education system. Both in terms of community mobilization and support from both the MEC and the HOD in the work of QLTC.

QLTC ACHIEVEMENTS (CONT.) In the Free State the Premier and the MEC are using QLTC ward based structures to confront societal challenges such as youth drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, violence in schools and school safety. The QLTC programme is effective as a result of the Premier and the MECs involvement. In Gauteng a QLTC ward based imbizo was organized in Mogale City wherein the community and the education fraternity looked at supported by the Minister, MEC and Mayors. It is through that imbizo that even the Gauteng Education and Health Sub Committee is continuing to work with QLTC structures towards the Gauteng Education Summit. In the Western Cape Province QLTC structures have been doing a lot of work in the De Doorns farm areas, working with the Deputy president’s office through the concept of the war room to attend to child labour on the farms, the high consumption of alcohol in the community, alcohol foetal syndrome, teenage pregnancy and gang violence in the area. This work is still continuing.

KEY QLTC PARTNERS SACE through education laws regulating teacher conduct and professional ethics. ELRC through dispute resolution mechanisms NEDLAC through the Basic Education Accord – adoption of underperforming schools NECT - Where QLTC structures are fully functional, NECT has relied on QLTC structures to reach out to communities since both QLTC and NECT are targeting similar stakeholders NGOs in the education sector Different Government Departments Business Community Faith-based Communities

Challenges in the implementation of QLTC QLTC operation must be appropriately located given the fact that it is a campaign directed by the Ministerial imperatives as derived from the Cabinet Programme of Action – where QLTC is functional it is mainly situated in the MEC Offices – QLTC should, where possible, not be hamstrung by bureaucratic red-tape in the execution of its mandate; This campaigns requires that all stakeholders who pledged themselves to the campaign must play their role in advancing the aims and objectives of the campaign. The funding formula for this campaign requires review given its operational requirements. QLTC is a sub-committee of the SGB; In the majority of Districts and Provinces there are no dedicated resources (personnel and financial) to administer the QLTC operation.

FORTH COMING CAMPAIGNS The Drop all and Read Campaign community mobilization. Mobilizing communities about the libraries project Community awareness about the writing of ANA and NSC support for the Class of Mobilising communities and schools in curbing social ills, i.e. drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, bullying, school violence, etc. Kha ri Gude advocacy and community mobilization. Funza Lushaka community information sharing and awareness programme. Relations between the Schools and communities around the schools through SGBs of schools. Engaging the Faith Communities around the roles of the church in education and community values and morals. Provincial Education Summits in the nine Provinces

LOCATION OF QLTC IN PROVINCES Free State PED – MEC Office Mpumalanga PED – MEC Office North West PED – MEC Office Northern Cape PED – MEC Office Eastern Cape PED – MEC Office KwaZulu Natal PED – MEC Office Gauteng PED – MEC Office Western Cape – SG Office Limpopo – SG Office (EMGD)

STRATEGIC ORIENTATION OF QLTC QLTC derives its strategic campaigns focus from the Cabinet and Ministerial programme of action. It also responds to communities’ needs in education. There is no permanent and fixed programme for QLTC, its focus changes from time to time depending on the needs as identified or articulated by the Ministry. The major task of QLTC in education is to be a catalyst for positive change, quality improvement and transformation. Central, and core to QLTC functions, is the ten point plan which are actualizing the Road Map for Education in South Africa.

RECOMMENDATIONS To strengthen the QLTC and its functionality across provinces, consideration would be given to regulatory measures to guide QLTC activities; QLTC to be located as far as possible, in the offices of the MECs, for its impact to be felt across the system. Adequate resources to be allocated for effective, timely interventions and responsiveness to critical developments on the ground.

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