Equal Education's intimidatory grandstanding no solution to improving real education issues.

30 June 2016

This morning I woke up to protest action outside my home. Equal Education activists had blocked access to my driveway, preventing my family from getting on with their daily tasks and chores.

The activists demanded that I come outside to address them.

I have no problem meeting or addressing any organisation that wishes to meet with me. I have done so on many occasions and have had various meetings and engagements with Equal Education in the past.

Today, however, a line was crossed.

They came, apparently, to hand me what they have called a social audit. I have engaged with Equal Education on numerous occasions on Social Media regarding this issue of their "Social Audit" - at no point did they request to meet me or try and engage with me at my workplace.

I have asked on several occasions that they provide me with the report of their audit. To date, I have yet to receive such a report.

Yet they choose to protest at my home. The question that needs to be asked is why, if they can deliver it to my home, did they not deliver it to my office? This is nothing other than intimidatory, publicity-seeking behaviour, which is unacceptable.

In terms of their "Social Audit" I would like to put some facts on the table:

The "Social Audit", addressed to our DISTRICT DIRECTORS, comprised hundreds of loose papers consisting of hand written notes from learners. (please see attached example)

Our District Directors, on receipt of these loose papers, directed officials to collate the information provided into tables and schools - an arduous and time-consuming task taking them off their normal daily activities. In other words we had to formulate our own "mini audit" for each of the districts concerned.

The information provided did not refer to specific cases or specific dates - it provided general information of learners who had either been privy to or had witnessed cases of corporal punishment, school safety concerns and other forms of assault. It was also unclear whether the events referred to were on or off school premises, and in the vast majority of cases, had no details of the learner or the alleged perpetrator. In some cases they were clearly issues of safety in their community, which, although concerning, is not the responsibility of the WCED to solve.

The lack of detail prevents us from investigating individual cases of assault. Our districts have, however, investigated the claims in broad terms (as reported) and have asked the schools to report on the allegations made. The WCED will determine what interventions are needed, but have asked for more information relating to the allegations. In the cases of assault, these matters should also be reported to the SAPS. Have they been?

The WCED drafted a response to Equal Education which has not yet been sent by the Department at the time of the protest today. Their demand of two weeks was simply not possible or reasonable, given the disorderly documents provided to us which had to be individually collated and captured, as well as the huge amount of work the districts have to do every day.

If Equal Education wanted me to respond, why did they address the "report" to the District Directors, and why have they to date still failed to furnish me directly with a copy? They clearly know my email address - which is used by them on a frequent basis, to which we respond at length on various issues.

This is in addition to the numerous PAIA applications they submit, which keep our officials engaged in compiling paperwork.

While it is to their benefit to communicate that the WCED does not respond to their queries, the truth is that we have spent countless hours collating thousands of pages of documents on issues that they have raised with us such as individual admission cases, cases of assault, and collaboration schools, just to name a few. We have also engaged them on a one on one basis on other occasions.

One of these meetings happened at the end of last year, when our Safe Schools Directorate explained at length our Safe Schools policy and plans for schools, together with thousands of pages of documents of data on safety in our schools.

We have been more than accommodating to their requests in the past, taking our officials away from their daily duties. However, we want to engage positively with any organisation wishing to genuinely improve education (like the 700 odd that we do across the province) in a meaningful way that contributes to quality education.

What I saw today and over the past few weeks is not meaningful - it is confrontational and grandstanding.

My Department does take issues of Corporal Punishment and Safety of our learners very seriously, as do I. Every complaint we receive is investigated and action taken. We are aware of the challenges regarding school safety and are working hard with various roleplayers, such as SAPS, to address these issues. We strongly urge learners to report any form of abuse or assault at their school to us. They can call our Safe Schools hotline on 0800 45 46 47. All these cases are investigated and dealt with in terms of the necessary procedures.

We simply cannot respond in any detail to piles of generalisations. We cannot address systemic problems without individual details.

I also wish to clarify that I did not collect the memorandum today, not, as some allege, because I was fearful of the learners but because I will not allow a dangerous precedent to be set that people can feel entitled to march illegally to my home.

The learners are more than welcome to meet with me at my office at a mutually convenient time if they wish to engage constructively in a genuine attempt to improve education in the Western Cape.

Issued by Jessica Shelver, Spokesperson for the Minister of Education, Western Cape Education Department, 30 June 2016