Statement on several education related matters by MEC Panyaza Lesufi, 15 January 2016

Introduction

The purpose of the briefing is to update the people of Gauteng on progress in improving the quality of learning and teaching.

We thank the media for attendance and for your continued collaboration.

We started the year on a high note buoyed by the overall performance of the Gauteng education system, especially our matriculants. The quality of education in Gauteng is steadily improving and the investment we are making to transform education is yielding returns. The Premier has affirmed Education as the cornerstone of Gauteng’s transformation, modernisation and re-industrialisation agenda.

Today’s we will covers the following:

Progress on the 2016 Academic year: The current enrolment in public schools is 2 326 584, an increase of 64 265 learners from 2015 enrolment of 2 262 319. All learners have now been placed in Gauteng schools and the Department used various interventions to place unplaced learners, namely:

- Using specialised rooms as classrooms and overcrowding classrooms.

- Seven (7) New schools were opened on Day 1 of the 2016 academic year and 74 ACT classrooms was identified for relocation and 54 of these relocations have been completed at schools in high pressure areas.

- The provision of additional ration for nutrition was accommodated. Scholar Transport routes were introduced in TW, EN, SW, SE, JN and JW.

- Additional HR needs were addressed using the 150 emergency growth posts pool.

- A total of 39 426 secondary school chairs and 40 620 desks were delivered. Primary schools received deliveries of 76 571 chairs and 40 841 desks.

Launch of the 2017 Admission Campaign: The Admission Period for 2017 commences on 11 April 2016 and ends on 7 September 2016 by which date all applicants should be placed. Verification and registration commences on 11 April 2016. The application period commences on 19 April 2016 to 1 June 2016. The online application goes live on 5 April 2016.

Report on common exams: common exams were introduced to ensure that common standards are applied across grades and subjects and to establish a base for the development of intervention programmes and targeted assistance measures.

Update on paperless classroom initiative: The Department is making strides to recover stolen smart boards and outstanding tablets that are still with learners. More than 100 smart boards have been stolen in our schools since the installation in July 2015 of the ICT programme in the Grade 12 classrooms in 377 Schools. Of these 29 were stolen in Johannesburg Central; 20 in Tshwane South; 18 in Johannesburg North; 17 in Johannesburg South and 14 in Johannesburg West. More than 4 000 tablets are still with learners.

Reorganisation of schools: the programme aims to build an integrated education system in Gauteng; introduce schools of specialization and twin township and suburb schools/

Secondary School Improvement Programme: The Department will once again this year implement the Secondary School Improvement Programme to provide additional support to Grade 12 learners in 460 township schools. This will provide supplementary tuition to approximately 73 000 Grade 12 Learners at 168 SSIP sites across the province.

South African Schools Administration and Management Systemish: All public schools will be required to use the South African School Administration System.

Employee Self Service System: The will from the 1 April roll out an electronic employee self-service system that will help with HR administration matters.

Update on School Sanitation: The Department has refurbished ablution facilities in 427 schools including 50 schools where were identified as having the worst ablution facilities.

Legal challenges against the Department: the department is defending 2 cases around admission policy in the constitutional and high court. We are pleased the Equal Education has applied as a friend of the court in the ConCOurt Case.

Teacher provisions and changes in staff: For the financial year 2015/16, a total of 8 283 employees left the system, through retirements, resignations, and dismissal.

Education Budget and outstanding payments: The GDE experienced a budget shortfall to pay several service providers. Due to cash injections from the Department of Basic Education the department has made serious strides to make payments and reduce the number of service providers owed for more than 30 days.

Discipline and Misconduct cases against staff: In the year 2015, 102 employees received sanctions of dismissals but five (5) of the 102 cases, were overturned on appeal.

Health and pyscho-social matters: According to the information received from EMIS currently, the number of pregnant learners was 5 248 in Public Schools.

Disciplinary cases involving learners: The psycho-social challenges in schools are reflected in statistics on expulsion of learners from public schools. In 2015 there were 434 Expulsion cases received from the office of the HOD for investigation.

School emblems and signage: The Department has received a number of complaints from stakeholders about names of schools that were derogatory or offensive and named after persons whose contribution to democracy are questionable as they promoted segregation and apartheid principles. It is against this background that the Department has noted the plans by the Afrikaans Muisie Hoerskool to change its school insignia and emblem in memory of the Voortrekkers. In the light of the above, the Department is putting in place protocols to be followed by schools

Preparations for the 40^th Anniversary of June 16: Gauteng will host the national event to mark the 40^th Anniversary of June 16. A plan has been tabled for discussion at the Exco.

Progress on the 2016 Academic year

The 2016 academic year started on time and smoothly bar a few challenges with unplaced learners. By the beginning of the year 2.2 million learners in Gauteng were place in a classroom, had learning material, a teacher and furniture. Those in need of scholar transport had access to a bus and the school nutrition programme started on time. We grappled with the challenge of over 10 000 unplaced learners but can now report that all learners especially Grade 1 are in the classroom.

Admissions pressure into the province remained high at the end of 2015 with 16 864 learners recorded as unplaced between Grades 1 and 8 at the start of 2016. The number of applications increased daily during the month of January 2016). After much intervention by GDE and DBE, the total of 28 756 applications that were recorded from 12 January 2016, (17 168 Grade 1 and 11 588 Grade 8), were all placed.

The Department employed all possible short term measures to place all learners using available alternative measures e.g using specialised rooms as classrooms and overcrowding classrooms

Seven (7) New schools were opened on Day 1 of the 2016 academic year. Whilst these schools assisted in absorbing some of the admissions pressure, many learners remained unplaced. In light of insufficient funding, the relocation of 74 ACT classrooms was identified. Of these, 54 relocations have been completed at schools in high pressure areas. Further relocations are ongoing.

The provision of additional ration for nutrition was accommodated. Scholar Transport routes were introduced in TW, EN, SW, SE, JN and JW. Additional HR needs were addressed using the 150 emergency growth posts pool.

A total of 39 426 secondary school chairs and 40 620 desks were delivered. Primary schools received deliveries of 76 571 chairs and 40 841 desks.

The Department strives to ensure that all learners in the province have access to quality education in a system where all learners and schools are technology savvy and acquire the skills needed for success in the 21st century. In the 2016 academic year, learner enrolment in the province is near universal levels and the participation of girl children in education is amongst the highest in the world.

10 day head count

The current enrolment in ordinary schools is 2 326 584, an increase of 64 265 learners from 2015 enrolment of 2 262 319 as per the status on the 10^th day of school. This translates to 2.84% growth in learners. Public schools are still the largest sector accommodating 2 048 558 or 88% of learners.

The special schools sector increased by 4.2% from 46 407 to 44 604. This is as a result of the increase in the availability of spaces in special school through introduction of 11 new schools and 7 new autism wings in existing special schools.

The spatial distribution of learners shows the same trend as the previous year where districts Ekurhuleni North (9% of learners), Ekurhuleni South (10 % of learners), Johannesburg East (9% of learners) and Tshwane South (10 % of learners); remain largest districts.

Learner retention in public schools is improving as the current Grade 12 learners enrolment is 103 103 and the same cohort (crudely) of learners were enrolled in Grade 1 in 2005 with an enrolment of 146 056, a retention of 71%. This is an important improvement in system efficiency when compared to the first post-apartheid cohort of grade 1, where only 44% reached matric in 2006.

In-migration is still prevalent and the majority of learners are from Limpopo followed by Kwa Zulu Natal.

The increase in learners also reflects in the number of educators employed in the schools. A total of 82 078 educators are in all schools, an increase of 2 725 from 2015 translating to 3.4% increase. Government employs 69% of the total educators. The learner educator ratio in public schools has been constant at around 34 learners per educator for the past two years.

If this is split between primary and secondary schools, the ratio has been constant for the two levels for the past five years with primary schools recording 38 learners to 1 and secondary schools recording 29 learners to one educator. The class size also closely mirrors the Learner educator ratio with public primary schools recording 38.2 learners per class unit and 33.2 learners per class unit for secondary schools.

The number of learners in special schools has been steadily increasing with an increase of 4.2% learners from 44 604 learners in 2015 to 46 477 learners in 2016. We will in 2016 ensure we improve the provision of education services to learners with disabilities and other barriers to learning, prioritising township schools.

In providing such access, we also ensure that learners who are needy receive a nutritious meal, have physical access to schooling through the scholar transport programme, but also that the poorest of our schools and learners benefit from infrastructure upgrades linked to our ICT rollout, including improved sanitation and an environment that is conducive to teaching and learning.

The increase in learner enrollment affects resourcing of the entire system in Gauteng, including the supply of teachers, schools, furniture and other education inputs. All these inputs are critical to ensuring that all learners have an opportunity and have access to Quality Basic Education. The MEC for Finance has further affirmed the commitment to ensuring Education remains a key funding priority, despite the pressures faced by the system.

Launch of the 2017 Admission campaign

The admissions period has been pronounced by the HOD. The Admission Period for 2017 commences on 11 April 2016 and ends on 7 September 2016 by which date all applicants should be placed. Verification and registration commences on 11 April 2016. The application period commences on 19 April 2016 to 1 June 2016.

Manual admissions processes posed challenges such as multiple applications resulting in an increase in statistics, applicants requesting ‘school of choice’ resulting in under-utilisation of schools in some geographic areas, a lack of reliable information on the number of applicants who have accepted placement offers and skewed data resulting in inaccurate planning.

To address these challenges, the admissions processes for 2017 will be managed online. The primary aim was to develop a centralised database for planning and monitoring admissions processes in the province and the secondary aim was to eradicate long queues at schools on the first day of application and to make the service accessible to parents. The Online Application is driven by the objectives of Pillar 6.

The Online Application introduced a web-based operating system to broaden access for public usage. Parents will be able to access the Web-based Application using internet connectivity from Desktops / Laptops/ Cell phone.

The Online Application which was introduced in 2015 was tested with specific attention paid to the back-end application. The back-end application is used by schools, districts and Head Office to manage the processes of application, placement and reporting.

The system was upgraded to align to the Admission Regulations and to ensure that it responds to the objectives of the department which is to create a centralised database that will inform the resourcing needs across all line functions. In view of the new online process a series of workshops and meetings are conducted to mediate the Admissions Online Application and facilitate change management.

Parents who do not have access to smart devices will apply at the centres identified by districts. These centres will be publicised during the Easter school holidays for parents to visit when schools reopen. Parents will be able to register their details and those of learners. Once registered, the parent will be able to create login credentials. Parents whose information is already on SASAMS and those parents that used the system in 2015 will be able to confirm their details and those of their learners.

Parents log on to the system to access and complete the application form. On the application form the parent will select options based on the admissions criteria as contained in the Admissions Regulations. The system will provide three closest schools in order of distance from the address provided. In cases where the parent uses the option of ‘sibling’ as criteria, the system will allow the parent a second choice using work or home address.

A message will pop-up informing the parent that the application was successfully submitted and that the parent must submit supporting documents to the school. This is supported by an sms which will be sent to the applicant.

Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP)

The Department will once again this year implement the Secondary School Improvement Programme to provide additional support to Grade 12 learners in 460 township schools. This will provide supplementary tuition to approximately 73 000 Grade 12 Learners at 168 SSIP sites across the province. The Department spends around R150 million on the programme.

The learners from these schools will receive extra tuition and resource material during the school holidays and on Saturdays. SSIP will provide teaching and learning resources in the form of lesson plans for tutors and learner worksheets and notes.

SSIP will contract expert tutors to provide supplementary tuition to learners. Only tutors with a successful track record will be recruited. SSIP 2016 will consist of the following learner interventions:

- Saturday classes: There will be SSIP Saturday from February to September:

- Holiday programmes for all SSIP Grade 12 learners: Holiday sessions will offer tuition in 10 subjects; namely Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Physical Science, Accounting, Economics, Life Science, Geography, History, Business Studies and English FAL. SSIP holiday programmes will take place between March and October.

- Afternoon sessions for all schools that obtained below 60% pass rate in 2015 covering mathematics, accounting, physical science, economics, life sciences, geography

- The High Risk Camp Programme: The High Risk camps will focus on closing content gaps and on challenging topics. The camps will take place in July 2016 and September school holidays. 

- The Matric Exam Preparation Camp Programme: The Exam Preparation Camp programme will offer tuition in all 10 subjects. The Camps will take place over 10 days between Monday, 10^th October and Friday, 21^st October.

The March 2016 Holiday programme will be launched in one the SSIP sites in the JHB Central Districts on 29 March 2016.

Common examinations

The Department piloted common exams for Grade 3, 6, 9, 10 and 11 in 2015 as part of improving quality of learning. The educational purpose of common examinations is to among other things:

- Improve the quality of teaching and learning

- Ensure that common standards are applied across grades and subjects.

- Establish a base for the development of intervention programmes and targeted assistance measures.

- Improve the standard and effectiveness of all interventions offered.

- Ensure curriculum coverage,

- Enhance learner performance, within the parameters of all other programmes, so as to increase Provincial performance in all external assessments.

- Common assessments as an important systemic tool for: Diagnostic measures; Progress-monitoring measures; and outcome measures

The benefits of administering common examinations in the system include inter alia:

- Regular and timely feedback regarding learner attainment.

- Consistent expectations within a grade level regarding standards.

- Alignment of classroom assessments to better prepare learners for success on assessment

In summary, we wish to report the following pass rates for Grades 1 to 11:

- Grade 1: 89.4%

- Grade 2: 90.7%

- Grade 3: 91.8%

- Grade 4: 89.3%

- Grade 5: 91.2%

- Grade 6: 91.2%

- Grade 7: 85.1%

- Grade 8: 52.8%

- Grade 9: 51%

- Grade 10: 69%

- Grade 11: 76.5%

Grade 10 and 11 learners wrote common exams in Accounting, Economics, Mathematics and Physics. The table below provides a summary of the outcomes:

The results show that the system is still stable despite introduction of common exams.

Paperless classroom update

More than 100 smart boards have been stolen in our schools since the installation in July 2015 of the ICT programme in the Grade 12 classrooms in 377 Schools. Of these 29 were stolen in Johannesburg Central; 20 in Tshwane South; 18 in Johannesburg North; 17 in Johannesburg South and 14 in Johannesburg West.

We are however making progress in recovering the stolen smart boards working with the police. The rate of recovery is greater in Tshwane we are working with tracking and recovery companies and police to improve on the recovery rate.

It must be emphasized the main objective is to prevent the break-ins and thefts. We are in a process of finalizing the processes of strengthening the prevention side with proper interventions.

It is also worth noting that the number of tablets still outstanding has been reduced to 4 000 and we are grateful to the learners and parents that are cooperating. We call on all those Grade 12 learners that still have tablets in their possession to return them otherwise the Department will exercise legal recourse including opening of criminal cases.

We will make soon make further announcements on the roll out of the School ICT Strategy.

Re-organisation of Schools

Re-organisation of school will operationalise the GDE strategy and help to turn-around the performance of its public schooling system – especially in townships and rural areas. Progress to date is as follows:

a. Public schools: The Gauteng Department of Education has segmented all public schools into four categories, namely Great (81-100%); Good (61-80%); Fair (41-60%); and Poor (0-40%).

Categorisation of secondary schools was determined by calculating the performance of each school based on a weighted average, using Bachelors pass (50%); Maths and Science pass rates (30%); and Matric pass rates (20%). Based on this criteria 41% of all Gauteng secondary schools perform at fair.

The categorisation of primary schools was determined by the 2014 ANA Results, as follows: calculating the performance of each school based on a weighted average, using ANA pass rate (60%); ANA Maths pass rates (20%); and ANA language pass rate (20%). Fair is the most common classification among Gauteng’s primary schools. Only 5 primary schools are “great”.

In order to progressively improve our schools and move them from the ‘Poor’ category to ‘Fair’ and ‘Fair’ to Good etc, the Gauteng Department of Education has identified 48 improvement initiatives. 34 are School Improvement initiatives and the remaining 14 are system improvement initiatives. These initiatives are presently being piloted in 44 schools across three Districts (JC, TN, SW).

b. The twinning programme

The objective is to promote sharing of resources, starting with a single governing body, between former township and suburb schools. 3 pairs of schools have been gazetted Section 17GB, namely.

o Bovet Primary and Lyndhurst Primary - JE District (20 May 2015)

o Cultura High and Zithobeni Secondary – GN District (11 August 2015), and

o Alexandra Secondary and Sandown High – JE District (8 October 2015).

Governing bodies were elected at each of the pairs and a coach has been appointed to assist the school and the governing body on matters such as drafting a new Constitution. Consultation with additional schools that have shown an interest in the objectives of the Twinning programme, is on-going.

c. Schools of Specialisation

Schools of Specialisation are a high-end model for nurturing top talent than other types of schools and will prepare learners for work and post-school further education. They are geared to respond to the Transformation, Modernisation and Reindustrialisation plan of the Gauteng province by for example producing highly trained and skilled individuals.

The following SOS disciplines have been selected to respond to the skill shortage in the province:

o Commerce and Entrepreneurship – 4 schools

o Maths Science and ICT - 11 schools

§ With an Agricultural Focus;

§ With a Maritime Focus;

o Engineering – 6 schools

o Performing and Creative Arts – 3 schools

o Sports – 2 schools

o Multi-disciplinary – 1 school (Sicelo Dlomo)

The GDE has identified a provisional list of 27 SOS disciplines to be allocated to each economic development corridor between 2016 and 2018:

d. Optimal Utilisation of Resources

The aim is to explore opportunities to improve spatial allocation of resources and structural spend e.g., via optimization of infrastructure and procurement. Pursuant to this objective the following schools were either closed or merged:

o Bochabela Primary is closed and the learners are attending at Sithembiso Primary;

o Modishi Primary and Lekashu Primary have merged;

o Thulasizwe Primary has been closed and converted to a LSEN School;

o Vaaldam Primary Farm will be closed, the learners are already attending Tikelo Primary Farm School.

School Administration and management – promote the use of South African School Administration and Management System (SA SAMS)

There are over 30 School Administration Systems (SAMS) packages of various configurations currently being utilised in Gauteng schools. Many of the Gauteng schools were using different management applications for different school administrative functions e.g. schools were using a financial package to control the school finances, a separate timetabling package to do timetables and class lists were being generated manually. This resulted in the same data being input into three or more separate systems and all these systems needed to be updated every time a change occurred.

As part of streamlining and having an integrated school administration process, GDE has approved the South African School Administration and Management System (SA SAMS), developed by the National Department of Basic Education, as the preferred system for use in all public schools. SA-SAMS is currently being utilised by 1 877 public and independent ordinary and special schools in the province.

The application comprises of 17 modules that encompass the broad management areas that characterise a school. An SA-SAMS database or an SA-SAMS compliant database is required for upload data onto the nationally managed Learner Unit Record Information and Tracking System (LURITS). As at March 2016, the LURITS uploads from the Gauteng province accounted for 2 645 schools and over 2 million learners.

SAMS is a robust computer application specifically designed to meet the management, administrative and governance needs of public school developed to provide schools with a cost effective, easy to use and fully integrated computer solution containing all aspects of school management requirements. It also incorporates a Timetabling Assistant to assist the schools with the complicated task of allocating educators to subjects and to classes.

Within the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), the use of SA-SAMS has been operationalised through Circular 3 of 2016 titled: “The use of the South African School Administration and Management System (SA SAMS) – 2016”. The circular gives effect to the National Education Policy Act (1996) and the National Education Information Policy (2004).

In order to increase awareness and usage of SA SAMS, the GDE recently held a Summit at which District and Head Officials, responsible for supporting the use of SA SAMS at schools, deliberated and made concrete resolutions on how to improve and sustain the use of SASAMS with a view to:

- Increase efficiency, accountability,

- Accuracy of school’s data and information,

- Proper intervention will informed relevant data,

- Trend Analysis and forecasting will be easier and more accurate,

- Single view of how the province is performing across all levels.

All schools that adopt SA-SAMS as the primary electronic instrument to support their school management functions are guaranteed the provision of hardware and software support at no cost.

All schools are obliged to submit a quarterly SA-SAMS (or SA-SAMS compliant database) to fulfil their LURITS upload responsibility. For SA-SAMS users the required databases are submitted to the district office and forwarded to the LURITS administrator at the GDE Head Office. The LURITS administrator uploads all the SA-SAMS databases onto the Lurits System that is being hosted by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). All the SA-SAMS databases received from the districts are then copied onto the Provincial SA-SAMS Warehouse that is hosted locally on GDE servers at the Provincial Head Office.

Currently, SA-SAMS is being primed for upgrading and modernisation such that the application becomes completely web-enabled. As this process unfolds, the GDE is also considering the possibility of schools uploading their SA-SAMS (and compliant SA-SAMS databases) directly onto the Provincial Warehouse.

The Employee Self-Service System

In an effort to modernise the back office, and improve on efficiencies, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) through the Department of Treasury has decided to roll-out the Employees Self-Service (ESS) System, effective 1 April 2016. The system has been tested thoroughly, and is in widespread use in other Provincial Departments

The Employee Self Service (ESS) streamlines the HR processes by giving employees user-friendly tools to update their personal details, apply for leave, submit claims and overtime, receive HR letters do e-Disclosures, and view payslips and IRP5s online.

The use of ESS, employees is able to transact with the Human Resource office without physical appearance and thus reduces admin time. Through the use of ESS, capturing, approving and maintaining employees’ leave becomes a streamlined, paperless process based on customised escalations of workflow items, thereby improving leave management and in the long term reducing the government’s financial liability.

The introduction of ESS System will be phased, with head office going live on 1st April, 2016 and districts will be “switched on” over the next few months, and then to all other institutions.

School Sanitation Report

The Department is committed to improving facilities, including ablution facilities in schools. To this end, a comprehensive audit of state of school ablution facilities was conducted. The assessment indicated that 500 schools have challenges with regard to the ablution facilities. Of these, 50 primary and secondary schools were identified as having the worst sanitation facilities. To date the department can report as follows:

- Interventions in 50 worst schools: broken pipes, taps, doors, seats and bowls; and leaking taps were fixed. The schools are required to maintain the ablution facilities moving forward.

- Ablution facilities were renovated/rehabilitated in 377 schools benefiting from the Grade 12 classrooms ICT roll out. All these facilities were pained maroon to indicate that work has been done and to counteract the tendency of facilities being vandalized either by outsiders or by learners immediately after being fixed.

- It should also be noted that as part of the EPWP process, the Department has deployed 1 541 cleaners in some no-fee schools to augment the work that is done by the general workers who are overwhelmed by the numbers of learners who use the facilities.

- The Department has also entered into a partnership with Sulabh International and Sanlam where toilets in certain schools such as Malvern High School, Malerato Primary School, Hitekani Primary School, IH Harris Primary School have been renovated. In addition in these schools ‘I am possible” clubs have been established with the participation of learners.

There is a teacher who assists the learners to take charge of the facilities and additional spin-offs are that learners are taught leaderships skills in this five year partnership with Sulabh. The clubs from these schools also enter a competition where the best club shown by the results of the maintenance and innovation come into play. In fact the representatives of these clubs have also given testimony to how this approach has improved the utilization and maintenance, and ownership by the learners with the reduction of vandalism.

Legal challenges

Gauteng Department of Education is opposing two applications that are before the court, mainly on admission. The following are matters before the courts:-

- Constitutional Court – Admission Regulations;

- High Court – Admissions process with regard to waiting lists A and B.

Another issue that is under contestation by FEDSAS is the proposed Twinning Regulations under Section 17. Below the issues in these matters will be summarised.

FEDSAS VS GDE – Constitutional Court

The Federation of Governing Bodies of South Africa (FEDSAS) made an application to the High Court to declare the admission regulations null and void. FEDSAS contends that the regulations are ultra vires and not justifiable and reasonable as envisaged in Section 4 of the Gauteng Schools Education Act 6 of 1995. FEDSAS further contends that the regulations are in conflict with the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, as amended.

The matter was heard at the South Gauteng High Court on 22 August 2013. The court held that some of the Regulations were indeed in conflict with the Act. GDE then appealed the aforesaid as the Regulations were enacted by the MEC pursuant to her powers in terms of section 11(1) of the Gauteng Schools Education Act 6 of 1995. 

In view of the above, GDE then applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal and same was granted. The appeal was heard on 25 August 2015 and it was upheld with costs in favour of GDE.

The matter is now at the Constitutional Court, where FEDSAS appealed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal. The matter will be heard on 05th of May 2016 after heads of argument have been served and filed on 05 April 2016.

FEDSAS VS GDE – High Court

FEDSAS took the Department to Court on an urgent basis on 26 May 2015 seeking temporary orders against the Department and judgement was handed down as indicated below. One of the contended issues was the e-Platform, which they later withdrew but the issues of admission and language policies of the school that needs to be considered by the schools prior to admitting learners are still in contention.

They also challenged the discussed possible conversion of Afrikaans school but it was withdrawn too. Further was the determination of schools waiting lists by schools.

The court made the following judgment, that pending the final determination of Part B, the order will operate which is:

- Schools are entitled to prepare and submit waiting lists A and B;

- In so doing, schools may take into account their admission and language policies; and

- The District Director and HOD must, when considering the lists, take into account along with all other relevant and lawful considerations, the schools’ admission and language policies.

The matter is still pending before the court and more issues will be ventilated when it is argued then. What is outstanding according to the papers is the issue of language being used as criteria in making applications for admission.

It has always been argued by the Department that in no uncertain terms language has been used as a criterion for admittance of learners into the schools, neither the South African

Schools Act nor the regulations stipulates language as criteria to admit learners.

All parties have filed Heads of Argument and the Registrar is awaited to provide a date of hearing of which State Attorney has been requested to check with FEDSAS Attorneys.

Equal Education Law Centre (“EE”) has requested to join as Amicus Curiae, which request has not been opposed by either party.

Of importance is to note that EE joins the proceedings in order to neutralize the impasse between the Department and FEDSAS. According to EE the following facts will be their points of departure as per their Heads of Argument:

First, they address the duty of this Court under Section 39(2) of the Constitution;

Second, they describe the powers of the Department and school governing bodies in respect of admissions and school language policies;

Third, they discuss the importance of the Department’s powers for the protection and fulfillment of the right to basic education under Section 29(2) of the Constitution;

Fourth, they explain why the relief sought by FEDSAS would undermine the promotion and protection of learners’ rights to equitable access to education in a chosen language of tuition, and would undermine and obstruct the constitutional imperative of transformation of public education.

Lastly, they set out EE’s understanding of the regulatory system and how a school’s language policy ought to inform the admissions process.

It is anticipated that the application for Amicus Curiae will be done in due course and that after its finalisation; the matter will be set down for hearing. It appears from correspondence between the parties, that parties are eager to have this matter disposed of.

For us as the Department it will be useful for this matter to be finalised before we start with the admissions process for 2017.

Teacher provisioning and changes in staffing levels

For the financial year 2015/16, a total of 8 283 employees left the system, through retirements, resignations, and dismissal. Some of the employees that have left the department have re-entered the system either in the independent schools, SGB posts and critical skills. Of the 8, 283 employees 2 948 are educators.

The passing of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2015 caused a lot of panic and/or uncertainty specifically within the Education sector. These proposed changes, which were intended to have come into effect on the 01^st of March 2016, were meant to remove the differences between a pension and provident fund, in the future with respect to tax deductibility and the cash lump sum that could be taken at the time of retirement.

This, together with the high levels of debt that educators have incurred, presented a good proposition for educators to seek early retirement and/or resignation with an intention of cashing in on their pensions. In the current financial year (15/16) alone, the following resignations both for employees employed under the Employment of Educators Act and the Public Service Act have significance:

Education Budget and outstanding payments

The GDE experienced a budget shortfall to pay several service providers. Due to cash injections from the Department of Basic Education the department has made serious strides to make payments and reduce the number of service providers owed for more than 30 days.

In addition we note and welcome the allocation R39 billion to Education for the 2016/7 budget announced by the MEC for Finance.

Discipline and Misconduct cases against staff

In the year 2015, the department handled a number of disciplinary cases, ranging from corporal punishment, improper conduct, dishonesty, financial mismanagement, sexual assault and harassment as well as abscondment. Of the cases concluded 102 employees received sanctions of dismissals but five (5) of the 102 cases, were overturned on appeal.

The highest number of dismissals comprises of abscondment cases at 64, where employees abandoned their workstations, thus compromising the future of our learners.

The high number of dismissed employees is clearly disturbing as it goes into the heart of employment relations; however the duty to act in good faith and exemplary is a fundamental principle of employment relations.

The second highest category of cases is on sexual assault which mainly includes comments and acts of sexual nature at 11. The department has zero tolerance for this nature of cases and tries to protect our learners from such ills at all cost.

The third highest category is improper conduct at 7, followed by mismanagement of funds at 6, and dishonesty at 5.

The department continues to raise awareness and reinforce the Code of Conduct to ensure professional ethics in the schooling environment. A newsletter was issued to all employees on how to conduct and communicate with learners in a dignified manner

Table 1: Terminations by Category financial year 2015/16

Health and pyscho-social matters

According to the information received from EMIS currently, the number of pregnant learners was 5 248 in Public Schools. This statistics is collated after six months, so this is recent number collected in 2015.

There is a peer education programme that is rolled out in partnership with the Soul City Institute where primary school learners in participating schools establish Soul Buddyz Clubs which deal with issues such as teenage pregnancy and with its effect, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. They would dramatise, develop poems and talk to their peers on the dangers of these.

As part of the Integrated School Health Programme, health workers who are conducting the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to relevant girl learners cover issues of teenage pregnancy and use of drug.

At the secondary school level, the debating societies are encouraged to tackle contentious topics such as teenage pregnancy. Peer pressure and other socio-economic issues lead to teenage pregnancywhich is one of the contributory factor to drop outs and high risk to HIV pandemic. The school based support teams are requested to identify the learners at risks and assist them to avoid getting into traps and where to get condoms to prevent pregnancy.

Currently there is a parent support programme that is facilitated by Matthew Goniwe where workshops are held with the parents of primary and secondary school learners over weekends. The topics are ICT in schools, anti-xenophobia, teenage pregnancy, Satanism, drug abuse, HIV, bullying, sexual violence. In the 2015/16 the programme has reached more than 8 000 parents

Where bullying is taking place, parents are immediately called as part of the means to stop it from spreading. There are prison visits that are arranged for learners with behavioral challenges such as bullying, violence, substance abuse where they interact with rehabilitated prisoners

In the same vein, these learners are taken to camps where a number of organisations would present on the programme they deliver to eliminate any of these tendencies.

Furthermore the education sector which includes the department is part of the GCR Anti-substance Abuse Social Movement Campaign that was launched by the Premier on 4 March 2016.

Disciplinary cases involving learners

The psycho-social challenges in schools are reflected in statistics on expulsion of learners from public schools. In 2015 there were 434 Expulsion cases received from the office of the HOD for investigation. Of these, the following were the types of offences reported:

80% (347) of cases received involved:

- Learners testing positive for illegal narcotic substance e.g Marijuana (dagga)

- Learners in possession of illegal narcotic substance

- Learners selling illegal narcotic substance

- Learners involved in substance abuse (e.g. alcohol consumption).

15% (65) of cases received involved:

- Learners who threatened to assault educators/ learners

- Learners who assaulted / stabbed fellow learners

- Learners stealing eg cell phones, laptops / tablets and other assets from fellow learners and from the school

- Learners in possession of dangerous weapons

- Learners who failed to comply with corrective measures and continued to transgress the School Code of Conduct

5% (22) of cases received involved:

- Learners who disrupt teaching and learning continuously

- Bunking / Absconding school

- Sexual harassment of fellow learners / Engages in acts of public indecency

- Damage to property

- Racist Remarks against fellow learners

School emblems and signage

The Department has received a number of complaints from stakeholders about names of schools that were derogatory or offensive and named after persons whose contribution to democracy are questionable as they promoted segregation and apartheid principles. In addition, some school emblems also portray racial emblems and domination. These are contrary to the Constitution of the Country and therefore need to be reviewed.

It is against this background that the Department has noted the plans by the Afrikaans Muisie Hoerskool to change its school insignia and emblem in memory of the Voortrekkers.

In the light of the above, the Department is putting in place protocols to be followed by schools to ensure that the names of schools, the emblems and mottoes of schools are done in a consultative manner, taking into consideration the principles of democracy. Schools that are already in contravention of this protocol will be afforded an opportunity to change the names of their schools, adopt new emblems and mottoes by the end September 2016.

40th Anniversary of June 16

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the 1976 June 16 student uprisings against bantu education and apartheid. The return of student activism on our campuses highlights both the progress made but also the challenges of transforming higher education. Once more the use of language in education is a contentious issue and requires societal approach for a sustainable solution.

The Gauteng Provincial Government has been accorded the privilege to host the activities to mark this important historic milestone and to the end host the national event on June 16. A programme of action has been developed and will be discussed at the Gauteng Exco on Wednesday.

It spells out a range of activities to commemorate the 40^th Anniversary between March and June 2016. Further government will also make specific announcement to ramp up a suite of services to youth as part of the 40^th anniversary

We call on young people to participate and offer their ideas on commemorating the 40^th Anniversary. Specifically, young people are urged to obtain their IDs and register to vote in the forthcoming local government election.

Issued by the Gauteng Department of Education, 18 March 2016