KZN learners forced to ignore physical distancing due to massive textbook shortages
31 August 2020
A parliamentary reply (view here) to questions by the Democratic Alliance (DA) has revealed that KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is suffering a severe lack of textbooks at secondary school level, with Grade 8’s and 9’s worst off, with shortages of 50% and 47% respectively.
The response, from KZN Education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu has also revealed a total shortage of 5 475 367 textbooks between Grades 8 and 12.
The DA is alarmed by these figures. The shortage of textbooks is not only compromising our learners’ rights to a quality education, there is now also considerable cause for concern with the current health pandemic. It is unacceptable that they should have to compromise their own safety and ignore physical distancing regulations - in order to crowd around a single textbook - simply as a result of the DoE’s own inability to secure sufficient learning materials. This, despite more than a billion rands being set aside for the purchase of Learner and Teacher Support Materials [LTSM] in each year's budget.
The sharing of textbooks also compromises teaching and learning, placing educators under enormous strain to complete the syllabus while being forced to teach at a slower pace to accommodate this lack of resources. Then there are the learners themselves who are not able to study from their own textbooks or even take them home for the purpose of additional studying.
KZN’s Department of Education (DoE) has meanwhile blamed the textbook shortages on;
The high prices and larger quota of textbooks at secondary school level
The greater funding demand at secondary school level which is not supported by current funding regulations and;
The high annual damages and losses by learners. According to the reply, the value of damages and losses for secondary grades in 2019 was estimated at R89.5 million.
In a bid to alleviate the issue of textbooks being shared during the current Covid-19 crisis, the DoE purchased 657 781 units of textbooks which were delivered to 1 318 secondary schools during the pandemic. The DoE has also allocated an amount of R521.7million for 2021 to public ordinary schools for the purchase of textbooks. Orders are expected to be placed by 31 August and delivery is expected to take place by December.
It is an indictment against the DoE that after 26 years of democracy, learners are still being forced to share textbooks. This is a matter that MEC Mshengu must address without further delay. There cannot be a situation where our learners are struggling to do well as a result of a lack of access to resources which they are entitled to.
The current pandemic has caused the DoE’s fig leaf to fall, exposing the lack of commitment to delivering a quality education in a safe and resourced environment. Instead, there is one scandal after another with this ANC-led government at the helm. This must be remedied through the ballot box. The alternative is more of the same lack of accountability and boldness while our own – and our children’s – futures are ruined.
Issued by Imran Keeka, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 31 August 2020
