DBE plan for 2014/15 shows Zuma's ANC not serious about education
The Democratic Alliance is disappointed by the vague and non-committal 2014/15 strategic plan of the Department of Basic Education. According to the plan, Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, and her ex-Director-General, Bobby Soobrayan, have failed to set targets for learner outcomes and for almost every measure of education excellence on which she has been found wanting in the past.
There are no targets set for:
- Percentage of schools with a very basic level of school infrastructure;
- Percentage of schools having access to library information service;
- Percentage of learners with a textbook for each subject;
- Percentage of Grade 3 learners performing at the required numeracy and literacy levels;
- Percentage of Grade 6 learners performing at the required mathematics and language levels;
- Percentage of Grade 9 learners performing at the required mathematics and language levels;
- Number of Grade 12 learners passing mathematics;
- Number of Grade 12 learners passing physical science;
- Number of Grade 12 learners who become eligible for a Bachelors programme at university;
- Teacher:learner ratio, or the number of learners in classes of an acceptable defined size;
- Teacher professional development - hours spent in quality training or mentorship interactions;
- Teacher competence assessments; and
- Teacher absenteeism.
Targets for the number of satisfactorily-performing district offices and the level of functionality of school governing bodies have also disappeared, in addition to targets for the implementation of e-learning.
Furthermore, there is no mention of special educational needs, nor multi-grade teaching when a quarter of our learners are in multi-grade environments. This is both disgraceful and inexcusable.