Mr Speaker,

let it be recorded in this house and the people of the province know that “education is in crisis” – I will explain why, but let me first thank the Hon. MEC for the report presented to this house during the last sitting. 

I would like to stress at the outset that the information I will present has been obtained from documents presented to the Portfolio Committee or documents given to the multi-party teams that went out to monitor the opening of schools in January this year. Yes, they were multi-party teams lest we be accused of leading IFP Fault Finding exercises. 

Mr Speaker, one needs to look at the report against the backdrop of the 2007 matric results. It is now a matter for the record books that the overall matric pass rate has been on a slippery slope since 2005. The MEC will argue that the number of learners who sat for the exams has increased by 22 316 but only 11 961 more passed, only 9 637 more received senior certificate passes even though over 22 000 more wrote and only 2 342 more obtained endorsements – even though more than 22 000 wrote and of course the over all pass rate was 63.8%. 

Mr Speaker, what the MEC’s report does not tell us is what is the state of readiness of schools to address the low pass rate that saw 53 672 learners fail matric in KZN last year. What it also does not tell us is what plans there are to address the high drop out rate that saw about 7 000 learners who entered but did not write last year. 

Mr Speaker, the IFP is concerned that the number of schools in the 0-19% pass rate bracket has increased from 29 in 2005 to 41 in 2007 while the number of schools in the 80-99% bracket has declined from 466 in 2005 to 406 in 2007 and those in the 100% bracket has also declined from 96 in 2005 to 78 in 2007 and we do not hear of any tangible plans to stem this slide – hence I say “education is in crisis”. 

Mr Speaker, I now turn to management issues. At the last Portfolio Committee meeting a report was presented on schools in the Coastal Cluster. It was reported that enrolment figures are being inflated by principals – now this is fraud as it impacts on the norms and standards funding that a school gets and the Department needs to urgently investigate how wide spread this practice is and criminally charge those responsible. 

It was also reported that in all districts there is a huge shortage of educators and thanks for this must go to the ANC led government for its short sightedness in closing down many teacher training colleges. Almost 50% of advertised promotion posts remain vacant. 

The Hon. MEC also heard that many educators do not keep a 7 hour day and she informed the meeting that she has seen learners leaving schools as early as 11am. This is blatant disregard for the Hon. MEC’s call for “time on task”. It was also reported that Deputy Principals seem to know more about school management than some Principals. 

Mr Speaker, in the Empangeni District, the monitoring team was given profiles of the schools we were to visit. I found that the information given was blatantly misleading and grossly inaccurate. Eg. In the case of two schools the documents indicated that the schools had electricity and water supply when in fact we could not see evidence of either and the Principals informed us that their schools never had these services. In the case of one of the schools the document indicated that it had a “VIP Toilet”. 

Now Mr Speaker, in the language of the Department “VIP” refers to “Ventilation Improved Pit”, so all one needs to do is to kick out the bottom half of the back wall of a pit toilet and you have a “VIP” toilet.

This kind of inaccurate representation of the facts by senior officials does not allow for physical planners in the department to cater for the needs of the most deserving schools. One school in that district received correspondence dated 12 September 2007 ranking the school in Quintile 5 and then receives another letter dated 02 October 2007 (2 weeks later) ranking the school as Quintile 3. The unfortunate Principal could not get clarity from the department officials. 

I have given these details to the Superintendent General for his attention. One school I visited on the South Coast had received a computer, printer and accessories towards the end of last year and this equipment is useless to the school since the school does not have electricity – so much for responding to the needs of the school. Therefore I say “education is in crisis”. 

Mr Speaker, another matter of serious concern has been left unresolved since the beginning of 2007 and that is to do with the fact that Ward 119 has been without the services of an SEM since the end of 2006 and Hon MEC, you are aware of this issue as it was brought to your attention when you visited Glenover Secondary School in Chatsworth during the first week of school this year. The District Manager was requested by you Hon MEC during that visit to resolve the issue immediately but to date apart from empty promises nothing has happened. 

As a result the schools in that ward have not been serviced during the 2007 academic year and are still not, to the extent that educators did not receive information regarding the programme for the 2007 unsuccessful matric learners and so they have not applied to teach in that programme. 

Mr Speaker, secondary school Principals have been telling me that in many schools about 10 educators per week from grades 11 and 12 are away from school each day as they are attending training in 2 or 3 subjects for the new curriculum. I understand that training needs to be done but the National Curriculum Statement was mooted years ago, so why is training taking place in the year of implementation of the NCS. 

What does the absence of educators from the classroom do to “time on task’? I am also told that at these training sessions facilitators do not arrive on time and that training material is not delivered to the centres concerned. How ready, therefore, are we for the 2008 academic year? 

Mr Speaker, the issue of Quintile ranking of schools has still not been resolved. Many schools that were ranked according to infrastructure and have contested their ranking are still waiting for clarity and in the meantime are buckling under due to the severe financial burdens since the communities that they serve just cannot afford to pay school fees. 

Mr Speaker, having raised some of the serious issues that face us as a province, I believe that what is needed is a “think tank” made up of highly professional, dedicated educationists not political appointees who do not give a fig about the future of education in KZN. We need the cream of our educators and administrators to apply their collective minds to the challenges that we face and come up with viable solutions and not knee-jerk reactions that are doomed to fail even before they get off the ground. 

With regard to the much-talked about Pledge Mr Speaker, I believe that it should be born out of a process of consultation with all stakeholders and then given to schools to breathe life into a document that embraces the ethos of sound educational values.

I thank you. 

Contact: Les Govender, 082 448 8787