Date: 15/02/2007
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Cronje: Report on re-opening of schools and plans for improvement
Report to legislature on the re-opening of schools for the 2007 school year and the plan to improve learner achievement in underperforming high schools, by MEC for Education Ms Ina Cronje, KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Pietermaritzburg
Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members:
I thank you for providing me with the opportunity to report on the re-opening of schools for the 2007 school year and to brief the legislature on our Department's plan to eliminate dysfunction and improve performance in our underperforming high schools.
1. Re-opening of schools
The year 2007 saw an unprecedented effort by the Premier, members of our legislature and officials of the departments of education and works to ensure that education gets off to a good start on the first day of the school year. This truly gave meaning to the old saying that education is everybody's business.
Members of the legislature and our officials worked tirelessly for three days, from 17 to 19 January 2007, traversing the length and the breadth of KwaZulu-Natal with the aim of getting KwaZulu-Natal learning from the first day. Twelve teams were formed consisting of both members of the legislature and departmental officials to monitor the functionality of a sample of 108 schools in all districts.
We organised the monitoring visits with the aim of establishing:
* whether schools started well on the very first day
* whether all the necessary and critical resources and systems were in place to ensure the functionality of our schools.
In this report, I shall provide a summary of the general picture that emerged from the visits to the 108 schools and our general impression of the situation in the rest of our 6 000 schools.
Teaching and learning on day one:
It was evident that the overwhelming majority of schools began teaching and learning on day one. In fact we witnessed and received reports from many schools that began classes a week before the official opening date. These include schools in both affluent and less affluent areas of our province.
The small minority of schools that appeared not to have started teaching were found to be:
* still busy enrolling learners
* having some of their educators out writing university examinations
* having principals who did not seem to have plans for ensuring that there were no classrooms without a teacher.
In instances where such evidence was found, we sent our officials to again visit the schools and to ensure that teachers and learners were in classrooms doing what they came to school for that is, teaching and learning respectively.
Teacher attendance
The visits to the 108 schools showed that a large majority of schools had an educator attendance of over 90% during the first week of school. Whilst this is an improvement, it is still unacceptable as we expect 100% attendance from our teachers and principals. Where they are absent for legitimate reasons such as serious illness, contingency plans must be made.
It is therefore a matter of concern that in some schools teacher absenteeism varied from one to four. This matter will be given attention in the follow-up visits by our ward and circuit officials. This is crucial if we are to capitalise on the gains made thus far in regard to the functionality of schools from the first day of the school year.
Learner attendance
The picture emerging from the monitoring reports of the 108 schools is that learner attendance was very good, with most schools recording learner attendance figures of over 95%.
Eighty-seven of the 108 schools (81%) visited by members of the legislature and our officials had provisional attendance registers. The rest of the schools were still registering new learners who had showed up in the new school year and therefore could not produce properly marked class attendance registers.
Honourable Speaker, I am disappointed that we still see many learners seeking to register in January despite our campaign through radio, the print media, posters and pamphlets for parents and guardians to register the children between September and November of the previous year. We appeal to parents to act responsibly in future and enrol their children from September to November this year for the following year, 2008. Delivery of learning and teaching support materials
The delivery of textbooks and stationery is a matter that has occupied my mind since I assumed office. I am on record as having said that we shall not rest until we have perfected the procurement and delivery of textbooks and stationery to our schools, especially non-section 21 schools.
I am happy to report that the delivery of textbooks for the 2007 school year showed significant improvement from 2006. This was also evident in the fact that 95% of the schools visited by honourable Members had 100% deliveries in terms of basic stationery and textbooks. Five percent had outstanding deliveries in specific grades, especially grade 9 in respect of textbooks. It was also ascertained that some of the schools claiming not to have received their orders had not placed orders at all, while others had submitted orders as late as December 2006.
The textbook delivery story for the rest of our schools can be told by the categorisation of schools into groups, namely Category A and Category B. Category A schools were schools that placed their orders on time and with correct details. These schools had all their available textbooks (not out of print) delivered by 30 November 2006.
The Category B schools were schools that placed their orders late and submitted incorrect requisitions. Schools with Grade 9 fall into this category, as the Grade 9 catalogue was only published by the national Department of Education in September 2006, leading to those schools placing their orders late. Due to administrative difficulties in regard to Umzimkhulu, schools in this circuit also fell into this category. I am happy to report that this has now been resolved.
The managing agent responsible for textbooks also faced the challenge of publishers informing the agent that there were books that had been ordered but were out of print. Those books had to be reprinted wherever the numbers ordered justified reprinting, hence some of the out of print books were delivered late to the managing agent others are still not available from publishers.
Therefore, to date, all schools have had textbook deliveries of all available titles made to them. We were assured by the managing agent that the outstanding out of print textbooks that have not reached some schools would do so by 15 March 2007, provided that the publishers fulfil their undertakings to the managing agent.
In regard to stationery, honourable members are aware of an ongoing dispute between the Department of Education and Indiza. Indiza demanded to be paid an amount of R128 million rand for previous work. I wish to reiterate that at the time Indiza indicated that they would stop deliveries and refused all communication with the Department, almost all schools had received basic stationery such as exercise books, pens and pencils. Learning and teaching should therefore not have been adversely affected by Indiza's actions. In addition, reports from our schools and circuits indicate that some deliveries are indeed still taking place.
Only eight schools have now reported to us that they have not received the core stationery from Indiza. The Department is currently analysing the status of the schools and the orders supposedly placed with Indiza. It is only then that we can verify whether the schools did place orders or whether they should have ordered stationery on their own, depending on whether or not they are section 21 schools. Section 21 schools had the 2007 school funding norms allocation transferred to them in the second half of 2006 already and would therefore be able to purchase their own stationery from an alternative supplier should Indiza fail to deliver.
Let me place it on record that the sum of R128 million owed by the Department is not in dispute. The issue is who it is that the Department should pay. The Department awarded a contract to a joint venture called Indiza Motswedi. However, the invoices received came from Indiza Infrastructure Solutions, a different legal entity. We therefore cannot pay this entity without risking litigation against us from Motswedi. We have organised several meetings between Indiza and ourselves, five of which were unilaterally called off by Indiza. We believe firmly that it is in everyone's interest if this matter were to be speedily resolved through the Department being provided with invoices from Indiza Motswedi as well as details of their bank account. I wish to signal that we have no intention of leaving this matter to go on without an end. In this regard, should such details not be provided, we intend approaching the High Court to expedite the resolution of this matter.
National School Nutrition Programme
The monitoring visits to primary schools that form part of the National School Nutrition Programme found this area to be well organised, with the exception of a few cases where about five schools had no cooking space. This matter will be considered as part of a broader rollout of cooking facilities to schools that lack such facilities. The rollouts of these facilities understandably compete for the same funds with the classroom construction and sanitation programme.
Physical condition of schools
Honourable Speaker, our monitoring visits to schools had good and not so good stories to tell in regard to toilets in the schools visited. For most of the schools, the provision of toilets was found to be adequate. In some of the schools we visited the renovation and construction of toilets was in progress.
There were however six schools that had acute problems with ablution facilities, among these being inappropriate structures. The hygienic state of ablution facilities in many other schools visited was less satisfactory.
In respect of classrooms, the situation was also found to have positives and negatives. It was established that while space was still a problem in some schools, many were on the fast-track infrastructure development programme and the system was pulling out all stops to provide more classrooms and to do renovations on aging structures.
Honourable Speaker, lest we forget, I wish to remind the House of the physical infrastructure legacy that we inherited when I assumed office in 2004:
* there was a backlog of over 14 600 classrooms
* 32% of schools (about 1 900) were in extremely poor physical condition
* 34% of schools (about 2 000) had no administration buildings
* 51% of schools (about 3 000) had pit latrines * about 500 schools had no toilets at all
* 60% of schools (about 4 000) had no electricity supply
* there was a severe shortage of school libraries and laboratories.
It is with this context in mind that any judgment on our achievements in the past two and half years has to be made. As some would say, "judge us not by the heights we have not yet climbed, but by the depths from which we come".
While we still have a long way to go to address infrastructure inadequacies in our schools, we have recorded significant progress since 2004. In the 2004/05 financial year, we built 1 153 classrooms, in 2005/06 we built 1 571 classrooms and as at 31 January 2007 we have completed 1 039 classrooms in the 2006/07 financial year. In all, we have thus far built 3 763 new classrooms and in addition 15 new state of the art schools.
During the same period, we have done even better in building new toilets in our schools. In 2004/05 we built 2 728 toilets, while in 2005/06 we built 3 001 toilets and as at 31 January 2007 we have built 1 830 toilets in the current financial year. This represents a massive 7 559 new toilets built since 2004.
We shall not rest until the dignity of our people has been restored through the provision of proper physical infrastructure in our schools. As far as this area is concerned, for us it is A luta Continua!
Overall observation
Honourable Speaker, despite all the challenges encountered by our schools, I am pleased to conclude that teaching and learning in the vast majority of our schools started with a big bang at the beginning of the 2007 school year. Our call for school functionality from day one is yielding positive fruit.
2. Plan to improve performance in grade 12
Honourable Speaker, when I announced the results of the senior certificate examination on 28 December 2006, I indicated that the Department would take bold steps and adopt a plan to improve learner achievement in underperforming high schools in the province. I am pleased to announce that after a summit held in Durban on 25 January 2007, the Department adopted a comprehensive plan as part of the national strategy on learner attainment to improve performance in schools that achieved a pass rate of less than 50% in the 2006 senior certificate examination. The plan is organised according to nine key performance areas that require of different components of the department, principals and teachers to perform certain functions to enhance teaching and learning (see annexure A).
The first key performance area is the provision of critical resources. In this area we aim to provide underperforming schools with their full quota of textbooks by today, 15 February, which according to reports that we are busy verifying we have done, to provide severely underperforming schools that have acute classroom shortages with mobile classrooms by 30 March, to urgently fill all vacant teaching posts in key subjects by 1 April and to provide underperforming schools with learning and assessment guides, video and audio materials in key subjects such as English second language, mathematics, biology, physical science, economics, history, geography and travel and tourism.
The second key performance area is teaching and learning. In this area, principals and teachers have been directed to organise study periods at school outside instructional time (after school and weekends) and to set homework regularly. The Department will also organise winter schools to support learners in underperforming schools.
In the third key performance area of teacher support, teachers will hold monthly subject meetings to share teaching ideas, discuss common controlled tests and to review learner performance in their subjects. The Department will also be deploying retired teachers in key subjects to support teachers in underperforming schools. The Department will also be employing more subject advisors in key subjects during the year. I am pleased to report that advertisements inviting applications in this regard have already been published by all major Sunday newspapers. The fourth key performance area is learner assessment. This area seeks to strengthen the assessment of learners and to better prepare them to face the demands of an examination such as the senior certificate examination. In this regard, schools will be setting common controlled tests in key subjects and the Department will be setting quarterly tests and a trial examination in key subjects to be written by all underperforming schools.
The fifth key area of performance is management and governance. In this area, the Department will be deploying special task teams drawn from a pool of retired managers to support principals of underperforming schools. Principals of underperforming schools will be twinned with principals of high performing schools for purposes of mentoring and the former will also be offered targeted short training programmes to improve their management repertoire. All principals of underperforming schools are expected to monitor teaching and learning including the coverage of the curriculum, the setting of homework and assessments and learner performance throughout the year.
In the sixth key performance area, principals of schools that achieved pass rates of less than 50% in the 2006 senior certificate examination had to submit turnaround plans for their schools by 2 February 2007. I am pleased to report that this was complied with. I am however concerned that some of the turnaround plans require major revision. The Department is already assisting the principals concerned to revise their plans in line with the provincial plan.
Under the seventh key performance area of community involvement, we aim to encourage improved participation of parents and local communities in the wellbeing of the underperforming schools, which often have disturbingly low levels of community involvement. In this regard, parents and guardians will be kept abreast of their children's progress on a quarterly basis. An advocacy campaign will also be conducted by underperforming schools during March 2007 to mobilise parents and guardians to provide learners with space and time to do school work at home. Schools have also been directed to identify local expertise (in the form of electricians, artisans, retired teachers, etc) to assist in specific areas of the school's operation on a voluntary basis.
The eighth key performance area is monitoring. Principals are expected to ensure that teachers and learners are in classrooms at appropriate times. The sight of large numbers of learners roaming the local streets during school time is truly intolerable. Ward managers will be monitoring the implementation of the turnaround plans of underperforming schools on a regular basis. Occasionally, ward managers will base their operations at underperforming schools to enhance monitoring and support.
The ninth and final area of key performance is accountability. In this area, we aim to hold schools, principals and managers to account for the performance of their schools. In this regard, a school that obtains a senior certificate pass rate of 50% or less for two consecutive years will be declared a special measures school. Principals and management teams of special measures schools will be required to undergo compulsory training in key competences of school management, during which time an acting principal would be appointed. Where such support provided to the principal of a special measures school does not yield any fruit, the Department will consider redeploying that principal to another function outside school principalship. A school's overall pass rate and pass rates in individual subjects will be considered in the annual appraisal of principals and learners. Each underperforming high school will set a learner achievement target for the senior certificate examination. Such targets will also be set for ward managers whose schools are on average underperforming.
We adopted this plan with the view to ensuring effective learning. Our focus is ultimately the classroom, to get KwaZulu-Natal learning. In this regard, we are urging all officials, principals and teachers to be guided by the clarion call of our plan, 'Gijima, back to the classroom!'
I am currently on a programme to meet the principals of all underperforming schools in the province. I have so far been to the lowest achieving districts of Obonjeni and Umzinyathi. Tomorrow I shall be in Ulundi to meet principals in the Northern Cluster, while meetings with principals of the Midlands and Coastal Clusters would be held next week. These meetings are aimed at communicating our plan to the principals, getting them to adapt their own turnaround plans in line with the provincial plan to lay down the law in respect of their responsibilities as leaders and managers and to motivate them.
Honourable Speaker, I count on the support of the honourable members of this legislature to ensure that the provincial plan which is attached to this report, works and that the schools of the poor are turned around to provide quality education which is the only ticket out of poverty for millions of our people.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
15 February 2007
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Cronje: Report on re-opening of schools and plans for improvement
Report to legislature on the re-opening of schools for the 2007 school year and the plan to improve learner achievement in underperforming high schools, by MEC for Education Ms Ina Cronje, KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Pietermaritzburg
Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members:
I thank you for providing me with the opportunity to report on the re-opening of schools for the 2007 school year and to brief the legislature on our Department's plan to eliminate dysfunction and improve performance in our underperforming high schools.
1. Re-opening of schools
The year 2007 saw an unprecedented effort by the Premier, members of our legislature and officials of the departments of education and works to ensure that education gets off to a good start on the first day of the school year. This truly gave meaning to the old saying that education is everybody's business.
Members of the legislature and our officials worked tirelessly for three days, from 17 to 19 January 2007, traversing the length and the breadth of KwaZulu-Natal with the aim of getting KwaZulu-Natal learning from the first day. Twelve teams were formed consisting of both members of the legislature and departmental officials to monitor the functionality of a sample of 108 schools in all districts.
We organised the monitoring visits with the aim of establishing:
* whether schools started well on the very first day
* whether all the necessary and critical resources and systems were in place to ensure the functionality of our schools.
In this report, I shall provide a summary of the general picture that emerged from the visits to the 108 schools and our general impression of the situation in the rest of our 6 000 schools.
Teaching and learning on day one:
It was evident that the overwhelming majority of schools began teaching and learning on day one. In fact we witnessed and received reports from many schools that began classes a week before the official opening date. These include schools in both affluent and less affluent areas of our province.
The small minority of schools that appeared not to have started teaching were found to be:
* still busy enrolling learners
* having some of their educators out writing university examinations
* having principals who did not seem to have plans for ensuring that there were no classrooms without a teacher.
In instances where such evidence was found, we sent our officials to again visit the schools and to ensure that teachers and learners were in classrooms doing what they came to school for that is, teaching and learning respectively.
Teacher attendance
The visits to the 108 schools showed that a large majority of schools had an educator attendance of over 90% during the first week of school. Whilst this is an improvement, it is still unacceptable as we expect 100% attendance from our teachers and principals. Where they are absent for legitimate reasons such as serious illness, contingency plans must be made.
It is therefore a matter of concern that in some schools teacher absenteeism varied from one to four. This matter will be given attention in the follow-up visits by our ward and circuit officials. This is crucial if we are to capitalise on the gains made thus far in regard to the functionality of schools from the first day of the school year.
Learner attendance
The picture emerging from the monitoring reports of the 108 schools is that learner attendance was very good, with most schools recording learner attendance figures of over 95%.
Eighty-seven of the 108 schools (81%) visited by members of the legislature and our officials had provisional attendance registers. The rest of the schools were still registering new learners who had showed up in the new school year and therefore could not produce properly marked class attendance registers.
Honourable Speaker, I am disappointed that we still see many learners seeking to register in January despite our campaign through radio, the print media, posters and pamphlets for parents and guardians to register the children between September and November of the previous year. We appeal to parents to act responsibly in future and enrol their children from September to November this year for the following year, 2008. Delivery of learning and teaching support materials
The delivery of textbooks and stationery is a matter that has occupied my mind since I assumed office. I am on record as having said that we shall not rest until we have perfected the procurement and delivery of textbooks and stationery to our schools, especially non-section 21 schools.
I am happy to report that the delivery of textbooks for the 2007 school year showed significant improvement from 2006. This was also evident in the fact that 95% of the schools visited by honourable Members had 100% deliveries in terms of basic stationery and textbooks. Five percent had outstanding deliveries in specific grades, especially grade 9 in respect of textbooks. It was also ascertained that some of the schools claiming not to have received their orders had not placed orders at all, while others had submitted orders as late as December 2006.
The textbook delivery story for the rest of our schools can be told by the categorisation of schools into groups, namely Category A and Category B. Category A schools were schools that placed their orders on time and with correct details. These schools had all their available textbooks (not out of print) delivered by 30 November 2006.
The Category B schools were schools that placed their orders late and submitted incorrect requisitions. Schools with Grade 9 fall into this category, as the Grade 9 catalogue was only published by the national Department of Education in September 2006, leading to those schools placing their orders late. Due to administrative difficulties in regard to Umzimkhulu, schools in this circuit also fell into this category. I am happy to report that this has now been resolved.
The managing agent responsible for textbooks also faced the challenge of publishers informing the agent that there were books that had been ordered but were out of print. Those books had to be reprinted wherever the numbers ordered justified reprinting, hence some of the out of print books were delivered late to the managing agent others are still not available from publishers.
Therefore, to date, all schools have had textbook deliveries of all available titles made to them. We were assured by the managing agent that the outstanding out of print textbooks that have not reached some schools would do so by 15 March 2007, provided that the publishers fulfil their undertakings to the managing agent.
In regard to stationery, honourable members are aware of an ongoing dispute between the Department of Education and Indiza. Indiza demanded to be paid an amount of R128 million rand for previous work. I wish to reiterate that at the time Indiza indicated that they would stop deliveries and refused all communication with the Department, almost all schools had received basic stationery such as exercise books, pens and pencils. Learning and teaching should therefore not have been adversely affected by Indiza's actions. In addition, reports from our schools and circuits indicate that some deliveries are indeed still taking place.
Only eight schools have now reported to us that they have not received the core stationery from Indiza. The Department is currently analysing the status of the schools and the orders supposedly placed with Indiza. It is only then that we can verify whether the schools did place orders or whether they should have ordered stationery on their own, depending on whether or not they are section 21 schools. Section 21 schools had the 2007 school funding norms allocation transferred to them in the second half of 2006 already and would therefore be able to purchase their own stationery from an alternative supplier should Indiza fail to deliver.
Let me place it on record that the sum of R128 million owed by the Department is not in dispute. The issue is who it is that the Department should pay. The Department awarded a contract to a joint venture called Indiza Motswedi. However, the invoices received came from Indiza Infrastructure Solutions, a different legal entity. We therefore cannot pay this entity without risking litigation against us from Motswedi. We have organised several meetings between Indiza and ourselves, five of which were unilaterally called off by Indiza. We believe firmly that it is in everyone's interest if this matter were to be speedily resolved through the Department being provided with invoices from Indiza Motswedi as well as details of their bank account. I wish to signal that we have no intention of leaving this matter to go on without an end. In this regard, should such details not be provided, we intend approaching the High Court to expedite the resolution of this matter.
National School Nutrition Programme
The monitoring visits to primary schools that form part of the National School Nutrition Programme found this area to be well organised, with the exception of a few cases where about five schools had no cooking space. This matter will be considered as part of a broader rollout of cooking facilities to schools that lack such facilities. The rollouts of these facilities understandably compete for the same funds with the classroom construction and sanitation programme.
Physical condition of schools
Honourable Speaker, our monitoring visits to schools had good and not so good stories to tell in regard to toilets in the schools visited. For most of the schools, the provision of toilets was found to be adequate. In some of the schools we visited the renovation and construction of toilets was in progress.
There were however six schools that had acute problems with ablution facilities, among these being inappropriate structures. The hygienic state of ablution facilities in many other schools visited was less satisfactory.
In respect of classrooms, the situation was also found to have positives and negatives. It was established that while space was still a problem in some schools, many were on the fast-track infrastructure development programme and the system was pulling out all stops to provide more classrooms and to do renovations on aging structures.
Honourable Speaker, lest we forget, I wish to remind the House of the physical infrastructure legacy that we inherited when I assumed office in 2004:
* there was a backlog of over 14 600 classrooms
* 32% of schools (about 1 900) were in extremely poor physical condition
* 34% of schools (about 2 000) had no administration buildings
* 51% of schools (about 3 000) had pit latrines * about 500 schools had no toilets at all
* 60% of schools (about 4 000) had no electricity supply
* there was a severe shortage of school libraries and laboratories.
It is with this context in mind that any judgment on our achievements in the past two and half years has to be made. As some would say, "judge us not by the heights we have not yet climbed, but by the depths from which we come".
While we still have a long way to go to address infrastructure inadequacies in our schools, we have recorded significant progress since 2004. In the 2004/05 financial year, we built 1 153 classrooms, in 2005/06 we built 1 571 classrooms and as at 31 January 2007 we have completed 1 039 classrooms in the 2006/07 financial year. In all, we have thus far built 3 763 new classrooms and in addition 15 new state of the art schools.
During the same period, we have done even better in building new toilets in our schools. In 2004/05 we built 2 728 toilets, while in 2005/06 we built 3 001 toilets and as at 31 January 2007 we have built 1 830 toilets in the current financial year. This represents a massive 7 559 new toilets built since 2004.
We shall not rest until the dignity of our people has been restored through the provision of proper physical infrastructure in our schools. As far as this area is concerned, for us it is A luta Continua!
Overall observation
Honourable Speaker, despite all the challenges encountered by our schools, I am pleased to conclude that teaching and learning in the vast majority of our schools started with a big bang at the beginning of the 2007 school year. Our call for school functionality from day one is yielding positive fruit.
2. Plan to improve performance in grade 12
Honourable Speaker, when I announced the results of the senior certificate examination on 28 December 2006, I indicated that the Department would take bold steps and adopt a plan to improve learner achievement in underperforming high schools in the province. I am pleased to announce that after a summit held in Durban on 25 January 2007, the Department adopted a comprehensive plan as part of the national strategy on learner attainment to improve performance in schools that achieved a pass rate of less than 50% in the 2006 senior certificate examination. The plan is organised according to nine key performance areas that require of different components of the department, principals and teachers to perform certain functions to enhance teaching and learning (see annexure A).
The first key performance area is the provision of critical resources. In this area we aim to provide underperforming schools with their full quota of textbooks by today, 15 February, which according to reports that we are busy verifying we have done, to provide severely underperforming schools that have acute classroom shortages with mobile classrooms by 30 March, to urgently fill all vacant teaching posts in key subjects by 1 April and to provide underperforming schools with learning and assessment guides, video and audio materials in key subjects such as English second language, mathematics, biology, physical science, economics, history, geography and travel and tourism.
The second key performance area is teaching and learning. In this area, principals and teachers have been directed to organise study periods at school outside instructional time (after school and weekends) and to set homework regularly. The Department will also organise winter schools to support learners in underperforming schools.
In the third key performance area of teacher support, teachers will hold monthly subject meetings to share teaching ideas, discuss common controlled tests and to review learner performance in their subjects. The Department will also be deploying retired teachers in key subjects to support teachers in underperforming schools. The Department will also be employing more subject advisors in key subjects during the year. I am pleased to report that advertisements inviting applications in this regard have already been published by all major Sunday newspapers. The fourth key performance area is learner assessment. This area seeks to strengthen the assessment of learners and to better prepare them to face the demands of an examination such as the senior certificate examination. In this regard, schools will be setting common controlled tests in key subjects and the Department will be setting quarterly tests and a trial examination in key subjects to be written by all underperforming schools.
The fifth key area of performance is management and governance. In this area, the Department will be deploying special task teams drawn from a pool of retired managers to support principals of underperforming schools. Principals of underperforming schools will be twinned with principals of high performing schools for purposes of mentoring and the former will also be offered targeted short training programmes to improve their management repertoire. All principals of underperforming schools are expected to monitor teaching and learning including the coverage of the curriculum, the setting of homework and assessments and learner performance throughout the year.
In the sixth key performance area, principals of schools that achieved pass rates of less than 50% in the 2006 senior certificate examination had to submit turnaround plans for their schools by 2 February 2007. I am pleased to report that this was complied with. I am however concerned that some of the turnaround plans require major revision. The Department is already assisting the principals concerned to revise their plans in line with the provincial plan.
Under the seventh key performance area of community involvement, we aim to encourage improved participation of parents and local communities in the wellbeing of the underperforming schools, which often have disturbingly low levels of community involvement. In this regard, parents and guardians will be kept abreast of their children's progress on a quarterly basis. An advocacy campaign will also be conducted by underperforming schools during March 2007 to mobilise parents and guardians to provide learners with space and time to do school work at home. Schools have also been directed to identify local expertise (in the form of electricians, artisans, retired teachers, etc) to assist in specific areas of the school's operation on a voluntary basis.
The eighth key performance area is monitoring. Principals are expected to ensure that teachers and learners are in classrooms at appropriate times. The sight of large numbers of learners roaming the local streets during school time is truly intolerable. Ward managers will be monitoring the implementation of the turnaround plans of underperforming schools on a regular basis. Occasionally, ward managers will base their operations at underperforming schools to enhance monitoring and support.
The ninth and final area of key performance is accountability. In this area, we aim to hold schools, principals and managers to account for the performance of their schools. In this regard, a school that obtains a senior certificate pass rate of 50% or less for two consecutive years will be declared a special measures school. Principals and management teams of special measures schools will be required to undergo compulsory training in key competences of school management, during which time an acting principal would be appointed. Where such support provided to the principal of a special measures school does not yield any fruit, the Department will consider redeploying that principal to another function outside school principalship. A school's overall pass rate and pass rates in individual subjects will be considered in the annual appraisal of principals and learners. Each underperforming high school will set a learner achievement target for the senior certificate examination. Such targets will also be set for ward managers whose schools are on average underperforming.
We adopted this plan with the view to ensuring effective learning. Our focus is ultimately the classroom, to get KwaZulu-Natal learning. In this regard, we are urging all officials, principals and teachers to be guided by the clarion call of our plan, 'Gijima, back to the classroom!'
I am currently on a programme to meet the principals of all underperforming schools in the province. I have so far been to the lowest achieving districts of Obonjeni and Umzinyathi. Tomorrow I shall be in Ulundi to meet principals in the Northern Cluster, while meetings with principals of the Midlands and Coastal Clusters would be held next week. These meetings are aimed at communicating our plan to the principals, getting them to adapt their own turnaround plans in line with the provincial plan to lay down the law in respect of their responsibilities as leaders and managers and to motivate them.
Honourable Speaker, I count on the support of the honourable members of this legislature to ensure that the provincial plan which is attached to this report, works and that the schools of the poor are turned around to provide quality education which is the only ticket out of poverty for millions of our people.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
15 February 2007
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