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In his Budget Speech earlier this year, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan singled out the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) as government’s key intervention to improve schooling.
However, in a reply to a parliamentary question, Minister Motshekga today revealed that the NECT is having no impact where it is implemented, despite expenditure of a quarter of a billion rand.
Minister Motshekga’s reply reveals that, since the NECT was established in 2013, almost R 270 million has been spent in 8 priority districts:
| Priority districts | *2013/14 | 2015 |
| R’000 | R’000 | |
| North West Province: Bojanala District | 4 103 994 | 11 378 312 |
| Mpumalanga Province: Bohlabela District | 4 483 993 | 12 431 859 |
| Limpopo Province: Waterberg District | 15 027 884 | 31 100 088 |
| Limpopo Province: Vhembe District | 16 064 289 | 33 244 922 |
| Eastern Cape Province: Mt Frere District | 13 009 705 | 11 423 206 |
| Eastern Cape Province: Libode District | 13 877 019 | 12 184 753 |
| KwaZulu-Natal Province: Pinetown District | 14 727 994 | 25 827 008 |
| KwaZulu-Natal Province: UThungulu District | 18 348 283 | 32 175 546 |
Despite this expenditure, the matric pass rate has declined in all but one of the districts targeted by the NECT:
| Priority districts | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| North West Province: Bojanala District | 87.2% | 84.6% | 81.5% |
| Mpumalanga Province: Bohlabela District | 72.0% | 76.8% | 76.7% |
| Limpopo Province: Waterberg District | 70.6% | 70.5% | 58.1% |
| Limpopo Province: Vhembe District | 80.6% | 81.1% | 74.7% |
| Eastern Cape Province: Mt Frere District | 58.8% | 55.1% | 55.1% |
| Eastern Cape Province: Libode District | 60.1% | 62.4% | 48.6% |
| KwaZulu-Natal Province: Pinetown District | 81.5% | 75.8% | 64.6% |
| KwaZulu-Natal Province: uThungulu District | 72.7% | 64.0% | 54.6% |
In the uThungulu District of KwaZulu-Natal, for example, the pass rate dropped by 18.1% from 72.7% in 2013 to 54.6% in 2015. The average drop in pass rate across all 8 priority districts was 8.7%.
These statistics rather undermine Minister Gordhan’s faith in the NECT as the solution to our schooling crisis. We call on Minister Motshekga to provide a detailed report-back on the performance of the NECT in her Budget Speech on Tuesday.
Issued by DA
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