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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the challenging, yet constructive, findings of the education report issued by Transparency International (TI) today which shows that good governance within provincial education departments and school administration offices plays a major role in determining whether schools succeed or fail. The report – titled “Mapping Transparency, Accountability and Integrity in Primary Education in South Africa” – reveals that low levels of transparency, accountability, integrity and participation in the school system increases the likelihood of corruption and mismanagement, thereby undermining the capacity of schools to operate effectively. This study affirms a truth that the DA has understood since taking office in the Western Cape where we have made accountability one of the centerpieces of our education philosophy. The DA now calls on the African National Congress (ANC) to initiate in the provinces it runs the same type of accountability-enhancing reforms recommended by Transparency International.
Transparency International’s study is based on the results of more than 1500 questionnaires to academic stakeholders in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West. It challenges the conventional narrative promoted by the national department of education that our poor performance is based on a lack of money for schools and a lack of accessibility for learners. Of course, these are important considerations, but this report suggests that our problems may stem more from structural, managerial and ethical deficiencies. It offers a host of useful recommendations for improving monitoring, evaluation and oversight within the education system.
The key benefit of TI’s findings is that it shows that we can improve our schools relatively cheaply. Instituting lines of accountability between teachers, principals and administrators is a structural mechanism that requires no new funds. It simply demands a different relationship between education stakeholders. But the gain of such accountability-enhancing systems would be substantial, as the money that is now wasted through financial mismanagement would be channeled to the programmes that are meant to receive it. This change shows that we do not always need to throw more money at our problems to fix them. Sometimes the solution is free, though it may take courage to implement.
The DA urges all provincial education authorities to take heed of the powerful message of the Transparency International report on South African education, that through better scholastic governance, we can remove the corruption and mismanagement that debilitates our schools and the life chances of our children.