Cabinet has approved the release of the report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee into the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The committee was appointed in May 2020 to look into the business processes, systems and capacity of the NSFAS to deliver on its mandate, acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said on Thursday.

“The investigation focused on the root causes of the problems experienced by NSFAS and the implementation of the new bursary scheme since 2018. The enquiry provided valuable recommendations towards improving the operations of NSFAS.

“Cabinet appreciated that some of these recommendations have already been implemented,” she said at a media briefing.

The report can be accessed through the Department of Higher Education and Training website on www.dhet.gov.za. 

National Infrastructure Plan 2050 

Meanwhile, Cabinet also approved the publication of the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) 2050 for public comment.

The plan details the country’s infrastructure investment drive, which also integrates African economies through some of its regional projects.

In addition to driving economic growth, Ntshavheni said the NIP would also address the legacy of apartheid spatial injustices.

“It is anchored on the participation of government, business, State-owned entities and civil society.

“Its priority sectors include energy, freight transport, water and digital communication.

“The NIP 2050 will soon be gazetted for public consultation,” the Minister said.

Consolidating support for business 

Ntshavheni said Cabinet also approved the incorporation of the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) and Cooperative Banks Development Agency (CBDA) into the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).

The merger of these entities will enable an integrated government support to small, micro and medium enterprises, as well as cooperatives with effect from 1 April 2022.

“A proposed single agency will provide both financial and non-financial support to these businesses. By pooling all the resources together, the agency will be more impactful and accessible in all the districts and metros,” Ntshavheni said.

The approved incorporation will result in the reclassification of SEDA (which will be renamed later) in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act 1 of 1999) from a Schedule 3A to a Schedule 2 entity.

Cabinet approved the extension of the Board of SEFA to 31 March 2022 to enable the alignment to the commencement of the transitional arrangement. – SAnews.gov.za

THE country’s biggest teacher unions have formally requested an urgent meeting with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and senior officials of her department to discuss the proposed narrowing of social distancing at schools from the gazetted 1 meter to half a meter.

The teacher unions – I.E, NAPTOSA, NATU, PEU, SADTU AND SAOU – claim that they were not consulted in regard to the new proposed reduced social distance of 0,5m in primary schools.

This comes after Motshekga said last week that the department had requested a meeting Cabinet and the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) for the social distancing regulations to be amended so that schools can go back to teaching normally.   

The unions have questioned the rationale behind Motshekga’s proposed narrowing of social distancing at schools. 

The unions have also warned that should the NCC approve the proposal, they could turn to the courts to oppose the move. 

“It is our contention that this matter must be the subject of genuine consultations with the organised teaching profession and that it must be supported by scientific evidence that the planned reduction will not lead to further infections among learners, educators and members of the broader community,” said the teacher unions in a statement.

“No scientific evidence thus far has been provided to the unions in connection with the acceptability of such a reduction.”

The unions said this new development takes place after the publication of the new Department of Basic Education (DBE) COVID-19 Directions on July 31 2021 that determine social distance as 1m.

“But, despite warnings from the teacher unions that 1m social distancing is not possible when all primary school learners return to school, it is clear after two school days that compliance with the 1m social distancing is virtually impossible when the traditional time table is followed,” said the unions.

“Our advice to schools in the interim is that where the 1m cannot be complied with, the schools should follow the deviation provisions as contained in the Gazette and to continue with rotational timetabling. This is done in the best interest of the child, educators and the community and to ensure that schools do not become super-spreaders but rather the barriers against the transmission.”

Despite fierce criticism from the teachers unions, Motshekga insists that her department would table a proposal at the National Coronavirus Command Council to lower the COVID-19 social distancing between primary school kids from the gazetted 1 meter to half a meter.

She argued that the scientific data shows this is still safe for kids and is also practiced overseas.

In June, the department published a set of coronavirus guidelines saying that “schools are potential risk areas for the spread of the virus” and that the guidelines have been developed to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading at schools.

The department further emphasised that hygiene and physical distancing at schools need to be strictly adhered to, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

More than 1 650 teachers died due to COVID-19 related complications between March 2020 and February this year.

Motshekga said as far as vaccination plans were concerned, the education sector had targeted 582 000 personnel in the Basic Education Sector; and that when the vaccination programme was closed, formally, they had 517 000 people, who have received the vaccines – an 89% vaccination success rate – on their books.

Motshekga said she has received information that the teachers’ unions were concerned that they weren’t consulted about the move, but added that the department still needed to engage with the Department of Health and the National Coronavirus Command Council.

“We are going to look at different measures, whether we use school halls or platooning systems or outside places,” said Motshekga.

She said the department has agreed to meet the unions and provide them with a report.

Before the department goes to Cabinet about the proposal, it needed the opinions of the Ministerial Advisory Committee and it would table the matter with the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure.

However, Sadtu’s general-secretary Mugwena Maluleke believes there is still a lack of scientific evidence.

“We do not agree because we have not been presented with any scientific evidence. While we had a meeting on Saturday, Cogta (Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) published 1 meter, the Department of Basic Education also published 1 meter. So we do not know where the half a meter comes from,” he said.

Inside Education

ANDRE DAMONS|

IT IS time that women realise their brilliant leadership qualities. Women are more sensitive and intuitive and bring a different dimension of leadership to the workplace.

For Itumeleng Mabusa, analyst at the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS), this is one of the ways to address the challenges that women still face. Mabusa believes the opportunities for women are not as prominent as it should be and believe that gender discrimination in the workplace still exists and should be addressed.

Mabusa, who has been a member of SADoCoL since April 2015, analyses urine samples from athletes to test for prohibited drugs in sports. Her day-to-day work involves sample extractions, running the extracts on analytical instruments such as the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas chromatography (GC) machines, and analysing the data to see if there are any performance-enhancing drugs that are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Women still face the most discrimination in the workplace

According to her, women in South Africa and the world at large are still facing the most discrimination in the workplace. Women still have to fight to get their views across, and they are still not taken seriously because of patriarchal stereotypes. 

“In some corporate settings, women are still remunerated as well as men, regardless of both being in the same position and equally talented. It is hard enough to be equally recognised as a professional in your own field of expertise as a woman, which is exacerbated if you are a woman of colour. The other most pressing issue is the high prevalence of gender-based violence, with women holding the record for high incidents of violence against them,” says Mabusa.

Addressing the challenges

These challenges, says Mabusa, can be addressed by allowing women to do any job that a man can do. Women in leadership are often disregarded and their judgments are always questioned, she says. 

“There has to be more outreach programmes to teach young girls at a very young age that they can be leaders in absolutely any career they desire, from science, engineering, and aviation – to name but a few. Most importantly, leaders should groom the women in their organisations to one day take over the higher positions, and not always leave them for men.” 

“My opinion regarding issues of gender-based violence is that it must be addressed from an early age, in addition to teaching and preparing the girl-child to fend off danger. I think the boy child should also be empowered and taught to be self-sufficient, and not be egotistical, but respectful towards women of any age. Boys and girls should be groomed to be able to co-exist cohesively in a society where they both have equal chances of achieving greatness.” 

What is the most interesting thing to you in the field of anti-doping science?

As a WADA-certified scientist, Mabusa says the best and the worst part of her field is when she has to take part in external quality assessment scheme (EQAS). All the WADA-accredited laboratories in the world must take part in the analyses of the same samples three times a year at the same time. 

“These are both nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time; it always reminds me of the feeling I used to get when I had to write final exams. I like comparing my statistical results with the rest of the world, for example finding out what quantitative concentration values and Z-scores the rest of the world obtained for their analysis compared to mine.” 

“It is also very interesting to find the scientific evidence and analysis you completed, led to the prosecution of an athlete due to an anti-doping rule violation. I also love doing scientific research and being able to share it with the rest of the world. Working with different analytical equipment and different software – from GC-MS and LC-MS to LC-UV – is exciting,” says Mabusa.  

Community value impacts life as a scientist and woman

Mabusa says as a woman, especially a black woman being given the chance to use her scientific skills as a WADA-certified scientist, it is an honour, as it gives everyone competing in sports in Africa a fair chance to compete. By testing these athletes, she explains, she is making sure that everyone plays fairly without their performances being influenced by any prohibited drugs. 

“Among the prohibited drugs are also drugs of abuse, including for example, cocaine and MDMA (ecstasy). By testing athletes for these drugs, I am helping the athletic community to try to stay off illegal recreational drugs.” 

Playing her part in the Olympics and coping with challenges

With the Olympic Games taking place between July and August, Mabusa says it is a great feeling to know that she is part of a team of scientists who are producing test reports that will ultimately determine whether tested athletes will be eligible or banned from representing their African countries at the Games.

According to her, they have a high volume of samples to analyse on a daily basis, because of all the sports competitions in South Africa and the continent in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. 

Mabusa says the challenges associated with this work include the extremely strict rules of analysis, called the International Standard of Laboratories (ISL), set for all accredited laboratories to follow. The strict timelines that they all have to stick to in order to report the results to clients on time – no matter how many samples there are – is also a challenge. 

“This means analysing a large amount of data as accurately as possible in the shortest time I can. A skill I had to harness and embrace and learned to perfect over time, is the ability to pay very close attention to detail; this comes in handy when dealing with analytical work.” 

“There is also countless paperwork to fill in in order to follow a chain of custody for a sample. Each and every step gets recorded, from sample reception all the way to reporting; paying attention to detail comes in quite handy through all this,” says Mabusa.

UFS NEWS

NIEMAH DAVIDS|

A discussion that explored the “idolatry of theory: a defence of storytelling”, took centre stage during the second University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) Open Lecture for the year on Wednesday, 28 July.

The keynote speaker was internationally acclaimed author and renowned feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She presented her lecture to a virtual audience, with roughly 5 000 guests in attendance. The lecture series is hosted by UCT VC Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

During the lecture Adichie argued why, in her view, theory is considered a kind of idolatry. She explained how during a conversation on sexism several a years ago, a woman shared a theory based on her own lived experience. The woman said: “Sometimes, some women are their own worst enemies.” But instead of engaging her on the topic and discussing it in detail, Adichie said the rest of the group simply silenced her.

“Theory gives us a framework to think about the world. But we should not give it primacy because when we do, we start to walk backwards.”

Adichie noted that while theory is important, especially when it relates to discussions and debates on global challenges like gender inequality and sexual and gender-based violence, society is afraid to run foul of theory.  

“I suspected even then that we silenced her [the woman] because her experience and her conclusion complicated our accepted theory. Theory gives us a framework to think about the world. But we should not give it primacy because when we do, we start to walk backwards,” Adichie said.

“We go from theory to life; we start with theory and we try to make life fit our theory. We try to make the messy complicatedness of life fit into the neat and tidy confines of theory, and when life doesn’t fit perfectly, we silence those bits that stick out. We pretend they’re not there [and] we look away. Because we must preserve the sanctity of theory.”

‘A kind of idolatry’

She told the audience that society often gives theory an exaggerated and critical reference, and this is the reason why she considers theory as a “kind of idolatry”.

“If we allow ourselves to be guided too closely by theory, we will end up being blinded by it. My response to the tyranny of theory is to go to the story; go to the human story,” she said.

“It is storytelling that enables us to deal with the world in all of its glorious and complicated messiness, because life is messy.”

But what’s the point? What does it matter if society chooses to focus on theory or on storytelling, Adichie asked the audience. The point, she said, is to change the world (using storytelling) and to achieve maximum joy by creating opportunities to thrive.

“With maximum joy, we must deal with the world as it is, rather than the way we want [it to be]. That’s the only way to make real change. And it is storytelling that enables us to deal with the world in all of its glorious and complicated messiness, because life is messy,” she said. 

“It’s not so much that we should discard theory, but more that we should acknowledge its limitations.”

The power of storytelling

As a fiction writer and a storyteller, Adichie described literature as her one true love, her religion and the one thing that shapes the lenses with which she looks at the world. Therefore, she said, she “believes deeply” in the power of storytelling, because it enables real human empathy and human connection. 

That’s not all: Storytelling also creates, enables and fosters truth and beauty.

“Storytelling reminds us that we are not a collection of logical bones and flesh, and because we are emotional beings, dignity and love matter as much as bread and water,” she said.

Storytelling and history

Adichie said she first visited South Africa 10 years after the fall of apartheid, and back then, she said, she felt like “the past was not yet the past” for South Africans. Yet, South Africans displayed a “conservative and collective resolve to turn away from this truth”.

She said everyone spoke to her about the “Rainbow Nation”. But she did not entirely trust this optimism, “as well choreographed as it was. It felt to me a little too easy.”

 “An inflexible adherence to theory can make us tell incomplete stories.”

She said she began to wonder about the story the country was telling itself. After all, she added, storytelling is an integral part of how society recreates and remembers history. But it’s also considered an antidote to forgetting.

“On that visit, I wondered: If the theory is that of a Rainbow Nation, what happens to the stories that do not fit the theory? An inflexible adherence to theory can make us tell incomplete stories. It can [also] limit the options that we are willing to consider for real‑life solutions,” she said.

Imperfect stories

But not a single story has been weaved together perfectly. Stories, regardless of the subject, are always imperfect.

“As a storyteller, I do not trade in perfection. I do not trust perfection. I do not believe in perfection. If humans were perfect, stories would not exist. It’s our flaws and imperfections that lend [texture] to the stories we tell,” Adichie said.

She said many global injustices like slavery, colonialism and the Holocaust have their roots in the dehumanisation of different groups, and sadly, all of them are imperfect stories.

 “It’s impossible to have a true story that has no texture. So, in other words, it’s our imperfection that makes truth possible.”

“Slavery was possible because people who traded in enslaved people dehumanised them. Colonialism was possible because the groups of people who were colonised were dehumanised by their colonisers. The Holocaust was possible because of Hitler’s horrible dehumanising exercise of Jewish people,” she said.

“It’s impossible to have a true story that is flat and has no texture. So, in other words, it’s our imperfection that makes truth possible.”

UCT NEWS

SECTION 27 and Equal Education says the Department of Basic Education has not presented a coherent plan before the court for the eradication of pit toilets and inadequate sanitation in Limpopo and other rural provinces.

This is contained in the organisations’ heads of arguments presented before the high court in Limpopo on Friday.

“Instead of providing a sanitation plan to the Court, the defendants have described several infrastructure programmes, with no indication as to how these programmes relate to one another, how these programmes will advance the right of learners to safe and adequate sanitation and how compliance with these plans may be monitored,” the organisations said in court papers.

“The undisputed evidence before this Court is that there have been at least three other learners nationally who have lost their lives as a direct consequence of the dilapidated toilets at their schools.

Another child has been severely injured and traumatised after a similar fall into a pit toilet. The plaintiffs rely on this evidence
to illustrate that the tragedy that befell Michael Komape and his family, as well as these four other learners and their families, may well recur in the near future. The defendants have simply ignored these concerns.”

Section 27 and EE are petitioning for the Limpopo Department of Education to draft a new plan to fix school toilets, one that is “reasonable” and meets the requirements of the structural order.

The plan should also outline how the department will address the urgent school sanitation problems in the province.

They are also asking the court appoint a special master – an independent person who is normally appointed by a judge to assist the court in making sure the court order is implemented.

“In this case, we want a Special Master to oversee the implementation of the new plan that we want the DBE and the LDoE to produce. A Special Master enhances the court’s supervision by bringing additional resources and specialised skills to the case,” the organisations said.

“We are proposing that the court consider appointing a Special Master – an independent person who is appointed by and reports to the court, who is normally appointed by a judge to assist the court by making sure that what the court orders is actually implemented.”

“We want a Special Master to oversee the implementation of the new plan that we want the DBE and the LDoE to produce. A Special Master enhances the court’s supervision by bringing additional resources and specialised skills to the case.”

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says she is confident that her department will eradicate the remaining 3 898 pit latrines in the country’s schools “within the next four years”.

She said together with Provincial Education Departments, DBE has made great strides in efforts to replace pit latrines with appropriate sanitation
facilities for schools in the country through the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) Initiative launched in August 2018 to accelerate the provision of sanitation facilities in the identified schools.

“I would like to thank all of those businesses and individuals who have agreed to partner with the Department of Basic Education to eradicate pit latrines in our schools and restore the dignity of our children, the support has been truly incredible,” said Motshekga

Mathanzima Mweli, the Director-General of the Department of Basic Education, has visited more than 500 construction sites since March 2021 to accelerate the delivery of the much-needed infrastructure.

Mweli was in Limpopo last week where he has visited sites in the Vhembe and Sekhukhune areas.

The monitoring function has assisted the Department to unblock challenges and resolve issues that delayed the building process.

“The SAFE Initiative is a flagship programme and I have resolved that I will carry out the monitoring function until the last school has a proper toilet. The monitoring has pushed our performance up and we are sure to hit our target even before the end of the current financial year,” he said.

 
The Director-General holds weekly update meetings with the chief executive officers of the implementing agents.

The department reports regularly to the Presidency on the work done to replace pit toilets with proper facilities and will continue to do so until the pit latrines have been eradicated in all the schools.

“We have improved the standard of reporting and the progress is satisfactory. Under-performing implementing agents have been warned that there will be consequences for poor delivery,” said Mweli.

– Inside Education

THE Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has condemned the damage and vandalism caused to schools in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) during the recent pro-Zuma violent protests.

 “It is shocking that the cost of damages and vandalism to schools is estimated at over R141 million. This is money that was not budgeted for. Money that government does not have and money that could have been spent on other much-needed projects,” said
committee chairperson, Ms Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba.
 
“As public representatives we need to have serious discussions in our constituencies that members of the public cannot be targeting much-needed infrastructure, especially schools, when they vent their frustrations for whatever reason. We cannot be comfortable with the current situation. Schools always end up being soft targets during protests and it is the poorest of the poor learners that suffer.”
 
On Tuesday, the committee received updates from the national Department of Basic Education (DBE), the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department and the Gauteng Education Department on the damages during the unrest, as well as the readiness to reopen schools for the third term on Monday.
 
DBE told the meeting that protests and looting affecting 137 schools and offices in KwaZulu-Natal – one school in Pinetown burnt to the ground.

Gauteng Province has four schools affected but fortunately there were no major structural damages. According to the department, it was still in the process of repairing more than 1 700 schools damaged during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020.
 
The committee heard that some of the damages during the latest protests include electric wiring, admin blocks, doors, roofs, ceilings, ablution facilities and sanitary fittings.

Looting also occurred during the protests and stolen property include electrical equipment, including laptops, computers, projectors, LTSM screeners, sound systems, routers, furniture (mostly tables), wires, transformer tables, lights and garden equipment.

Kitchen resources and equipment like stoves, fridges, microwaves, eating utensils, school nutrition programme equipment and food items and Covid-19 essentials like sanitisers, soap, and masks were also stolen.
 
The committee expressed its concern that food and equipment were also looted that are used to feed learners as part of the National School Nutrient Programme.

“The programme serves to cater for the most vulnerable learners in our schools. For many of them, this is the only meals they received. How can responsible communities take the food out of the mouths of the very vulnerable young ones that we are trying to make a difference to,” asked Mbinqo-Gigaba.
 
The DBE assured the committee that many of the items have either been replaced or are in the process of being replaced.

The committee resolved to undertake an urgent oversight visit to both provinces in order to establish first-hand the damages to school property.
 

Inside Education

GAUTENG Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Sunday announced the launch of online applications for grades 1 and 8 for the 2022 academic year.

The online application process has not been without its challenges, with the department having to attend to numerous technical glitches since its introduction in 2015.

However, Lesufi said this year, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has introduced new changes aimed at making the process easier and more manageable for parents, guardians, and public schools in Gauteng.  

“The applications for Grade 1 and 8 will take place in two phases. The first phase is for Grade 7 learners currently in public primary schools applying for Grade 8 and the second phase for Grade 1 and 8 learners not in Grade 7 in public schools,” said Lesufi.

The department further said the first phase will open on 10 August 2021 at 08h00 and close on 3 September 2021 at 00h00.

The second phase will commence on 13 September at 08h00 and close on 8 October at 00h00.

The placement of phase 1 will happen between 15 October and 30 November while phase 2 will be between November 15 and November 30.

“To ensure access to applicants who are unable to apply from the comfort of their homes and or offices, the department has identified 47 decentralised walk-in centres in different areas where applicants will be safely assisted. In addition, some District Offices and the Head Office will serve as walk-in centres,” the department said in a statement.

Lesufi added that this information will be made available to the public via the GDE Website and social media platforms.

“When a parent or guardian applies to a school for their child, it is critical to remember that the following criteria is considered in order of priority of the following: home address within the school’s feeder zone, sibling and or previous schools, work address within school’s feeder zone and home address which is within 30km radius,” said Lesufi.

“Parents will receive SMSes notifying them about the outcome of their application between 15 October and 30 November 2021. The parent must accept an offer to confirm placement.”

 The following guidelines are important:
· Before parents or guardians apply, they must provide accurate
parent and learner details to schools where their children are
currently in Grade 7;
· From Monday, 2 August 2021 – 6 August 2021, primary schools
will verify and update parents or guardians’ details including the
cell-phone number, Identity Document number and home
address;
· It is important that parents provide ONE reliable c ell-phone
number so that they can receive important SMS notifications
regarding the application process. This process is very important
because from 10 August 2021, an SMS notification with a LINK
will be sent to parents to complete the 5 Step Application Process;
· The parent/guardian will be required to verify the cell-phone
number on the system before starting the 5-step application
process which consist of verification of parent or guardian details,
home address details; learner details, application to a maximum
of five schools and uploading documents to system or submitting
documents at schools;
· In Phase two, parents and guardians will also complete the 5 Step
Application Process without prior verification of details. Parents
will also need to upload or submit certified copies of supporting
documents to schools they applied to within 7 days;
· The documents required for grade 1 and 8 applications are:
Parent and Child ID or Passport; Refugee Permit; Asylum Seeker
Permit; Permanent Residence Permit; Study Permit; South
African Birth Certificate; Proof of Home Address; Proof of W ork
Address; Latest School Report and Clinic Card/Vaccination
Report (Grade 1 only);
· If a parent uses a cell-phone number that differs from the one
provided to the school the system will prompt the parent to contact
the school to correct the number;
· Every step of the application process will be confirmed via SMS
for security and verification purposes;
· Parents who apply to Schools of Specialisation must ensure that
they contact the school to arrange for the auditions or admission
tests.

Inside Education

SADTU says the Department of Basic Education has failed to address several problems and challenges affecting education in South Africa before the reopening of primary schools on Monday.

These included overcrowding, lack of protective personal equipment (PPE), shortage of masks, mobile classes and the lack of water supply and sanitation.  

The union’s secretary general Mugwena Maluleke said that the majority of schools were still without water supply on Monday in several rural provinces, another obstacle to readiness of schools.  

“The majority of schools were unable to comply with Covid-19 regulations, including social distancing. The reopening of schools did not go as planned. We made submissions to the DBE to first allow some provinces to deal with the 1 metre social distancing before reopening. They didn’t agree,” said Maluleke.

“We are very depressed by the situation. We saw shocking things in Gauteng and Mpumalanga where learners had to be sent back because the schools couldn’t comply with COVID regulations. There is also lack of masks at some schools and lack of water supply in the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape. We are extremely disappointed.”

The teachers’ union said that it was ‘extremely’ disappointed that the DBE went ahead to reopen while the majority of schools did not receive PPEs.

“In fact, the Department has not delivered even a single PPE to schools,” said Sadtu. 

The union also said the reopening for the third term took place with teachers, learners and parents having had a lot of uncertainties informed by the incidences of the past two weeks in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which could not leave out schools. 

About 137 schools were reported as having been vandalised, some had break-ins while others suffered arson damages in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Close to 60 schools in Gauteng are not ready to welcome the full capacity return of primary school pupils today because they lack water supply, have insufficient space for social distancing and are plagued by electricity outages. 

The most hardest-hit areas include Orange Farm and Lawley in the south and Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg where erratic water supply is an ever-present challenge.

SADTU in KwaZulu-Natal said many schools were not ready for all learners because the Department of Basic Education did not provide more space to accommodate learners.

“This call is informed by the fact that learners are still required to practice social distancing of 1-1.5m at all times in and out of the classroom,” said SADTU KZN.

“The call from members in schools is that for this to happen the Department must provide mobile classes otherwise majority of schools will not be ready. Zululand, Umkhanyakude and King Cetshwayo districts have majority of schools without water supply – another obstacle to readiness of schools.”

SADTU KZN said it was also concerned that the replacement of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) equipment stolen from schools during the recent break-ins has not been addresses.

This has resulted in learners in these affected schools not getting the meal they usually get from school.

“Failure to feed learners in schools compromises their concentration in class and may lead to poor performance by learners,” said SADTU KZN.

“It is therefore important for the Department to address these issues.”

Kwazulu-Natal Sadtu secretary, Nomarashiya Caluza, said that their situational analysis suggested there was no capacity at most schools in the province to ensure the safe return of all primary school pupils amid COVID-19.

“With the information we have, unless the department does some things differently and drastically, the majority of primary schools are not ready to welcome back all learners,” she said.

Meanwhile, DBE announced on Monday that Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga was expected to visit Monde primary school in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday to monitor the return of all primary school learners, from Grade R-7, at full capacity.

This will be done in terms of the risk adjusted differentiated strategy, said DBE.

“The return of primary school learners will enable both teachers and learners to recover learning and teaching time that was lost due to the recently extended school break,” the department said in a statement.

“The return of learners at primary school level comes on the back of a successful vaccination programme for the basic education sector with more than 517,000 personnel having received their vaccines.”

Inside Education

NICOLA DEGHAYE

IN many countries, including South Africa, there is stark economic inequality between adults with disabilities and those without. One key to reducing these disparities is improving access to education for children with disabilities or difficulties.

South Africa developed a White Paper on Inclusive Education in 2001, recognising disability as a factor that hinders learning and participation in schools.

This policy emphasises that learners with disabilities or difficulties should be provided with the support they need, in their local school, wherever possible.

This is in stark contrast to the situation before 2001 where additional support was only available in a vastly inadequate number of special schools. Inclusive education focuses on removing barriers to participation for children. It does this by addressing physical environments, teaching practices and attitudes of teachers or peers, among other strategies.

Despite the publication of the 2001 White Paper and other inclusive education policies, implementation has been slow. By 2017, disability was still the main reason children aged between 7 and 15 were not attending school.

Until recently, the readiness of local schools to provide additional support to learners with disabilities or learning difficulties was seldom assessed in large-scale school surveys. This has hindered accountability.

The Department of Basic Education began to remedy this situation by expanding the 2017 School Monitoring Survey, a nationally representative survey of 2,000 schools. It monitors many aspects of school functioning. The expansion allowed it to take a closer look at implementation of inclusive education.

I used data from this survey to assess the availability of disability support structures, physical accessibility of schools and the adequacy of teacher training for disability inclusion in mainstream schools in South Africa.

I assessed the variation in these factors between schools in wealthier and poorer areas and from different provinces.

My study found that teachers are inadequately trained to adapt curricula and teaching methods to include learners with learning difficulties and disabilities. Ordinary schools receive little external support from districts and specialists such as psychologists, social workers and therapists. There’s still a long way to go to achieve the policy ideals set out in the 2001 White Paper. The policy is currently undergoing a long overdue review.

Can mainstream schools give extra support?

From 2001 onwards, school and district-based support teams, resource centres and outreach teams were meant to be introduced to support inclusive education in practice. Districts are meant to provide training and curriculum support to school-based teams. They’re also supposed to assist schools to identify, assess and address barriers to learning. My study found that two-thirds of schools had established school-based support teams by 2017 (up from 54% in 2011) and 65% of these school-based support teams were supported by the district in 2017.

The number of South African schools with wheelchair accessible toilets almost doubled from 2011 to 2017. But more than 50% of schools report being unable to screen learners for visual, hearing or learning difficulties. This implies that many students who may have these difficulties are unlikely to be identified and aren’t receiving the support they need to participate fully in schooling.

Inadequate teacher training

I found that while 74% of teachers in the sample had some training in identifying learning barriers or supporting learners with learning difficulties, only 57% had covered the critical topic of curriculum differentiation. Only 43% had been trained on setting assessments that accommodate learning barriers.

Teachers generally showed poor understanding of the screening process. These results show that additional teacher training is needed to deliver inclusive education effectively.

My study also found vast inter-provincial inequalities in disability support and teacher training.

Schools in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo were the least likely to have at least one suitably trained teacher. Gauteng, the Free State and the Western Cape had high levels of training coverage.

On a positive note, teachers in schools in poorer areas were just as likely as those in wealthier areas to have received some training.

Importantly, I found that teachers who have been trained in inclusive education were much more likely to be confident in addressing learning barriers.

Increased depth of teacher training, the creation of school-based support teams in every school and greater levels of district support in lagging provinces will help increase teacher confidence in those provinces.

It’s especially important that specialist support to schools is made available in every district. Effective, realistic strategies to deliver such support must be included in the updated White Paper.

If not, a disabled child’s access to effective education will continue to be a lottery determined by the province in which they happen to live.

(Nicola Deghaye, PhD candidate in Economics, Stellenbosch University)

The Conversation

THE impact of disrupted education since the COVID-19 outbreak has been devastating, with learners between 75 per cent and a full school year behind where they should be, according to latest statistics. Rotational attendance, sporadic school closures and days off for specific grades, have resulted in school children losing 54 per cent of learning time.

Some 400,000 to 500,000 learners have reportedly also dropped out of school altogether over the past 16-months.

This is most likely for children living in informal urban and rural settings, with household poverty also playing a critical role. The total number of out of school children is now up to 750,000.

“The reality is that South Africa cannot afford to lose another learner or another hour of learning time,” said Christine Muhigana, UNICEF South Africa Representative. “It is urgent that we get every child back into the classroom, safely, now,” Muhigana added.

Being out of school not only leads to learning loss but mental distress, exposure to violence and abuse, missed school-based meals and reduced development of social skills. In the longer-term, the skills needed to transition into working lives will be affected.

Evidence also shows that when children are out of school, women are twice as likely to take on childcare responsibilities, affecting their ability to work or search for work. 

The switch to blended learning, following the COVID-19 outbreak, was quick and included rotational classes, as well as access to online, radio and TV educational resources.

“Remote learning has been a lifeline for some children but for the most vulnerable in South Africa, even this was out of reach,” said Muhigana. Access to the devices, data and skills necessary to navigate online resources are simply not possible for many children. “We need to ensure that we prioritize vulnerable girls and boys in all our efforts to keep children in classrooms,” added Muhigana.

The education system can’t afford any further shocks, such as the recent unrest which resulted in more than 140 schools being vandalized in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. This comes on the back of the more than 2,000 schools that were looted and damaged during the hard COVID-19 lockdown last year.

“The twin burden of COVID-19 and recent disruptions equally affects teachers, supporting and improving their well-being should be a priority,” said Muhigana. “We are glad that the Department of Basic Education is hosting the first ever ‘Teacher Wellness Seminar’ and UNICEF is committed to provide its full support to the education sector,” she added.

To keep every child in class, UNICEF is lending its support to the Department of Basic Education and partners in the ongoing efforts to:

Promote community dialogues that engage parents, caregivers, and community leaders in school life, to increase their ownership over local schools, which in-turn can help ensure their protection.Maintain adherence to the child-friendly COVID-19 standard operating procedures and protocols to keep children, teachers, and educational staff as safe as possible.Cover the last mile in further increasing COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the education sector.Continue improving access to handwashing facilities and hygiene promotion activities for all children. UNICEF and its partners will build on work that has already seen 400 handwashing stations installed in targeted schools that lack decent facilities.Promote and scale-up effective remedial programmes to help students get back on track.Improve access to psychosocial support for children and educational staff to cope with the ongoing stress of COVID-19 and the recent unrest.

UNICEF calls on all stakeholders to ‘Reimagine Education’ to help regain the ground lost, by taking advantage of emerging technologies to accelerate education service delivery, while focusing on equity and broader partnerships for greater impact.

UNICEF