Programme Director
Members of the media
Acting HoD
Senior Managers of the Department
Parents
Learners
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning
Today marks the 8th day before the official closure of schools for the current academic year. This is the year where we had our national elections and ushered in the 7th Administration with a responsibility of continuing with government programmes that seek to improve the lives of our people. Critically, the focus now is on the impact rather than quantities provided.
The decision to hold this media briefing now, and not in January as we usually do, is an indication that the department is at a higher pedestal in terms of its performance, hence we are ready to table our state of readiness for the coming academic year. It is imperative that preparations are concluded well in advance so that teaching and learning can start on day one (1).
WRITING OF THE NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE FINAL 2024
Ladies and gentlemen, the sector concluded writing of NSC examinations on the 28th of November 2024. These exams catered for over one hundred and seventeen thousand (117 000) candidates comprising of one hundred and two thousand and eighty-five (102 085) full-time candidates writing in 964 schools, both public and independent schools and 15 964 part-time candidates who wrote in 135 examination centres. The EC province prides itself in conducting credible examinations with high levels of integrity, security and precision. Yes, we have seen some elements of criminality during this year, wherein candidates were raped whilst preparing for their examinations in the OR Tambo Inland, OR Tambo Coastal and Joe Gqabi Districts, a behavior strongly condemned by the sector and society at large. All these learners were able to write and complete their examinations. Another serious incident involves allegations of sexual assault of a grade one (1) learner at Bergview College which is one of the schools funded by the department. These are incidents that cannot be tolerated, and the department will take action and deal with the school to ensure that justice is done.
The flooding that engulfed Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality which wreaked havoc in Kariega local municipality affected 319 candidates from five schools who could not write the CAT Paper 1 examinations. These learners were given an opportunity to participate in the re-writing of examinations on 28 November 2024.
READINESS FOR THE MARKING OF SCRIPTS
The marking process of over 1.4 million scripts for over 117 000 candidates is currently underway. The scripts were safely and securely ferried to all the 25 marking centres across the province. Public schools are being used as marking venues and five of these are situated in rural areas. Auditing of the 25 marking centres was conducted to assess their suitability to ensure that they meet the set norms and standards. Furthermore, training of the marking centre support personnel took place on 23-24 November 2024. The 25 marking centres shall be populated by seven thousand and twenty-two (7022) markers, one thousand and nine (1909) examination assistants, one hundred and seventy-eight (178) administrative support staff, 25 marking centre managers and 25 Examination Irregularities Investigators.
RELEASE OF NSC RESULTS
Programme Director, we are eager and hopeful that when the Minister for DBE releases the results on 13 January 2025, we shall indeed have attained the 85% target set for the province. The results for the Grade 12 class of 2024 shall be available in their schools as from 8:00 in the morning on 14 January 2025. As the sector we are cognizant of the POPI Act which we abide by when releasing the results. Only the results of learners whose parents have given consent for publication will appear in the newspapers. We encourage learners to contact their schools and make use of the departmental platforms to enquire about their results, especially those whose names will not appear in the newspapers.
INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AT GET PHASE
ECD RESOURCING
Members of the media, resourcing Early Childhood Development (ECD) is very important if we want to see quality education outcomes at grade 12 level and beyond. To achieve this, the department will: –
Deliver age-appropriate stimulation resources and manipulatives to ordinary public schools offering Grade R.
Ensure alignment with school readiness goals for literacy, numeracy, and life skills.
Facilitate a smooth transition back to structured learning environments through orientation on the National Curriculum Framework, CAPS and DBE Workbook.
Our main drive is to ensure that there is mass advocacy for registration of ECD Centres.
GET PHASES
As the sector is currently enjoying improvement in the pass rate of matric results, it is critical that we all understand that those results are a culmination of learner performance at the GET phase. There is a need for a coherent system of learning that reinforces: –
The significance of the GET certificate pilot program.
Strengthening of the primary schooling system to eliminate any deficiencies that make educators in our Senior Phase sleep in schools chasing results, going extra ordinarily beyond the call of duty.
This is the reason the department took a conscious decision to have strategies to support teaching and learning from early grades. These include:
Developing Curriculum Implementation Monitoring Tools for Grade 1 to 7 schools that will be mediated in Term 1 of 2025 Academic Year.
A revised Reading Strategy has been developed and Public Ordinary Schools have been instructed to develop School Reading Policies.
All Foundation Phase learners received Vula Bula Reading Books that are also taken home for parents to encourage reading.
A Mathematics Strategy for Grade 1 to 7 has been developed and will be implemented in 2025 Academic Year.
DELIVERY OF LTSM
The department has in particular, focused on ensuring that all Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) for the 2025 academic year are delivered. In this regard the province is happy to announce that the deliveries have reached 100% completion by the second week of November. The following are the highlights:
1.8 mil Top-Up CAPS Textbooks that were requisitioned by Four Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-Four (4974) schools in May 2024 were delivered in October and November 2024.
Over 1.7m learner stationery packs and Five Thousand Four Hundred and Thirteen (5413) Grade R classroom packs were delivered to Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight (4778) schools, which marks a 100% delivery, facilitating a smooth start to the coming year and the delivery was completed by 11 November 2024, which is a month earlier compared to 2023.
In alignment with the Department’s reading strategy, graded readers have been delivered to schools, supporting literacy development in grades 1-3.
The delivery of the DBE Workbook Volume 1 (covering Term 1 and Term 2) has been completed at 100%. Deliveries for Volume 2 (covering Term 3 and Term 4) are currently underway and progressing as planned.
A total of forty-two thousand, nine hundred and eighty-nine (42 989) learner furniture units and fifteen thousand and eighty-four (15 084) educator furniture units have been delivered across all districts, ensuring that schools are equipped with the necessary furniture to create conducive learning environments.
To upscale provisioning of LTSM to our learners, the department has procured 12147 Chromebooks for about 850 schools. These devices will provide access to a wealth of educational apps and resources through the Google Play Store, fostering engaging and interactive learning.
E-LIBRARY
The department is also developing an e-Library that will be deployed onto Microsoft SharePoint for the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE). The aim is to create a dynamic and efficient platform that will serve as a comprehensive resource for handling citizen enquiries, complaints, and other related tasks whilst ensuring that required circulars are delivered to the requested end-user.
LEARNER ADMISSIONS
Ladies and gentlemen, the learner admission process is in the final stages and the department managed to admit above 1.7 mil learners. Notwithstanding the high number of learners already registered for 2025 academic year, there are applications for registration of learners that must yet be accommodated in Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Metro, with some areas of Sarah Baartman also increasingly becoming a District of choice. All the affected District Offices are working around the clock to ensure that every learner is placed come January 2025.
Ladies and gentlemen, as the department is trying to catch up with new technological innovations, a pilot on an online learner admission programme for currently underway. This should be ready for 2026 learner intake in the Nelson Mandela, Buffalo City Metro, Chris Hani East and OR Tambo Inland Districts.
SCHOOL FUNDING NORMS
As the law prescribes, the department is funding all quintiles 1-5 schools at 100% of the national norms and standards funding. To this end all qualifying schools received their second tranche in October 2024.
NATIONAL SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMME (NSNP)
The National School Nutrition Programme is one of the well implemented support programmes in the Department. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of learners benefitting increased from 603 246 learners to over 1.6 mil. Furthermore, the number of breakfast beneficiaries increased to just over one (1) mil.
As we are readying the system for 2025, the NSNP Infrastructure Support Programme for the building of kitchen facilities to aid in preparation of food, will be implemented across the 12 Education Districts in the Eastern Cape. This will be done on an annual basis to ensure safety of learners in the food preparation process.
SCHOLAR TRANSPORT
In 2021, the Department of Transport (DOT) proposed a reduction of numbers from 125 000 to 103 000 due to budgetary constraints. The current learner data to be handed over is 91 170. The final data of 103 000 learners will only be available on 15 February 2024 after a 10-day survey is concluded, subsequent to the opening of schools. Exit and entry grades i.e. Grades R; 1; 7 and 8 would be confirmed during this time. This is to ensure that the quality of data submitted to DoT has been improved through effective utilization of SASAMS by deserving schools.
PSYCHO-SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT
Ladies and gentlemen, as the department we are cognizant of the fact that some of our learners might experience difficulties as they wait for the outcome of the examinations. It is therefore critical that the department provides ongoing support throughout this period. To mitigate this, there are 18 Psychologists, 53 Social Workers, 36 Therapists, 520 LSA’s and 49 LSA Supervisors placed in various districts and schools readily available to assist at any given time.
2025 POST PROVISIONING NORMS (PPN)
Members of the media, the department, once again made history by declaring a post basket of fifty-two thousand eight hundred and seventeen (52 817) on the 5th of September 2024, earlier than the set deadline. These posts are the same as the ones for 2024 academic year and declaring the same post basket would surely ensure stability and continuity in the system. All schools have received their 2025 post establishments and are currently busy with identification and movement of additional educators in accordance with the approved Post Provisioning Norms (PPN) management plan.
Currently, we are wrapping up the placement of excess educators in the schools to schools with vacancies. Any delay on this matter could result in schools not having a teacher in front of a learner, come January 2025. All districts have been instructed to submit close-up reports by the 15th December 2024.
ANNUAL RECRUITMENT PLAN (ARP)
The Department in collaboration with office of the Premier and DPSA will be issuing vacancy circular advertising approximately six hundred and eight two support staff posts to schools. These includes clerks, food aiders, hostel supervisors, cleaners, security guards etc. This is an endeavour to capacitate all cost centres with the right number of human capital with the appropriate set of skills. The Human Resource Development Unit has issued bursaries to all employees who would like to upgrade their skills and enhance service delivery.
INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISIONING
The department continues to accelerate infrastructure provisioning across the province. This is an endeavour to create a conducive and safe environment for teaching and learning. The total allocation for 2024/25 financial year is R1.871 billion constituting of the following three components:
Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG);
Early Childhood Development Grant (ECDG) and
Expanded Public Works Programme.
Several measures have been put in place to address immediate needs in terms of additional classrooms; provision of basic services; securing schools through the fencing programme and school maintenance. Amount spent thus far is R1, 2 billion and has seen the successful completion of 546 projects between January and November 2024.
MAJOR PROJECTS IN CONSTRUCTION
Steady progress is being made on twenty (20) major projects, collectively valued at R1.6 billion, with forecasted expenditures of R322 million for the financial year 2024/25 and R795 million in total over the MTEF period.
PLANS FOR 2025 ACADEMIC YEAR
As we are ready to start the new academic year, the department is committed to putting a special focus on the availability of classrooms and plans to deal with overcrowding in schools. A total of 240 classrooms has already been provided since January 2024 with a total project value of R151 million. Additional classrooms, to meet the ever-changing enrolment needs of schools, is another key focus area. The Department utilises Alternative Building Methods rather than conventional construction to ensure speedy intervention to the classroom needs of schools.
PLAN TO DEAL WITH DISASTER SCHOOLS
Since 2013, over 1 300 schools in the province have been affected by various
disasters. A total of R1, 246 billion from the Education Infrastructure Grant has been
spent on repairs and infrastructure needs, supplemented by R27 million in disaster
funding from other sources in 2017. The recent incidents were in June and July 2024, wherein severe storms caused extensive damage, impacting nearly 150 facilities, 99.9% of which were schools. The hardest-hit districts included Chris Hani East (48 facilities), Chris Hani West (18), Nelson Mandela (23), Buffalo City (16), and Joe Gqabi (17). Over fifty thousand (50 000) learners were affected as many facilities became damaged or unusable.
The department allocated R104, 3 million to repair 68 of the damaged facilities. This work included minor repairs such as fixing roof leaks to major repairs i.e. total
replacement of roofing, rebuilding of collapsed structures and repairs to stormwater
systems. Furthermore, since the start of this financial year, R92 million has been
spent on emergency repairs in 18 schools in the affected districts.
WATER PROVISION
The provision of safe water for drinking, hygiene and sanitation is critical for the optimal functioning of schools. Over the past few years, the Department has been providing water tanks and water towers to schools that face challenges in accessing water. In the 2024 academic year (April to November), the department provided 150 water tanks to 52 schools across the province at a cost of R13, 5 million.
SANITATION
The Department is committed to providing safe and decent sanitation to schools through various programmes aimed at eliminating backlogs and has made considerable progress in this regard. At the start of the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative in 2018 a total of one thousand and fifty-five schools were identified as having inadequate or inappropriate sanitation requiring intervention. To date one thousand three hundred and thirty-seven (1337) projects have been completed under the SAFE initiative. During the current academic year, 326 projects have been completed. This investment of close to R971 million, was for the construction of new or rehabilitation of existing sanitation facilities. Sanitation is also provided as part of our normal construction programme funded through the Education Infrastructure Grant.
Ladies and gentlemen, the historic backlogs and budget shortfalls are posing on the total eradication of pit latrines in the department. We take note of the instruction by DBE Minister to eradicate all pit latrines by the end of the financial year. However, this might not be achieved without additional funding, hence the request to DBE for intervention. However, reprioritization of budget has been done for 2025/26 year wherein: –
60 schools have already been allocation to The Mvula Trust (TMT).
Allocation of the balance of 295 will be allocated to other Implementing
Agents by end of this week, considering their and capacity.
SECURITY FENCING
In our quest to address the vulnerability of learners in crime-ridden areas, 42 security fencing projects were completed since the start of 2024. These projects yielded over 35 000 meters of quality fencing and access gates at a total expenditure of close to R100 million. Currently, 34 additional projects are under construction and 107 in the planning phase.
CONCLUSION
As I land, allow me to briefly touch on the issues that are in the media space
regarding the investigations currently underway into the Sizwe Africa IT Contract,
meant to provide rental services for IT equipment in the department. We wish to
once again state clearly that the department is collaborating with the Investigating
Authorities and will provide all required information to assist with the probing
process.
The second matter is that of death threats against the CFO, Mrs Ngcingwana. Our
message is loud and clear, let the law enforcement agencies play their role; it is just
one of the unfortunate circumstances we have to deal with and we are committed to
providing her with the necessary support she needs. We urge all our staff to be
vigilant and report any extortionist actions, we cant allow criminality to rule our lives.
I would like to give a special gratitude to all stakeholders, partners and donors for
their unwavering support during the course of the year. We could not have done it
on our own. I wish all of them a merry x-mas and a prosperous new year.
Lastly, let me plead with our learners not to participate in any pens down
gatherings that may lead to undesired outcomes.
Wishing the Grade 12 class of 2024 all the best. As the nation is busy with the
initiation season, lets all ensure that Babuya Bephila abantwana.
Enkosi
