2025 State-of-School Readiness (incl. ECD, LTSM, NSNP + Scholar Transport); with the Minister

Video In a virtual meeting, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) presented the 2025 state of school-readiness. The Committee was briefed on the provisioning of the learner and teacher support material, the roll out of the national school nutrition programme, early childhood development and scholar transport. The Committee was also informed that the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act 32 of 2024 was fully implemented, and was being implemented. The process of drafting the regulations was underway, and these should be published before June. The Committee heard that 99.2% of learners had been placed in schools, while those unplaced had resulted from late applications, parental requests for specific schools, and migration between provinces. Late applications have taken place in provinces such as the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo. Parental requests for specific schools had taken place in provinces such as Gauteng and North West. The issue of relocations was significant in provinces such as the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. There was a lot of overcrowding at schools in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga had preserved the same basket of teacher posts for the past three academic years, despite learner numbers increasing. Meanwhile, there was a slight decrease in the post basket in the Free State and a much bigger decrease of 2 407 in the Western Cape. There had been a slight increase in the North West and the Northern Cape, and there were substitute posts to ensure the smooth functioning of schools. Various workbooks had been provided for the different grades and subjects in different languages. An additional 1 300 early childhood development centres had been registered. The rolling out of health and safety packs had commenced. The DBE had taken note of the recent challenges of food-borne illnesses, and had rolled out awareness campaigns and was reviewing the tuckshop/vendor guidelines. To mitigate against classroom shortages, there would be mobile classrooms for temporary relief. There were plans in place to ensure transport was available for the reopening of schools, and there were efforts to mainstream road safety programmes. The Committee was informed that 16 139 public schools would be provided with internet connectivity for administrative purposes. Members had concerns about old, dilapidated school infrastructure, which gave rise to safety concerns. They also criticised the state of school transport. The Committee was interested in the plans that were in place to address learner admissions, the filling of vacancies in the Eastern and Northern Cape, maintenance backlog issues, and ensuring children received daily meals. Concerns were raised about the teacher vacancy rates, water issues in KwaZulu-Natal schools, children going into classes with no food, the continued challenges in the Northern Cape, children’s safety in schools, unplaced grade 8 learners in Gauteng, the lack of safety measures, food safety standards, reports of principals being killed outside school premises, and the 0% matric pass rate at certain schools. Questions were asked about the leaking of matric results, the extent of support for grade R teachers, whether the current funds were sufficient to ensure smooth school operations for 2025, why vacancies were increasing despite the number of unemployed teachers, and whether the mobile classrooms had been effective.