Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education visit to KwaZulu-Natal has revealed that some children are still using mud structures as classrooms.
This concern was raised during the third day of the committee’s oversight visit to the province.
In addition, further concern was raised when the committee found that recommendations it made during a visit to the Harry Gwala Educational District during its first visit in 2021 had not been carried through.
The committee said it was concerned about the persistent infrastructure challenges facing some schools in KwaZulu-Natal that were having an impact on the provision of quality teaching and learning. The committee was expected to raise these concerns in its meeting with the MEC today.
“While we are cognisant of the infrastructure backlog and the unavailability of enough financial resources to remedy the deficiency, the committee has urged for more resources to be directed at remedying the problem. It is unfathomable that some learners are still utilising mud structures that were built by communities many years ago to make available learning environments. It is even more worrying that this affects mostly the poor in rural areas,” said Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, the chairperson of the committee.
She added that the Harry Gwala District’s lack of implementing its previous recommendations pointed to dereliction of duty on the part of Provincial Department of Education officials. As a result, the committee had recommended that the department investigate this matter and carry out consequence management in cases where officials had failed to do their work.
The availability of water and sanitation also remains a challenge, with some schools still using pit latrines that pose a danger, especially for young learners.
The committee has since called for the department to provide an update on the roll-out of the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) programme to enable the committee to assess impact and provide solutions to impediments.
Meanwhile, the committee urged the department to strengthen its support to schools in relation to subject advisers to ensure that improvements were made in the delivery of learning areas.
Despite these challenges, the committee said it was satisfied that, on the whole, the system was ready for the 2023 academic year.
It said it was cognisant that some of the challenges had a historic context and resolutions would require substantial investment, “which must be rolled out incrementally”.
Thursday is the last day of the committee’s visit to the province. It visited two schools in the morning and would be holding an extensive engagement with the Education MEC and the senior management team.
“What is important to us is for the system to provide a safe and adequate space that will ensure an environment that fosters teaching and learning,” Mbinqo-Gigaba said.
Education