Programme Director
Members of the Media
People of the Province
Senior Management of the Department
All stakeholders in the education sector
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning

I am addressing you today to provide an update on some of the critical programmes
that the Eastern Cape Department is dealing with as we are halfway through the
academic year of 2021.

This comes after the address by His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday this week wherein the country was moved to alert level 3 due to the rising numbers of Covid – 19 infections.

The President urged all citizens of the country to be more diligent, more consistent and aware of their actions in an endeavour to curb the spread of the virus.

Ladies and gentlemen, the last time I had an engagement with you on 29 April 2021, the Department had no permanent Superintendent-General.

I am proud to announce that the process of appointing an incumbent to the said post had been finalized and Dr Naledi Mbude is the new Superintendent-General of the ECDoE with effect from 01 June 2021.

She brings vast expertise that is required to move the Department to its rightful place of producing good results and in line with brand of the “Home of Legends” of the EC Province.

As I congratulate her, I wish to remind her that she carries the hopes and wishes of all people of this Province as well as the entire country for improved education outcomes.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is important for the Department to continually assess its plans and strategies towards the implementation of its core business i.e. curriculum delivery for all grades.

You will recall that the Department of Basic Education put in place a three-year recovery strategy in 2020 to ensure that no further time for teaching and learning is lost.

As a Province we had to emulate this to suit our own situational requirements in ensuring that the lost learning and teaching time is recovered and gradually recover learning losses.

In 2020, the Department developed its own improvement plan to ensure that teaching and learning takes place anywhere and anytime with three driving pillars viz Teacher support, Learner support and Resourcing.

Furthermore, a Risk Adjusted Curriculum Plan was developed to ensure that learners
continue to engage with the curriculum on a continuous basis to limit the extent of
learning losses which arise due to school closures.

The Department conducted an analysis of first term grade 12 results in all learning
areas with the aim of assessing the impact to which the lost teaching and learning time has had in the performance of our learners. The analysis indicates that there is a decline of 1.6% from term 1 of 2020 provincially.

This is attributed to the loss of tuition time in grade 11 during 2020 due to covid-19
lockdown as mentioned earlier on.

However, all languages (HL and FAL including South African Sign Language (SASL), Technical subjects, Information Technology, Maritime Economics, Nautical Sciences and Arts subjects continue to perform consistently amidst the challenges. Also, we have noted an improvement on Economics, Geography, Engineering Graphics and Designs as well as Technical Science.

As per the revised annual teaching plans, the formal mid-year examinations will not
be conducted in 2021 academic year, rather school-based assessments are currently
taking place in all our schools.

These are endevours to ensure that learners are afforded an opportunity to have more time towards teaching and learning.

For the class of 2021, the Department has implored various strategies to ensure that
every child is supported. The current interventions are comprised of the provision of
additional learning opportunities and curriculum support materials via digital platforms which include: -

• Lesson broadcasts (virtual, radio, TV)
• Self-study worksheets
• Weekend classes
• Vacation (Autumn, Spring) classes focusing on Maths and Science
• Sequencing and timetabling of morning, afternoon and evening classes

Ladies and Gentlemen as we celebrate the Youth Month in 2021, in acknowledging
the strides made by the 1976 youth in fighting against injustices of Apartheid
Colonialism through the extension of Afrikaans as the sole medium of instruction
beyond the first three years of schooling, the Department has organized a webinar
taking place today wherein all key role-players have been invited to participate.

The main objective of the webinar goes beyond remembering the uprisings of 1976 but key to it is advancing and deepening that struggle within the context of African Nationalism.

Key to this is deepening the understanding and highlighting the significance of African Languages in the education system and languages of teaching and learning.

Also, the youth should be able to understand the disjuncture the current education has between language and curriculum and how this negatively affects teaching and learning for the African child.

The Department is taking this matter seriously hence the establishment of the Language Unit in 2010 that has a mandate of driving language transformation in the Province. We are the only Province that has managed to cover a lot of ground in this area hence the establishment of the Language Academy in our Province.

In support of our learners, the Department is planning to expand the Technical
Occupational Curriculum (TOC) in special schools that provide the National Senior
Certificate (NSC) as needed.

The learners would be able to acquire a skills-based qualification after completion of their studies and can enter the labour market for employment purposes. This is done to cater for the wide range of intellectual abilities within these schools. This means that the schools will offer curriculum that caters for diverse needs of its leaners.

The TOC Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM) has been procured for all 22 Special Schools that provide the Severe Intellectual Disability (SID) curriculum.

This approach will definitely contribute to the improvement of pass rate within special schools.

To further strengthen the support in our Special Schools, the Department has
appointed 22 Professional Nurses in all Special Schools with hostels.

The appointment of nurses at these schools will ensure that vulnerable learners are
provided with the necessarily medical care during and after school hours.

Also, we have allocated 46 social workers as part of the ETDP SETA programme to support these schools. These Social Workers are providing the required social care to all leaners.

This is an important milestone as many of the learners placed within Special Schools are experiencing many forms of social barriers.

The ECDOE has procured Audio Screening tools that enable Audiologists to conduct
effective screening thereby ensuring that learners with special needs are appropriately placed and provided with the necessary support.

The ECDOE has produced and hosted various forms of webinars pertaining to mental
health and rehabilitation services providing orientation to many teachers within
mainstream, full service and Special Schools.

These and any other webinars that we have produced are available to educators, learners as parents to access at a convenient time to them.

Special schools have also been given all the necessary support to deal with Covid –
19.

Guidelines on Psychosocial Support Services, that gives guidance to teachers
and learners on how to access psychological support during the time of the Covid -
19 pandemic were developed in 2021.

These guidelines explain the relationship between the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support Policy (2014) and Psycho-social support and provide all schools with a COVID-19 screening tool.

We are determined to ensure that the ‘Bonke Ngabethu Campaign’ is indeed
realized.

However, let me hasten to raise concern on the abuse of learners that is taking place
in our schools, both in public ordinary and Special Schools.

This is worrisome as it contributes to the bleak future of our children. The abuse takes the form of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. What exacerbates the matter further, are learners under the age of 16 who are sexually abused by adults.

This has implications in that, every sexual act with them is regarded as rape as provided for in Chapter 3 of the Sexual Offenses and related matters Act.

The Department does not and will not hesitate to act against any official, be it the best educator or best administrative staff who continue to take advantage of our vulnerable learners. In this process there
will be no holy cows.

As we battle with over-expenditure on COE budget, the Department has to prioritize
within the available resources to fill the vacant principal’s posts for smooth
operations in the schools.

A principal’s bulletin has been issued for 277 principal’s posts with a closing date of 18 June 2021.

We anticipate that these posts will be filled by 31 August 2021 and the appointed incumbents will assume duties on 01 September 2021 as per the management plan.

As the country battles with Covid – 19 pandemic, the Department is collaborating with the Department of Health on a vaccination programme.

It is estimated that 72,000 staff within the Department must be vaccinated.

The epidemiological advisories indicate that it is best to start with the older school-based staff first as they are at greater risk.

On Monday, 14 June 2021, an engagement was held between DBE and NDoH
including the provincial offices on the roll-out plan at the EC Covid – 19 Vaccination
Committee (ECCOVAC) Provincial and District levels.

The Department has finalized the process of identifying mass vaccination sites in all the 12 Districts.

Stakeholders have been engaged on the use of public schools as vaccination centres to ensure that all concerns about the safety of our learners and educators in our schools are considered.

Once all educators have been vaccinated, the plan would be to consider learners but only after 4.5 million adults have been vaccinated.

Ladies and gentlemen, the ECDoE values the contribution that all stakeholders
contribute towards education programmes.

This they do, to knock sense in our minds as we implement programmes within the sector for the benefit of all our learners and you may agree with me when I say, this sometimes is not a nice exercise on our side.

However, we welcome all the robust engagements that come our way as a way of
giving positive criticism thereby strengthening and supporting the process.

One of the strategies on stakeholder engagement implored by the Department is the
establishment of education structures.

One of those is the District Education Forum found in all our 12 Districts.

These structures play a vital role in ensuring that education is administered in a conducive environment at a District level.

Further to this, the establishment of DEF structures as a departmental vehicle that aims to encourage districts, schools, and communities to work together in education matters, thus confirming the fact that “Education is a societal matter”.  They are a link between the community and the Department of education.

To strengthen these structures, we are required from time to time to capacitate them on their roles and responsibilities and in particular on Departmental policies,
especially during the process of electing new members.

As we were electing new SGBs in March 2021, the term of office for the DEFs had to be revised, to be in line with the term of office for SGBs in our schools.

We are now busy inducting the new structures to enhance their participation in our programmes.

Ladies and gentlemen as we try to deal with the financial challenges faced by the
Department, we have taken a conscious decision to embark in an exercise of
reviewing all contracts with service providers for provision of various services within 
the Department.

The objective is to identify inefficiencies within those contracts for possible savings. The savings realised will be re-directed to the key mandates that require funding for implementation within 2021/22 financial year.

In order to achieve our intended goals as the education sector, it may be necessary
that we take decisions that are not palatable to some.

This includes re-shaping our schooling system such that it responds to our educational needs.

The School Rationalization, Re-alignment and merger of small schools becomes one of the areas that require our outmost dedication and zeal to implement. We cannot afford to waste anymore time now, this is long overdue.

A Gazette will be published before the end of June 2021 with a total number of 1,142 schools that must be closed and or realigned.

Yes of course we will not be reckless in executing this task but at the same time we will not loose our focus, that of ensuring that learners receive what is due to them i.e. Quality teaching and learning.

In pursuit of excellence it is necessary to act against poor performance and improper
conduct hence we will continually take action against anyone fingered in such.

There are pending cases involving SMS members in the Department some of which have been investigated by the SIU and the investigation reports have now been submitted to the Department to institute disciplinary processes.

I can confirm that dates have been set within the month of June 2021 to start with such processes and ensure that these matters are finalized put to rest.

In conclusion in our pursuit to develop and educate the African child we will leave no
stone unturned, even if it means unpalatable actions have to be taken.

The above enunciated programmes and actions must be seen in the context of giving only the best we can afford for the education of the African child. This is in essence the current dictates of the struggle for African Nationalism.

I thank you