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Under-fire MEC has big plans for R31bn

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Under-fire MEC for Education Mandla Makupula – whose department returned R530 million of unspent funds for rural-school infrastructure to National Treasury early this year – has asked that body to lend competent provinces a portion of the Eastern Cape’s intended allocation while he builds capacity.

Explaining the failure of his department to spend the infrastructure grant, he blamed the declining number of experts within his unit designated to oversee schools’ construction.

As a result, he said, his department had engaged Treasury to reduce its Eastern Cape budget allocation and divert resources to provinces that had the capacity to build the required infrastructure.

To minimise underexpenditure in the province’s infrastructure budget, he said, “we negotiated a deal with the national department of basic education and Treasury to loan the provinces that were ready to efficiently spend the money”.

“They will [pay back] the allocated amounts in the [next] financial year.”

He insisted that his department’s commitment to establishing proper schooling infrastructure remained a priority.

This commitment included the eradication of inappropriate structures such as mud classrooms, and meeting the national target for norms and standards for school infrastructure with regard to the provision of water and sanitation.

The province has given Makupula’s department a budget of R31 billion for this financial year.

Presenting his budget and policy speech at the Bhisho legislature on Wednesday, having recorded an 8.6% decline in matric results for 2015 – the worst performance in the country – Makupula tabled a turnaround strategy that included filling vacancies for teachers, principals and heads of departments.

He promised that the plan would transform the entire provincial education system, from the school level, through to each region and district, up to the provincial office level.

High on his priority list, he said, was to fill teacher vacancies in a bid to improve results in
all grades.

Makupula has been under severe pressure from opposition parties, which have consistently accused him of incompetence and called for his sacking.

He also faced criticism from his party’s ANC Youth League for poor matric results posted in the province over years and non-schooling in Port Elizabeth’s northern communities.

The department has suffered from the exodus of teachers with critical skills in subjects such as maths, science, accounting and languages.

“In the period between January 2015 and June 2015, the province lost a total of 2 343 teachers, of which 1 105 left through resignations,” Makupula said.

“The department is projecting that the number could escalate to 3 608 in this financial year.”

He said his department took “extraordinary” steps to recruit teachers, which led to 495 principals and 2 337 deputy principals and head-of-department posts being filled.

Makupula said, to retain his staff, the province would adopt a three-pillar strategy comprising a comprehensive induction, on-the-job training and teacher welfare support.

“Teachers’ poor grasp of concepts and [syllabus] content contributes to low levels of learner achievement,” said Makupula.

Edmund van Vuuren, the DA’s shadow MEC for education, praised Makupula for his plan, but expressed concern about whether it would be executed. “They always have wonderful plans, but when it comes to implementation, they lack the capacity to do so,” he said.

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