Share

Newsmaker: Crash and learn, Panyaza Lesufi style

accreditation
 MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi. Picture: Elizabeth Sejake
MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi. Picture: Elizabeth Sejake

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was, for this week at least, arguably less popular among the province’s residents than President Jacob Zuma.

He was roundly cursed on radio, TV and in newspapers by irate parents, who detailed the frustration they endured trying to get their children registered at a government school.

In an interview with City Press on Friday afternoon, two days after the glitches on his online school registration system were ironed out, Lesufi said he had felt every bit of their ire.

“They make me feel like I have killed a person. And I have lost much sleep over this thing, but there is no going back,” he said.

The registration website, which crashed on Monday, caused the normally unflappable Lesufi – who, as national education spokesperson, negotiated the Limpopo textbook crisis, and who served as director-general of the basic education department – to go without sleep for two days.

“I was not sleeping,” says the man who prefers to drive himself to work and refuses police-issue bodyguards, although he may have regretted that this week.

“I would leave the data centre [located at his offices in Commissioner Street, Johannesburg] at 11pm and return by 2am. I did not sleep at all because at times when I got home I would be busy on my laptop, responding to tweets and returning calls,” he said.

“One day a parent tweeted me at 4am, and I called them back immediately. They were shocked.”

He had banked on his in-house IT staff – derided this week as three men and a laptop – to develop the website, but realised too late that they were not up to the job.

Lesufi first launched the site on April 11 and it crashed under the weight of the staggering number of parents wanting to register their children in grades 1 and 8. More than 37 000 visitors were recorded within the first minute of the site going live.

Lesufi apologised and pushed the launch back by another week – only for it to happen again.

This week, he finally threw in the towel and enlisted the professionals, including giants like Dimension Data and Telkom.

“In fact, Telkom offered to help free of charge,” he said.

Ever the politician, Lesufi blamed school governing bodies for sabotaging the process.

“We started the process last year. We opened it up for three months and asked school governing bodies to encourage parents to apply. But many of them told parents not to do so.

“We ended up with only 11 000 applications in three months. As such, we could not test the efficacy of the system,” he charged.

Lesufi’s theory is that former Model C schools loathe the system because it opens it up and makes the application process more transparent. The Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools announced this week it would take Lesufi’s department to court to prevent what it said was the “abuse” of the e-platform for school admissions.

Lesufi was having none of it and accused them of trying to “protect their privilege”.

“What this does is that no school will be able to accept a hard copy in grades 1 and 8. All the applications will come to me, and I will send the lists to the schools and ask them to admit the pupils.”

Former Model C schools, said Lesufi, would no longer be able to refuse pupils on spurious grounds or push those they did not want to the bottom of their lists – either in favour of pupils who excelled in sport and academics, or because of conditions set by funders.

“The system is exposing these things, hence the need to hack into it,” he said, claiming that by Friday afternoon, more than 379 people had tried hacking the website.

“Our children should be able to go to any school. There is no longer space for manipulation, hence the noise.

“If they do not admit kids, they have to give reasons, and those reasons have to comply with the law. I know they are very angry.”

Lesufi said the new system would make essential planning far easier because they would know by the end of June how many children they would have to accommodate next year.

“As early as August, I will know how many books to buy for the province, how many teachers I need for every school, and how much money, cleaning material and toilet paper each school will need. When I go to Treasury, I know exactly what to ask for,” he said.

This has not been happening in township schools and it takes two to three months each year to admit all pupils, who lose valuable learning time.

“By the time I finish performing a physical headcount and approach Treasury, it is almost midyear; and by the time I finish supplying their needs, it is almost time to stock up for the following academic year.”

For frustrated parents, here is a heads-up: Lesufi plans to extend the system to all grades.

“The internet is the future. Let us embrace it,” he said.

You asked, and the MEC answered

Followers of City Press on social media asked Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi about the new online registration system that collapsed this week. Here are his answers:

Why did you go live instead of testing the efficiency of the system first? You jumped the gun. – Ranky Phelane

The system was first piloted in 2015 and was tested before it was implemented this year. The system, however, experienced unexpected technical glitches, which we continue to rectify to ensure that the system is fully effective.

When will the department rectify the glitches? 
– Kgomotso Pule

Our technicians work daily to improve the system and to ensure that it is fully efficient. We shut down the system daily between 2am and 4am to allow system upgrades, and to address errors picked up during the day.

What security systems are in place to ensure that our children’s details are safe, especially following your admission that there were hacking attempts on the site? – Scribblingal

We remain concerned and disturbed that there were 13 unsuccessful attempts to hack into the system since its launch on Monday. We have been assured by our technicians that the system is secured to prevent attempts of this nature. All security aspects regarding the infrastructure and firewall are in place, and the Secure Sockets Layer has been implemented to ensure that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.

I believe that many parents are not computer literate. The library in my community has no internet access. I find this approach a bit arrogant. Forcing things down people’s throats will not work, and never has worked. – Priscilla Jaftha

We feel your frustration, Priscilla. We have made provisions for parents who do not have internet access. We have deployed 8 500 employees to all schools within the province and established help desks in all of our district offices. We advise parents to either go to their nearest school or district office for assistance. Parents can also visit any Teacher Development Centre in the province for assistance.

What will happen if we can’t apply and it delays the application process for 2017? – Sandy Antonellos

The department is working tirelessly to ensure that the system works efficiently and that all parents are able to apply using the online application process. We believe the process is efficient and will be successful. More than 228 300 applications were successfully processed within 48 hours.

However, we have noted the concerns and have put in place the following contingency measures:

» We are deploying 8 500 officials to schools in the province to help parents load their details online. These officials have been provided with laptops, 3G cards and technicians to assist parents;

» We have reprogrammed the system to provide a 
step-by-step process that parents can follow in the event that they receive an error message in the system;

» We have extended our call centre hours to between 7.30am and 6pm on weekdays and from 7am to 2pm over weekends. The toll-free number is 0800 000 789. However, when City Press phoned the toll-free number yesterday, at 12.45pm, a recorded message said the service was available only on weekdays;

» The system will be shut down daily between 2am and 4am to allow system upgrades or to address errors picked up during the day; and

» A message will be introduced to explain the nature of the error and the steps parents can take to correct the error.

Why is there still a race selection? Are we ever going to move away from categorisation? – Manu

Our admissions process does not discriminate against any learner on the basis of their race or gender.

I am wanting to get my child into a school that is not in my zone – it is not far, only 2.7km – but now I am told that my child must go to school according to where I live. – Sandy Antonellos

The department can, unfortunately, not guarantee placement of learners at a school of choice, but can assure parents that all learners will be placed.

Is the system smartphone-friendly? Most people do not have access to desktop computers. – Dave Stroud

The online application process is smartphone-friendly and parents can apply using their smartphones.

The system put my sister on the B-list, but we were put on the A-list by the school. Who overrides whom here? – Jabu Thango

Please contact the department regarding this matter on our toll-free number 0800 000 789.

Is the department going to work with the likes of Stoogle (an online platform for people looking for information about universities or youth education) to bring more online services to South African pupils? 
– Ben Rath

We are open to any discussion regarding partnerships that can help us improve the system.

Are online schooling services efficient compared with manual services? – Pakane J Lamola

Information communications technology has proved to be more effective than the ancient, traditional way of doing things.

What are the implications if the site is set for people to register for 2017, taking into consideration the frustrations? – Jabu Ntuli

At this stage, we have no reason to postpone the online application process. We are going ahead with this process, with lessons learnt, and we continue to improve the process daily.

Is the site only for registration purposes, or will it post leaners’ progress according to their school? 
– T Nkabi

The site is meant for registration purposes only.

The problem with Panyaza’s leadership style is that he does not believe in consulting with his subordinates or implementers (teachers). He will 
fail until he takes teachers seriously. It’s like he is driving an empty train without passengers. 
– Gift Nkoana

The department has consulted extensively with education stakeholders with regards to the implementation of the online application process.

TALK TO US

Do you agree with Lesufi’s internet-only policy for school registration?

SMS us on 35697 using the keyword MEC and tell us what you think. Please include your name and province. SMSes cost R1.50

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you believe that the various planned marches against load shedding will prompt government to bring solutions and resolve the power crisis?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes
21% - 103 votes
No
79% - 399 votes
Vote