DoE credibility at stake over latest textbook crisis

15 September 2016

The DA will today call for an emergency Education portfolio committee meeting following a report which confirms that most of the province’s Grade 6 learners do not have their own reading books while half do not have their own maths textbooks.

The information is from the as yet unreleased 2013 Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality report, presented to members of the Basic Education portfolio committee two days ago.  It shows that 45.5% of KZN’s Grade 6 learners do not have their own reading textbooks while 50.1% do not have their own maths textbook.

The DA is deeply disturbed by this finding which raises serious questions around the KZN Education department’s credibility.  This after it has repeatedly assured us that textbook delivery is taking place and that exam readiness is under control.

The failure also speaks volumes about KZN’s declining matric pass rate.

How can any child be expected to perform well at Grade 12 level when the building blocks are non-existent? Crisis interventions by the DoE, such as extra lessons and holiday classes for matric learners, are too little too late when children have had years without the proper resources.

A further concern is whether the DoE is spending its budget as it should be or whether funds intended for resources such as textbooks are in fact being spent elsewhere. The DA will today submit a parliamentary question to MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane to determine this.

In the interim, we will insist that the MEC appear before the committee and account for this latest finding. Somebody, somewhere in his department is not doing his or her job and we expect heads to roll.

Issued by Mbali Ntuli, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 15 September 2016