DA found that districts are failing to support schools

5 October 2017

The DA Gauteng Schools Campaign has found that districts are failing to provide necessary support to schools. The Gauteng Department of Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi is failing to hold his officials to account.

The fact that the department only reacts to address issues after we highlight them, indicates that the MEC is reactive rather than proactive.

The DA visited different schools across the province during the month of August to assess the quality of infrastructure, school nutrition programme, ICT roll-out and whether the basic needs of the school are being met.

The major challenges faced by a large number of schools in our province are overcrowding, shortage of classrooms, shortage of desks and chairs, poor infrastructure, inadequate security and a lack of access to water and sanitation.

There is clearly poor monitoring and poor project management from the department which hinders learners' access to quality education in Gauteng’s schools.

The MEC has failed to spend infrastructure budget in the past financial year but the need is increasing. Learning and teaching are compromised due to poor planning.

The DA will ask the MEC to conduct an audit of school infrastructure and school furniture. The DA will continue conducting oversights visits, engaging the MEC to intervene as per his mandate.

We will also hold the MEC accountable to ensure that he delivers better quality education and creates a conducive learning and teaching environment in our schools.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 5 October 2017