Social Development failing children who need to be in school

In a series of replies to DA parliamentary questions, it has been revealed that the Department of Social Development is failing to monitor whether children receiving social grants are attending school.

The administrative failures of this Department have rendered the Social Assistance Act and its regulations useless and meaningless. Minister Bathabile Dlamini must appear before the Portfolio Committee on Social Development to explain why these regulations are not being implemented.

In 2009, the regulations in terms of the Social Assistance Act were amended in section 6 to require that a child receiving a social grant is attending school. Failure to attend requires the Department to send a social worker to investigate the reasons why and take appropriate steps to ensure that the child is enrolled at and attends school.

The purpose of ensuring children receiving grants are in school is so that they can get an education and improve their situation in life. It is based on the Bolsa Familia model used in Brazil which uses conditional cash transfers to lessen the problems associated with poverty and ultimately invest in human capital in the long-term to reduce poverty.

The Department stated in the reply that it is flooded with thousands of report cards but currently does not have the capacity to record them. It also stated that it has not received any reports from the Department of Basic Education nor has it received any reports for investigation.

In a country where around 320 000 children between the ages of seven and fifteen not attending school, the DA finds it hard to believe that no cases have been reported for investigation.

There appears to be a lack of co-ordination between the Departments of Social Development and Basic Education to ensure that these regulations are implemented and children are attending school. It has also taken the departments three years to sign a memorandum of understanding to monitor the situation.

The Minister must report to Parliament to explain why these regulations are still not being implemented and how she intends to solve the problem.

Every child should be in school and the Department of Social Development must play its part in ensuring that children are not denied education due to their socio-economic circumstances.

Statement issued by Mike Waters MP, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, March 13 2013

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