Chairperson of the committee, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, tells OFM News that one of the schools they visited in the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality on Wednesday is renting property from a local farmer in the area. Mbinqo-Gigaba says the school is unfortunately not well maintained and due to the rental situation, it isn’t clear whose responsibility it is to keep up the premises. Whilst she acknowledges that instances of vandalism and burglaries reported at schools countrywide is also taking its toll on infrastructure, she urges the provincial education departments to do more on the matter.
 
“The issues of infrastructure are continuous. But as much as they are continuous there needs to be a breakthrough. Provinces must look into their infrastructure budgets and fix toilets. You cannot run a school and then you have insufficient toilets,” says Mbinqo-Gigaba sternly. The committee is also unhappy with water quality at the schools they inspected.
 
The good news however, is that the committee is of the view that the 2022 academic year in the province appears to be continuing swimmingly - specifically at the schools they visited.  
 
On Thursday, the committee will meet with the province’s Education MEC, Zolile Monakali, the committee on Education in the Provincial Legislature, organised labour, and the school governing body (SGBs) at the Duineveld High School in Upington. It is expected that aside from the aforementioned issues, the availability of learning materials, staff shortages, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will be areas of focus during this visit.

ALSO READ: NC schools under the spotlight during parly visit
 
This Central South African province made the most significant improvement in its matric results for 2021 as compared to other provinces in the country. The Northern Cape’s matriculants managed to attain a 71,4% pass rate in 2021 as compared to 66% in 2020. Premier Zamani Saul has been quoted in national media publications, lamenting that this is still below the national average of 76,4%.  
 
The ZF Mgcawu District was the second-best performing district with respect to matric results, with the Namakwa District achieving the highest pass rate at 81,2%. The Frances Baard District, where the committee is headed to on Friday, came in third.

OFM News