The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, accompanied by senior DBE officials, last week, conducted oversight visits in the Free State Province to assess the state of readiness of schools in administering the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination.
In addition to visiting schools in the Lejweleputswa and Fezile Dabi Education Districts, the Committee held meetings with the Free State Department of Education (FSDoE); the Free State provincial legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Education; School Governing Body (SGB) associations; the SA Principals’ Association; traditional authorities; and organised labour. The Committee visited, amongst others, Welkom Secondary School; Edmund Rice Independent School; Orion Special School; Anker Farm School; and Lenakeng Technical School in Lejweleputswa. Fezile Dabi schools visited included HM Mthombeni Secondary School; Thuto Ke Lesedi Technical School; Fakkel Special School; and Weiveld Agricultural School.
The focus of the oversight visit included school infrastructure; Early Childhood Development (ECD); Grade-R Implementation; NSC examination readiness; Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) provisioning; Digital and E-learning, Learner Transport; the National School Nutrition Programme; District Support and capacity building. The areas of focus form part of the key deliverables in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MSTF), 2019 – 2024 and the National Development Plan (NDP), 2030.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Ms Joy Maimela, raised concerns about school language policy of Afrikaans and English in some Free State schools. Another challenge was the lack of black African teachers at Orion Special School and the Committee has requested the Department to prepare a comprehensive report regarding its recruitment policy. During a visit to Welkom Secondary School, the Committee noted infrastructure challenges as well as vandalism, drug abuse, gangsterism and teenage pregnancy, which result in learner dropouts. The FSDoE will be submitting a comprehensive plan to attend to the challenges. The Committee also visited Witrivier Farm Primary School where unreliable scholar transport resulted in learners missing classes for weeks.
The Basic Education Ministry and DBE senior management have, on various occasions, reaffirmed its support for and cooperation with the Committee to ensure enhanced transparent oversight with a multisectoral government approach and enhanced accounting to resolve remaining challenges in the education sector.