Basic Education Deputy Minister Enver Surty locked in talks on education crisis

Basic Education Deputy Minister Enver Surty was locked in meetings with Eastern Cape education MEC Mandla Makupula and other senior officials of the provincial department yesterday to address several issues plaguing the department.

Basic Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga confirmed yesterday that Surty was accompanied by a high-level delegation to address issues such as rationalisation, mergers, closure and alignment of small and non-viable schools. He would also:

lReceive a detailed update on the plan to reduce education districts from 26 to 12;

lBe updated on all litigation cases the department was faced with; and

lBe updated on the rollout of school furniture and other infrastructure-related matters.

The visit follows a similar visit by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga two weeks ago, a day after the Daily Dispatch reported that National Treasury had cut the Eastern Cape education department’s infrastructure grant by R530-million, following their failure to spend the grant during the financial year, which ends today.

In reaction to the Dispatch report, the ANC, opposition parties such as the DA, and non-governmental organisations such as the Legal Resources Centre, called for heads to roll, highlighting poor planning as the root cause of the non-spending of the grant.

The announcement came as the department battles to replace more than 350 mud and unsafe school structures, especially in the Libode district.

Premier Phumulo Masualle also demanded answers from Makupula and his senior management team on reasons why more than half a billion-rand had gone unspent.

The department is also faced with an ongoing crisis since the beginning of the school term since the beginning of the year, following complaints of critical shortages of teachers and overcrowding at more than 52 schools in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.