Durban — Education was at the top of the agenda during the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive council’s first meeting for the year.
The provincial executive council (Exco) is chaired by KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
The council took decisions on education.
Provincial spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said the provincial government applauded all education stakeholders for ensuring a glitch-free start to schooling in the province.
The council also congratulated the matric class of 2022 for achieving the sterling matric results of an overall pass rate of 83% against all the odds.
“Once again in 2023, KwaZulu-Natal will constitute the biggest schooling system in the country with over 2.8 million learners in 6 242 schools,” Mabaso said.
“The matric class enrolment is again expected to be the largest in the country to sit for the examination in October this year. 1 777 schools will have matric classes and 90 000 educators will be involved in educating learners in all our schools in 2023.”
Mabaso said the council was satisfied that all the teachers were at school and that all the learner support material was distributed on time in all the schools.
“The Exco appreciated progress with the work being done in the 186 schools that were damaged by floods. These will be supported to ensure that learning losses are mitigated.”
Mabaso also said that the council gave the green light for the province to pilot the online registration system for schools. The province will identify a few districts which will be used as the pilots before the system is rolled out in the rest of KZN.
“Exco said the Department of Education should learn from experiences in provinces that had already been implementing this system over the years, and where necessary, this would allow improvement of the existing system,” Mabaso said.
He also said that in line with the building of a smart province and launching youth into the digital revolution, Exco welcomed the focus on technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It would see 14 primary schools offering robotics resources and training teachers in the information communications technology curriculum integration.
Mabaso said Exco directed the Department of Education to audit the non-viable schools and to explore the possibility of these schools being converted into learning and training centres or community colleges to build a skills base to grow the local economy.
On the placement of pupils affected by floods, Mabaso said that Exco was satisfied that pupils affected by floods had been placed in schools.
“EThekwini had the highest number of learners affected by the floods. A total of 785 learners are provided support under this programme. Through the Department of Social Development, the government has ensured that deserving learners have been provided with school uniforms.
“Learner transport is being offered to learners to ensure they don’t miss their lessons and are in class on time,” Mabaso said.
Meanwhile, Mabaso said that while the province was still reeling from the impact of the recent floods, the council had resolved to convene the KZN Climate Change Council to ensure provincial preparedness and build provincial resilience to climate change effects.
He said that during the January to June season, it had become the norm that the province would, one way or the other, experience a catastrophic impact in the form of disasters induced by climate change.
“The KZN Climate Change Council will seek to mobilise all stakeholders to be better prepared in order to respond timeously to the effects and impact of climate change and to develop sustainable methods of adaptation where appropriate,” Mabaso said.
Daily News