In a recent virtual meeting, the Select Committee was briefed by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) on its Annual Report for 2021/2022.
One of the highlights of 2021/2022, according to the meeting's report, was that 76% of Funza Lushaka graduates were placed in schools against the annual target of 84%.
The Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme is a multi-year programme to promote teaching as a profession. Bursaries are available to enable selected students to complete a teaching qualification in identified Subject priority areas.
Overall the DBE has achieved 81% of its annual targets, partially achieved 13% and did not achieve 6%. It successfully appointed 18 854 young and qualified educators (30 years and below).
In addition, the number of underperforming schools has dropped to 1 643 in 2021, while the number of chronically underperforming schools has dropped from 573 to 500. The Director-General also made 1 496 site visits to construction projects.
Other highlights include:
- The overall pass rate for 2021 is 76.4% (which is an improvement of 0.2% from 2020).
- 65 373 740 Grades R-9 workbooks were printed and delivered to 22 975 public schools.
- Monitored school feeding: 134 schools were monitored against target of 120 schools.
Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) trained 97% of post level 1-3 educators on the Quality Management System (QMS), 18 854 qualified educators aged 30 years and below were appointed in posts in the PEDs of which 4 786 were permanent, 10 864 were temporary, and 3 204 were substitute/relief appointments.
Last year's Annual Report reflected that for 2020/2021, 82% of Funza Lushaka graduates were placed in schools against the annual target of 85%.