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Rationalisation and realignment of schools for optimal for service delivery
The responsibility of the basic education sector is to ensure accessibility by all learners to education that is delivered in safe, accessible, and quality education facilities. Regardless of the size of a school, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has an obligation to provide an adequate number of teachers, suf cient Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) and appropriate school facilities with a suf cient number of classrooms and other functional spaces. Managing many small / micro-schools, however, compromises the Department’s efforts to provide curriculum support ef ciently and cost-effectively.
As part of its strategy to overhaul the education sector, the DBE embarked on a School Rationalisation and Realignment Programme (SRRP).
The SRRP in the Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) is the main driver behind the SRRP in the Eastern Cape province. Collaboration with all relevant and affected stakeholders is one of the preconditions that must be observed in the implementation of the SRRP. The Department has, over the past few years, been engaging various stakeholders to share the rationale and vision of the SRRP. In November 2019 a process was undertaken to engage District Municipalities towards a coherent articulation of the basic plans and tools designed to guide the recon guration and transformation of the Eastern Cape education landscape.
The SRRP is not new and was rst introduced in the Eastern Cape in 2009.
Infrastructure delivery in support of the SRRP
The Department is committed to providing the necessary school infrastructure, eradicating the backlogs, and ensuring that its school facilities meet the provisions of the Minimum Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure (MUNAS-PSI).
Progress in this regard is affected by the SRRP as the provision of infrastructure, especially the eradication and replacement of schools built of inappropriate materials, is dependent on the nalisation of the SRRP so that proper planning for infrastructure can be done. All infrastructure provided to schools affected through the SRRP must be provided in line with the MUNAS-PSI.
To ensure proper infrastructure planning, those charged with the responsibility of rationalisation and realignment are obliged to identify:
a) Temporary classrooms that are needed in merged and
expanded schools.
b) Permanent classrooms that are needed in merged and
expanded schools.
c) Further school infrastructure that is needed in merged
and expanded schools (admin blocks, libraries, computer classrooms, internet access, science laboratories).
d) Dedicated infrastructure that is needed in schools that are designated to offer specialist curriculum streams (workshops, music rooms, etc.)
e) Boarding hostels that need to be constructed or extended based on planned increases in enrolment from the mergers.
FAQ
Q: What is the SRRP?
A: The SRRP is the Department of Basic Education’s programme aimed at closing several micro-schools across the country to streamline the SA schooling system to provide quality teaching and learning in a cost-effective way.
Q: What is the goal of the SRRP?
A: The goal of the SRRP is to reshape and reorganise the education system to provide quality education for learners, a better teaching environment for educators, and a better future for all.
Q: What is meant by rationalisation of schools?
A: Unviable micro-schools will be closed and merged with nearby schools to
improve the quality of education in such schools and reduce the cost of providing education. Micro-schools have less than 135 learners, in the case of primary
schools, and less than 200 learners, in the case of high schools.
Q: What is meant by realignment of schools?
A: Through a process of realignment schooling levels normally referred to as ‘Standard’ and ‘Form’ have been changed to Grades and the different types of schools narrowed down to two i.e. Primary Schools (Grade R to 7) and Secondary Schools (Grade 8 to 12). This reclassi cation has led to a need to move learners from their current schools to schools that offer relevant Grades, per the new classi cation.
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