Page 31 - Provincial Treasury Estimates.pdf

Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure (EPRE) -2023/24 Financial Year
School nutrition has proved to be a catalyst for improved attendance of learners in the Province benefiting 87.8 % of
learners in 2021.

The efforts of the EC DOE to increase learning and teaching time since the advent of the COVID pandemic has proved
very helpful in improving overall provincial performance. Over the short to medium-term access to basic education will

be improved through prioritizing the establishment of schools, provision of adequate Learner and Teacher Support
Material (LTSM) as well as the provision of safe and reliable scholar transport and nutritious and healthy meals for
needy students. Other lessons that were learnt from the pandemic that will be leveraged upon include enhancing the
use of ICT to improve departmental operations by automating critical business processes to limit costs. The pandemic
has necessitated the need to broaden access to e-learning and e-content. The focus of broadening access to e-
learning capabilities will allow the education sector of the Province to be more resilient, equitable and inclusive for all

learners no matter what region they come from.

Functional literacy as measured by the number of adult persons aged 20 years and older who has completed their
primary education i.e. Grade 7 can be a measure of development and growth of an economy. In 2021, 4.3 million
(i.e. 84.2 %) people were considered to be functionally literate as compared to only 4.0 million in 2019 (80.7%).
Additionally, the level of illiteracy has dropped in the Province from approximately over 1 million illiterate people in
2019 to only 804 561 illiterate persons in 2021.

Access to public health care

Health care has proven to have significant positive outcomes that can influence the level of economic growth and
development of any region. Public health care caters to persons who are not in a capacity to pay for private health
care. In 2021, approximately 82.1% of households in the EC consulted public health care services first when they fell

ill or got injured. In terms of achieving the targets of universal health coverage the provincial health system is performing
comparatively well especially in terms of child health and immunization services. Critical challenges relate to the
shortage and lack of absorption of medical doctors and highly skilled medical specialist in the provincial health system.
The diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, and the rollout of Anti-Retroviral
Treatment (ARTs) remains to be a challenge for the provincial health department.

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