Page 321 - Provincial Treasury Estimates.pdf
P. 321

Estimates of the Provincial Revenue and Expenditure (EPRE) – 2023/24 Financial Year

                73.7 percent from 2021; Buffalo City Metro registered second notable achievement at 81.5 percent,

                which is an improvement of 2.5 percent from 79 percent in 2021, and Nelson Mandela was third at
                80.4 percent, recording 2.2 percent improvement from 78.2 percent from 2021.
           x    Non-fee Paying Schools – these schools were the biggest weight pullers in the 2022 NSC results. In

                comparison to the rest of other provinces, 75.5 percent pass rate in Quintiles 1-3 schools ranked
                Eastern Cape at number 5 in the country, whilst Quintiles 4-5 is at 89.2 percent, thus ranked the
                province at number 3 nationally. 74.8% Accounting pass rate in Quintiles 1-3 schools ranked Eastern

                Cape at number 2 nationally, while Quintiles 4-5 at 87.9 percent ranked at number 3 in the national
                pass rates. 44.9 percent participation rate in mathematics ranked Eastern Cape at No.1 in South

                Africa, albeit Quintiles 1-3 pass rate at 44.9 percent remains low.

           Educator provisioning, development and support,  hereunder are  the key achievement highlights

           registered under these policy areas:
           x    Educator provision on the Post Provisioning Norm (PPN) - the department held consultative meetings
                with relevant stakeholders to unpack and cost the affordability of educator post basket for declaration

                and implementation for the subsequent academic year. The pool of educators in relation to the PPN
                was capped at 53 605 in 2022 academic year. However, this was later reviewed in-year due to the

                budgetary shortfall, thus leading to a decline by 817 headcounts to 52 817 declared posts in the period
                under review, in preparation for 2023 academic year. Albeit decline, the department strives to ensure
                that there would be an educator in the classroom at any given time. The PPN provides posts at

                qualifying schools  for the appointment of school based educators  for critical subjects, posts  for
                substitutes, special intervention, curriculum and growth, mother-tongue languages etc.
           x    Teacher  development and support  – the department continues  to give  teacher development top

                attention as one of the pillars of the Education System Transformation Plan (ESTP). Programs for
                teacher training were successfully carried out over the winter break. However, due to the fact that this

                is the point at which interventions for learner attainment begins, the department must carefully plan
                ahead. Both programs are essential in order to have instructors who are educated about the strategy
                and subject  matter they are teaching.  In a similar vein, students should be enabled to efficiently

                consolidate their work from terms 1 and 2, respectively over the winter breaks.

           Coding and robotics was piloted in fewer districts (schools) around the province and the department

           plans to accelerate and spread the piloting initiative towards other areas in 2023/24, including upscaling
           the orientation of identified educators at a foundational level.

           The  National School  Nutrition Programme  (NSNP), in  the province, is implemented using a

           decentralized model and provides resources to schools for the purpose of employing Volunteer Food
           Handlers, procuring food Items and relevant kitchen equipment and utilities. Of the schools participated in
           the NSNP programme, a total number of 5 170 schools, consisting of 3 470 primary schools, 558 combined

           primary and secondary, a total of 1 104 for low enrollment schools and secondary schools, as well as  38
           qualifying special schools benefitted from nutritional feeding, thus feeding 1 667 122 learners, which is

           significantly above the original planned target of 1 625 885 due to additional learners requiring feeding


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