Page 37 - Provincial Treasury Estimates.pdf

Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure (EPRE) -2023/24 Financial Year
o Improving compliance with the 30 days payment of creditors, support optimal utilisation of insufficient
financial resources, work on strategies to reduce costs by implementing internal controls.

SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

EDUCATION

Improving access to basic education through scholar transport

The provincial government has been committed in maintaining high levels of access to basic education in
the province as evidenced by the high enrolment rates within the basic education system across the

province. However, a significant number of children do so with great difficulty due to challenging socio-
economic circumstances often characterized by poverty and insufficient access to means of reliable
transportation to school. “Scholar transport remains a necessary and integral part of the right to basic

education” (Section 27, 2022).

Therefore, to cater for the transport needs of learners from grade R to 12 who travel a distance of 5 km or
more, government has made scholar transport increasingly accessible to more additional learners in the
Province. The provincial government has allocated R694.525 million in 2023/24 and R2.177 billion over the

2023 MTEF period towards scholar transport operations. The province has targeted 67 000 learners to
benefit from the programme in 2023/24. Moving forward the proposal is for the scholar transport programme

to be decentralized to district or school level so as to manage delivery costs and improve effectiveness in
terms of actual learners transported.

School Nutrition

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) is a poverty alleviation strategy based on a conceptual

understanding of how health and nutrition factors influence school achievement. This programme is one of
the flagship programmes of the Department of Basic Education (DBE). In terms of the programme all
qualifying learners are provided with at least one nutritious meal per day and for the 2023/24 financial year

this programme is targeting to feed a total of 1.6 million learners in the Province.

The NSNP is funded through a conditional grant that is appropriated in terms of Division of Revenue Act

(DORA). The total allocation for the 2023 MTEF amounts to R5.158 billion. An amount of R1.647 billion (of
which transfers account for R1.610 billion) is for 2023/24 financial year and is intended to benefit
4 883 schools (both public ordinary and qualifying special schools) in the Province.

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