Education regulations inadequate - DA
2013-01-20 20:00
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Johannesburg - Draft regulations on norms and standards for school infrastructure gazetted by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga are inadequate, the DA said on Sunday.
"The minister has provided a draft that contains no technical information or content that can be used to hold government accountable," Democratic Alliance MP Annette Lovemore said in a statement.
"It lacks both short and long-term time frames, instead making continual, vague references to 'progressive realisation'."
The 16-page draft was created as a result of a case brought by Equal Education about minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure.
According to a settlement agreement between Equal Education and the department, the draft had to be published before 15 January. The department published it on 8 January.
The regulations had to be finalised by 15 May.
Lovemore said Motshekga had no excuse for producing such a "vacuous document".
"The next stage in the process is for public comment to be provided to the department of basic education by 15 March 2013. The DA will be submitting thorough and detailed comments and recommendations on the regulations," she said.
"We must ensure that the norms and standards prescribed are detailed, clear and coherent."
One of the DA's criticisms of the draft was that it stated that a school had to have an "enabling teaching and learning environment for teaching and learning to take place" that consisted of "educational spaces, education support spaces and administration spaces", but failed to specify what the spaces entailed.
According to the National Education Infrastructure Management System report, 2 401 of South Africa’s 24 739 public schools do not have water, 3 544 do not have electricity and 11 450 are still using pit latrines.
- SAPA
