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10 December 2007

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education will have achieved an almost 100% delivery of textbooks at non-section 21 schools when schools re-open on 16 January 2008. When the first bell for the 2008 academic year rings, 95,5% of the 3 211 non-section 21 schools will have textbooks on their desks. These 3 069 schools had already received 97,95% of their books by the end of November 2007.

The present bright scenario is a far cry from the sad picture in January 2005 when an audit found that only 149 (4,6%) of non-section 21 schools had received their textbooks by the time schools re-opened. When I assumed office in April 2004 there were no systems in place to monitor delivery but the reports we were receiving were hair rising. Once the requisitions were handed to the suppliers the Department had no control over the purchase and distribution of Learning Teaching Support Material (LTSM).

Many learners and their parents have a story or two to tell about the frustration of having to borrow books from neighbouring schools when their neighbours were not using them. Some received books as late as June and often there was no delivery at all.

Learning and Teaching Support Material is considered by governments across the world as one of the important instruments for promoting equity, redress and quality learning for all in the public education system. To me it was imperative to do our level best to ensure timeous delivery.

Therefore I am pleased to report a steady improvement in the delivery of LTSM to schools before or on the first day of school since 2005. In our textbook deliveries before the first day of school we moved from a 4,6% delivery in the 2005, 40% in 2006, 80% in 2007 to 95% in 2008 (academic year).

In addition we have increased the allocation of money to buy books and stationery for our schools. In the 2003/04 financial year only R379 million was allocated to buy LTSM. This has been steadily increased to R870 million in the 2006/07 financial year and R828 million in the 2007/08 financial year. There have never been more textbooks in KwaZulu-Natal schools.

The procurement of textbooks has been managed as per the department's LTSM management plan through a consultative process with both the managing agent and publishers. The positive side of working together was that all parties worked towards a common goal of delivering books to schools by 30 November 2007. A case in point is that when a publisher declared the Engineering Graphics textbook 'out of print' EduSolution went the extra mile and purchased books from stores around the country just to ensure that the learners in the Further Education and Training (FET) band that are implementing a new curriculum have the textbook required.

The outstanding delivery value of 2,05% is due to the challenges of out of print and late delivery by publishers. The remaining 4,5% of non-section 21 schools that have not received their textbooks yet includes 78 eight schools that submitted requisitions long after the due date of 22 May 2007 – as late as October. These schools will receive their books in January 2008. The rest of the non-section 21 schools that have not received their books are made up of 32 principals who have not ordered at all despite numerous reminders (disciplinary action will be taken against them) and 32 schools whose registration and functionality is currently under investigation.

Explanation of procurement system to media

The Department of Education has the responsibility to ensure that all public schools have Learning and Teaching Support Material on or before the first day of school in any school year.

The procurement of textbooks and stationery is two fold: In the case of section 21 schools funds are transferred to the bank accounts of these schools and the buy their own textbooks and stationery. In the case of non-section 21 schools the Department tells the schools how much they will receive for the following year and they should start planning and preparing around this indicative budget. Only after receiving their final budgets in April do they place their final orders with the Department who then buys and distributes LTSM to the non-section 21 schools.

For the past three years the Department has used the services of management agents to procure and distribute LTSM. The textbooks have been delivered by EduSolutions and Indiza Motswedi had the task of delivering stationery.

In view of the challenges with the management agent responsible for stationery, the department was forced to find an alternative method of buying stationery for the 2007/08 financial year. I approved the provisional allocation of special section 21 functions to non-section 21 schools to enable them to procure stationery on their own for the 2008 academic year. This is contrary to The Mercury article of 27 November 2007, which incorrectly stated that "next year all schools have been Section 21 status when it comes to placing orders." Funds for this purpose were transferred to the non-section 21 schools and these schools have procured their own stationery for the 2008 academic year.

In this regard principals have been trained on the procurement process to be followed when purchasing stationery. A comprehensive manual was provided to assist principals in this aspect. Besides the normal transferral of funds to section 21 schools funds were also transferred to 2 722 non-section 21 schools to buy stationery. Funds were not transferred to 413 schools that spent their entire LTSM allocations on textbooks and therefore have a zero balance. Special support has been given to 76 schools that have indicated that they do not feel confident to buy the stationery entirely on their own. The financial clusters are monitoring the procurement process and are conducting an audit of the financial records.

Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
10 December 2007