Annual Performance Plan Jaarlikse ... - National Treasury

• Learner Transport
It is not always possible to build schools within a 5km radius of every learner. To make it possible for these learners to
reach their nearest suitable school, the department has put other measures in place. These include the provision of a
learner transport scheme or the payment of either a boarding bursary or transport bursary to needy learners to ensure
that they reach school. Boarding in hostels can also be considered although this also has its problems (high expenses,
learners can’t reach home over weekends, etc.).
It is the current policy of the WCED to transport Grades 1 – 12 learners who reside more than 5 kilometers away from
their nearest schools. In this regard, the WCED deals with the administration of ± 490 learner transport routes
transporting ± 47 000 learners to school on a daily basis.
A learner transport scheme will not be instituted for less than 10 learners on a specific route and/or within a radius of
5km from a learner’s home, but deviations can take place under extraordinary circumstances for example physically
handicapped learners attending mainstream schools.
The learner transport policy is currently under review.
• e-Education
The national e-Education White Paper makes provision for a number of strategic objectives, viz. professional
development, ICT infrastructure, electronic content resources, connectivity, community involvement and research and
development. Through various existing WCED ICT projects, including the Khanya Project, the Schools Connectivity
Project and the Curriculum website, all of the objectives are being addressed.
In the 200708 – 2009/10 MTEF period the Khanya Project will provide the balance of the outstanding public schools
with at least one computer facility, the majority of the educators in the province will have received basic ICT training, all
the schools will be connected to the Internet via a high bandwidth connection and additional electronic resources will be
made available (either via the WCED’s Curriculum website or via the national Thutong Education portal).
• National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)
The responsibility for the management of the NSNP was transferred from the provincial Department of Health to the
Department of Education on 1 April 2004.At that time 145 596 learners in Grades R to 7 were fed across approximately
659 targeted primary schools in the province.
Since then, the poorest special and secondary schools were also included into the NSNP and currently approximately
203 600 learners are fed across 993 targeted primary, special and secondary schools.
During the time that the programme was transferred, only one uncooked menu option was provided on every feeding
day. Since January 2006 cooked menu options were successfully piloted at 44 primary schools across the seven
EMDCs. These menu options were systematically extended to other targeted schools and it is expected that all targeted
schools would have been afforded the opportunity to serve cooked meals by March 2007.
The NSNP enabled all targeted schools to purchase kitchen equipment in order to prepare cooked meals. Many
targeted schools do not have adequate food preparation areas and the NSNP enabled 85 targeted schools to construct
durable and secured pre-fabricated mobile units.
All funded staff vacancies were filled, although not all the posts on the establishment could be funded. It was not
possible to fund a Liaison officer post at each EMDC in the metropole areas.
Monitoring tools, information booklets and guidelines were disseminated to all targeted schools. At more than 90% of
the targeted schools volunteers responsible for the preparation of meals and in some cases relevant educators were
trained in gas and food safety and the storage of food.
The monthly honorarium payable to volunteers and the total number of volunteers were increased by up to 400% and
241%, respectively.
213 Targeted schools currently have food gardens. Workshops covering topics such as the establishment of a food
garden and the making of compost were conducted in several EMDCs, covering the rural and nodal areas. Educators,
learners and parents attended these workshops.
Annual Performance Plan 2007/08 – 2009/10
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