Annual Performance Plan 2013/14 - Department of Education

• Re-active – commit all managers to fully participate in crafting responses to media inquiries/negative coverage:
Institute a wholesale ‘hearts and minds’ Campaign targeting school based managers
Revive information sharing internal & external imbizos – the information gap/lag between management and the rank
and file continues to be a major weakness in the Department – Popularise and fully exploit the intra-net as a source of
information targeting specifically our local publics
Publication of in-house mini-newsletters that encapsulate key decisions taken (“SLMC (Strategic Leadership and
Management) Briefs”, “DEXCO (Departmental Executive Committee) News”, etc.)
Revive/re-launch ‘Brand Education’ as a conduit for ‘Back to Basics’ Campaign
Consider launching an EC DoE branded clothing line (Uniforms, shirts, Track suits,
Prioritise and revive the Customer Care (CC) – as Batho Pele & Service Standards champions, CC is best placed to
drive internal rehabilitative programmes
In taking forward the Communication Strategy and Plan for 2013/14 onwards, the Department recognizes that 1) the best form of
Communication is service delivery, 2) Media Monitoring, marketing and responsiveness will form the ‘backbone’ of this plan; and 3)
Ownership and collective decision-making will advance the cause of the Department’s brand. The Department will work with the
Office of the Premier’s Provincial Communications Unit and Government Communication and Information Service to implement the
strategy/ plan going forward.
4.2 Provincial Plans
The following deliverables were announced in the Premier’s State of the Province Address on 22 February 2013:
Schools currently being constructed under the Accelerated School Infrastructure Development Initiative programme are nearing
completion. In the coming financial year, work will start on a new batch of 100 schools.
Urgent and practical steps need to be taken “to place education and skills development at the centre of Government’s
transformation and development agenda.” To this end, the strategic priority on strengthening education and building a skills and
human resources base aligns with the National Development Plan’s observation that “the standard of education for most black
learners is of poor quality.” Education in this Province has experienced challenges, some of which negatively impacted the
attainment of learning outcomes. The Provincial Government has responded to these challenges through a number of
interventions, including developing and implementing a turnaround plan, with the full support of National Government.
The Department has commenced planning for re-alignment of the current provincial configuration of 3 categories, i.e. primary,
combined or junior secondary and senior secondary to the national system of primary and secondary schools. This entails the
movement of Grades 8 and 9 to high or secondary schools. A process to identify the location of these high schools has begun and
2013/14 will be the year of planning for this movement. This planning will also include learner transport needs.
To further stabilize the education system in the Province, the urgent transfer of additional educators to the needy schools and the
rationalization of schools will take place. This will go a long way in ensuring that there is an educator in front of every child.
Annual Performance Plan 2013/14
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