School Community Integration Pilot Project - Department of Education

A comparative analysis of education expenditure in Eastern Cape schools – November 2004
The table above shows the impact on the current system of three linked measures:
• Realigning combined schools to full primary schools and distributing grade 8
and 9 learners within the same district to senior secondary schools, enabling
schools to become full primary and secondary schools.
• Closing small secondary schools, defined as those schools that cannot
expand to reach an enrolment of 300 or more. Almost all junior secondary
schools would either close, or expand into grades 11 and 12 to become full
secondary schools. Small secondary schools would have strong incentives to
either expand or face closure.
• Harmonising LERs and LCRs across small and large schools at the current
space norms (LCR equal to 40 for primary schools and 35 for secondary
schools) and to LERs of 35 for primary schools and 30 for secondary schools.
Realignment of the schooling system along these lines would greatly reduce the
pressures towards a large establishment with the following results:
• A reduction in the required educator establishment from the current numbers
of 64,667 in post (EMIS 10 th day return survey 2004) to 62,334 with a saving
of 2,333 posts. The table below shows the annual savings from this educator
establishment to be R290 million at current prices. This would release funds
equivalent to a 44% increase in the 2004/05 non-personnel budget which
could be reprioritised to teaching and learning materials, school services or
building improvements.
• Only a minor increase would result in the overall LER for the province from
32.2 to 33.4, as small and large schools harmonise around agree space and
post provisioning norms.
Table 26: Impact of no combined and small secondary school post savings
IMPACT
Educator posts saved
2,333Numbers
Value of savings
R 290R million
Programme 2 Budget 2004/05
Personnel
R 8,267R million
Non-Personnel Recurrent
R 658R million
Savings: Personnel 3.5%
Savings:Non-Personnel Recurrent 44.1%
The challenges of harmonising the schooling system around space norms and a
slightly higher LER are significant. Very small schools with an enrolment of 100 or
less, mostly primary schools, would find it difficult to organise teaching in class sizes
of 35. Such schools are often farm schools serving a very small community or
population catchment. Multi-grade teaching is usual practice in these schools. There
are special challenges in multi-grade learning and proper training and support to
teachers would be needed.
Another result of this realignment would be a need for additional classrooms in
secondary schools as they expand to become significantly larger schools and take
additional learners. To set against this, the classroom backlog in combined schools
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