Oversight Report & Report on Senior Certificates Results for 2012: consideration

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson informed the Committee that Ms N Gina (ANC) and Mr Z Makhubele (ANC) had tendered their apologies for not being able to attend the meeting.

He stated that the planned African Study Tour had been approved, but they were still awaiting confirmation from Kenyan officials. Mr Llewellyn Brown, the Committee Secretary, was looking at other alternative like Botswana.

The Chairperson reminded Members that the Committee would be meeting with the Department of Basic Education the following week.

Consideration and Adoption of Minutes
Committee Minutes dated 20 November 2012
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page, and Members made minor amendments to grammatical errors.

Mr A Mpontshane (IFP) moved for the adoption of the minutes and Ms A Mashishi (ANC) seconded the motion.

The minutes were adopted with minor amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 12 February 2013
The Chairperson noted that on page 2, the abbreviation “SBA” should be written in full as School Based Assessment.

Ms Dudley suggested the insertion of the word “with” after the word “compliant” at the top of page 3.

Ms Lovemore suggested that the third bullet point should be placed under concerns.

Ms Dudley changed the word “affected” to “could affect” at the first bullet point on page 4.

On page 5 line 5 under responses, Ms Dudley suggested the deletion of the sentence.

The Chairperson suggested the deletion of the third paragraph on page 5.

Ms Dudley changed the words “indicated that” to “congratulated” after the word “Chairperson on page 5.

Ms Lovemore drew the Committee's attention to the second last paragraph on page 10 of the report. She felt that it was not a true reflection of the proceedings.

The Committee had a brief discussion about the validity of that point and agreed to listen to the audio recording to confirm it at a later stage.

Mr Moni moved for the adoption and Ms Dudley seconded the motion.

The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 19 February 2013
Members amended minor grammatical errors in the report.

Mr Moni moved for the adoption and Mr Mpontshane seconded the motion.

The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 26 February 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page. Minor amendments were made.

Ms Mushwana moved for the adoption and Ms Lovemore seconded the motion.

The minutes were adopted with amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 5 March 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page and invited comments, corrections and amendments from the floor.

Minor amendments were made and Ms Mushwana moved for the adoption of the report. The motion was seconded by Ms Mashishi and the minutes were adopted with minor amendments

Consideration and Adoption of the Senior Certificates Results for 2012 Report
The Chairperson pointed out that the pages of the report were not numbered.

Ms Lovemore moved for the adoption and Mr Mpontshane seconded the motion. The report was adopted with minor amendment.

Consideration of the Draft Report on the Oversight Visit to Limpopo and the Northern Cape
Ms Mushwana noted that the rights of school learners in Limpopo who were pregnant were being questioned because there were a few principals that were being taken to court for expelling pregnant school girls. This was raised in the listed challenges in the Limpopo report.

Mr N Kganyago (UDM) felt that the problem was reflective of the decaying morals in the broader society.

Mr Moni explained that the outcome of the issue would be determined by the Constitution. He hastened to say that parents and teachers should instil moral values in learners.

Ms Lovemore felt that it was useless to discuss the issue because it was before the courts.

The Committee agreed to not to discuss the matter till it had been cleared by the courts.

The Chairperson noted a few more minor amendments to grammatical errors.

Mr Moni moved for the adoption of the report and Mr Mpontshane seconded the motion.

The report was adopted with minor amendments.

Other Matters
The Chairperson enquired about the reports of Members who did oversight to the Grade 12 examination marking centres during the recess period.

Ms C Dudley (ACDP) explained that the marking of exam papers went 'without a glitch' in the Western Cape.

Ms F Mushwana (ANC) stated that the exam marking went well in Limpopo.

Ms A Lovemore (DA) reported the same for the Eastern Cape.

The meeting was adjourned.