Pretoria - The question of whether or not the provinces have the capacity to offer effective support to all schools and educators will be put under the microscope in the next school term.
"Without sound district management and curriculum support, there is no way we can improve school functionality and deliver on our government's priorities, including upping the pass rate of learners in the foundation phase to 60 percent by 2014," Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said at the Council of Education Ministers' meeting on Wednesday.
Motshekga said it was important for education officials to pronounce themselves on how best to infuse life into their districts by ensuring that they are empowered to fulfil their core functions.
"I do not think there is any disagreement on the need to provide clear guidance on the organisation, role and responsibilities of districts, our immediate task is to agree on what needs to be done better to finalise this matter, once and for all."
Motshekga also stressed the need to give more attention to the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Development initiative to help fast-track the provision of basic infrastructure to schools, which are currently unable to operate properly, due to inadequate infrastructure.
"We cannot sit back and relax when 5640 of our schools are below basic functionality," she noted.
