on

1
Presentation on 4th Annual Economic and Social
Rights Report 2000 2002 produced by the Human
Rights Commission Education Portfolio
Committee September 2003
2
Overview

• Recommendations of the report
• Format and framework of the analysis
• Comments and responses on the recommendations
• Strengthening monitoring and evaluation of rights
  in education
• Next steps

3
Recommendations of the 4th report
4
Recommendations of the report

• HRD strategy should guide the development of the
  FET and HE.
• Concludes that HRC reporting is not taken
  seriously. HRC states that Departments should
  respond in time and find out what is expected of
  them in responding to the protocols (p306).
• Budget allocations should be spent more
  effectively before requesting more funding in
  providing basic education - Most PEDs reported to
  the HRC that programme budgets were inadequate
  for basic education.

5
Recommendations of the report

• Staffing and skills development should be taken
  seriously to ensure delivery.
• If information such as key indicators is not
  available, report concludes on page 286 that most
  government departments are operating in the dark.
• There have been sincere endeavours made to
  improve schooling and access to basic education
  rights.

6
Format and framework of the analysis for the 4th
report
7
Format and content

• Questionnaires rely on self-reporting of
  programme-specific information on inputs and
  process indicators over a 5 month period (Feb
  2002 to June 2002). E.g. is budget sufficient?
  What is the budget for different programmes?
  Questionnaires designed by the HRC and
  distributed to provinces and national
  departments.

8
Format and content

• 4th report notes flaws in information collection
  with information inadequate, incomplete and
  variable in quality.

9
Framework of the analysis

• Narrative of the 4th report is clearly a
  collation of separate responses to questionnaires
  rather than an in depth analysis of the impact of
  interventions, legislation and programmes in
  relation to expanding access to rights related to
  education and training.

10
Enrichment of the report based on recommendations
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Comments on recommendations

• Conclusion that HRC work is not taken seriously.
  Departments should respond in time and find out
  what is expected of them in responding to the
  protocols (p306).
• 4th report is not an assessment of access to or
  participation in rights in education and
  training. The report is of limited utility in
  tracking trends in access to, and participation
  in rights at a macro-level.
• Too much detail is requested with little focus on
  macro information such as population levels of
  education which show outcomes and impact of
  education an training, access to education e.g
  StatsSA data on population with schooling, or at
  different education levels

12
Comments on recommendations

• Continued (p306).
• Protocols rely on data. It is not clear if the
  information received is cross checked (e.g. with
  annual reports of provinces, treasury documents
  which are in the public domain) or analysed in a
  systematic fashion.
• Efficient and comprehensive information provision
  is an output of a transformed system. Presently,
  structural reform in some sub-sectors. Maturing
  of systems will ensure improvement.
• HRD strategy should guide the development of the
  FET and HE.
• This is given in the education sector.
• Business planning process considers HRD strategy
  as it relates to reform of the sector and its
  output.

13
Comments on recommendations

• Budget allocations should be spent more
  effectively before requesting more funding. Most
  PEDs reported that programme budgets were
  inadequate for basic education.
• The report notes inadequate spending by
  departments in key programmes, but does not note
  improvements in procurement and spending levels
  and patterns in education especially in the ECD,
  LSM budgets, infrastructure budgets and
  conditional grants budgets. Trend Situation
  further improved since the report as reported in
  the Inter Governmental Fiscal Review Reports from
  Treasury and Unqualified reports for provinces.
  ECD spending in 2002/3 predicted at 69 or R48
  million, up from 15 in previous year.
• Budget reform in education, common strategic
  planning and annual reporting formats put in
  place.

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Comments on recommendations

• Staffing and skills development should be taken
  seriously to ensure delivery.
• Several systemic interventions including the PASD
  and management development interventions have
  been initiated to do just this. Anti-corruption
  interventions in procurement has received
  attention as well as efficiency in the conversion
  of inputs into outcomes and impact in education
  terms for the broader population.
• There have been sincere endeavours made to
  improve schooling and access to basic education
  rights.
• Inclusion of evidence of improved enrolment rates
  in ECD, General Education and FET.
• Inclusion of evidence of equity in resourcing
  non-personnel and personnel through PPN
• SGB quality enhancement initiatives

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Comments on recommendations

• If information such as key indicators is not
  available, the report concludes on page 286 that
  most government departments are operating in the
  dark.
• The following slides illustrate indicators which
  may have been useful to show about education
  rights, access to basic education, further
  education and literacy opportunities by young
  people and the general population. (Data from
  Statistics South Africa and national Department
  of Education data and publications including the
  Annual Report)
• Access, equity, quality, democracy and efficiency
  issues prevent uptake of rights. These issues not
  analysed sufficiently in the report to give an
  idea of macro- and other trends in uptake of
  rights to education. Data is collected and
  presented but not systematically analysed.

16
Some macro-indicators showing impact of
interventions designed to improve the uptake of
rights in education and training

• Sources
• EMIS
• Statistics SA
• Annual reports
• Treasury documents

17
Gains in Basic and adult education, FET and
HEPercentage of population aged over 20 years
olds in each population group by highest
education level completed - StatsSA
18
Education interventions improving access to
quality education

• Provision for fee exemptions
• ECD
• Poverty targeted funding (to vulnerable, poor,
  HIV/AIDS affected communities) enables ECD
  benefits to accrue to the poorest (including
  better school performance and life chances).
• Local economic development will result from the
  creation of a corps of newly qualified
  practitioners (not post provisioned) recruited
  from communities. Literacy and opportunities for
  sustainable livelihoods will result.
• Encouraging expansion by 12 since 2000 to 280
  000 in 2002 (on track for full enrolment by
  2015).
• Ikhwelo (R40m) and poverty alleviation grants
  (Thuba Makote R64m) to enhance sustainable
  employment and develop infrastructure.

19
Education interventions improving access to
quality education

• More participation in governance by parents and
  major role players (as intended in Education
  White Paper 1 and in SASA, HE, ABET, FET Acts).
• Grade 3 systemic evaluation in 2001 showed 7 in
  10 parents involved in school activities at least
  two or three times a year.
• More financial management capacity in schools
  double the number of section 21 schools in 2002
  than in 2001 .

20
Education interventions improving access to
quality education

• Compulsory education
• Improving enrolment rates, especially of younger
  children since 1996
• Population grade achievement
• Increasing. Younger people have more grades of
  education completed than older people.
• Out of school youth
• Estimated to decline. Census 2001 (when released)
  will tell us if they have.
• FET college participation growth

21
Enrolment rates by age, 1996 to 2001
22
Education interventions improving access to
quality education

• NSFAS
• Between 1996 and 2001, R2.6 bn disbursed to half
  a million HE students. Estimated 33 of the
  expansion in higher education since the mid 1990s
  due to NSFAS inputs.
• PSNP
• Increasing allocations targeted to poorer
  provinces, but efficiency of distribution within
  provinces needs to be improved. Better targeting,
  imrpoved service delivery through partnerships
  and improved monitoring system set up with hand
  over from DoH.

23
Stability in pass ratio and increased pass rate
Pass rate
Pass ratio
24
Female participation in higher education from
1993 to 2001
25
Participation in higher education by population
group
26
Challenges

• Coverage
• Disabled and out of school learners - repetition
  and drop out rates especially in more rural
  areas.
• Conversion of inputs (increased inputs into LSM,
  HIV/AIDS education 21, ECD 89, FET 25
  nationally according to IGFR 2003)

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Next steps Improving rights monitoring relating
to education
28
Improving rights monitoring

• Reporting using macro- information and data on
  outcomes and rights uptake disaggregated by
  province, gender and race supplemented by
  provincial information on programmes.
• More analysis with clearer trends quantified and
  shown with link to recommendations in the
  sector.

29
Improving rights monitoring

• Simplification of protocols to focus on key
  issues of impact and probable contributors, to
  improve reliability
• More consistent triangulation of information (by
  analytical team) with other credible sources of
  information which exist in the sector e.g.
  national and provincial annual reports, education
  strategic planning formats, treasury documents,
  EFA reports etc.
• Suggest alignment of protocol indicators with
  those existing in the system to improve accuracy
  and consistency between reports.

30
Improving rights monitoring

• Eliminate duplication in reporting.
• Focus on the aim and objective of the reports
  tracking human rights contribution in social and
  economic development.
• HRC and education sector interaction on
  analytical and monitoring framework for refining
  future reports and/or protocols.

31
Improving uptake of rights

• EFA monitoring
• BMSO
• Budget reform
• Strengthening efficiency in systems
• Action plan for free quality education for all.
• Expanding non-personnel and non-capex amounts for
  quality improvements.