Education
(1) Whether her Department conducted any monitoring and evaluation at the Darul Islam Islamic High School in 2020; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether the Darul Islam Islamic High School is compliant with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) regulations for independent schools; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether she can provide the full report of the monitoring and evaluation that was conducted at the independent school called the Darul Islam Islamic High School in 2020, including (a) the findings of the report, (b) the details of non-compliance with WCED regulations for independent schools, (c) the recommendations made by her Department for remedial action in respect of the non-compliance with the regulations and (d) all the correspondence between her Department and the school with regard to the latter’s obligation to comply with the regulations; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether there are any independent schools in the province that are not complying with the WCED regulations for independent schools; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1) The WCED conducted visits to the independent school on the following dates for monitoring and evaluation:
- 3 March 2020 (Investigative visit: High School and Primary School)
- 30 September 2020 (Investigative visit: High School)
- 20 October 2020 (Monitoring and Evaluation: Primary School)
- 23 November 2020 (National Senior Certificate Monitoring and Monitoring and Evaluation)
- 16 March 2021 (Follow up meeting)
(2) During a monitoring and evaluation visit to the school, it was established that the school does not comply with all the registration requirements as stipulated in the Regulations relating to the Registration of and Subsidies to Independent Schools (Excluding Independent Pre-Primary Schools), published in Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No. 6932 of 6 December 2011.
The following shortcomings were identified:
- The school relocated without informing the WCED. All learners are on this site that is not approved by the municipality. It was also alleged by concerned parents that the old site and buildings will be sold.
- The school still did not apply for accreditation with Umalusi.
- The school’s municipal account is R1.2 million in arrears and educators are not paid salaries regularly.
- Due to a high staff turnover, not all educators were registered with the South African Council for Educators (SACE).
In terms of Regulation 8(2) the WCED issued a letter to inform the school that the department intends to withdraw their registration and subsidy. The school was afforded the opportunity to make written representations to the Head of Department as to why the registration of the school should not be withdrawn.
The representations made showed that the school put measures in place to comply with all the registration requirements by addressing the shortcomings identified by the department:
- The school board decided that the Primary and Secondary schools would both operate from the corner of Genootskap and Wilhelmus Roads, which complies with registration requirements.
- A verification check on Umalusi’s website revealed that the school applied for accreditation and currently falls within their window period.
- The school arranged with the City of Cape Town to settle the arrears on its municipal account.
- 44 of the 46 educators are registered with SACE, of which 5 are provisionally registered. The school replaced the two unqualified educators and submitted their SACE certificates and qualifications.
The Department is processing all outstanding subsidy payments to the school since the school addressed all the identified shortcomings.
(3) As we have had a PAIA application recently on this matter, the documents can be accessed here:
(4) There are few independent schools that are not compliant with the WCED regulations for the following reasons:
- Schools are experiencing challenges with registration of their teachers with SACE. Not having a SACE regional office in Western Cape exacerbates the situation.
- Some schools cannot afford to pay competitive salaries, and resort to employing unqualified/student teachers
- Non-compliance with WCED Regulations results in schools not being able to become Umalusi accredited.
Some schools cannot afford the Umalusi fees.
