Education
With regard to the Zwelethemba High School in Worcester:
- Whether the school falls under the Collaboration Schools Pilot Project; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether the teachers at the school are permanently employed or on contract;
- whether the teachers are registered on the Government Personnel and Salary System (Persal); if not, why not;
- whether the teachers at the school receive salaries comparable to those of other teachers at government public schools in the province not falling under the
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Collaboration Schools Pilot Project; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether his Department has received complaints of corruption, fraud and theft at the school; if so, what are the relevant details?
2. My department has informed me of the following:
(1) Zwelethemba High School will cease to be a Collaboration School on 30 September 2023. The School Governing Body (SGB) decided not to renew the Service Level Agreement with the operating partner. The school felt that they would be better served by another operator. They had approached alternative operators, however, they could not commit their services to the school. The school therefore ceases to be a Collaboration school on 30 September 2023.
- 25 teachers are currently on a SGB contract. The principal is permanently employed by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). As of 1 October 2023, the 25 SGB paid educators will be on WCED contract. The conversion to permanent staff follows this process.
The conversion to a permanent employee is subject to the terms, conditions, and guidelines of employment, outlined in the Department of Basic Education’s Personnel Administrative Measures (PAM) document.
- As of 1 October 2023, the staff members will be registered on PERSAL.
- In order to answer this question, the WCED has compared the salaries of a Post Level 1 Educator (Teacher) and a Post Level 2 Educator (Departmental Head) currently employed at the school, to that of a WCED permanent post on the same level. In these two instances, we can confirm that the salaries are comparable to the WCED salaries.
- The WCED has received complaints regarding alleged maladministration of school finances and is currently assessing these allegations.
