The Provincial Government s strategic focus on education is on creating functional schools, strengthening administration and management of curriculum delivery and the use of ICT to improve education outcomes. Our work in this regard was negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with learners spending most of their learning time at home. Despite all these challenges, we continued to ensure that the delivery of basic education services is provided through our anywhere, anytime learning approach which was possible and achievable through our interventions in support of home-based learning. Fifty-five thousand tablets were issued to all Grade 12 learners in Quintile 1 to 3 schools. Since the beginning of the term, 39 schools have been completed through the National and Provincial Departments of Education. As part of advancing Science, Technology and Mathematics, the Science Centre in Cofimvaba is ready for commissioning and there are already various exhibiters from all over the country planning to use the Science promotion space for permanent living exhibitions and will occupy space in March 2021.

Even during the lockdown periods, we continued to deliver the School Nutrition Programme, with 1.6 million learners fed, against the target of 1.5 million. We are now implementing the three-year curriculum recovery strategy which has been developed to mitigate against the learning losses experienced due to COVID-19. We are also increasing access to early childhood development, and we are consolidating the function in the Department of Education. Last year, due to Covid-19, the number of learners who benefitted from the scholar transport program was slightly higher at 124 000, and this year the department plans to transport 103 000 learners.