TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE INTER-PROVINCIAL RURAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE (IPREC)

  1. BACKGROUND

The urgent need to improve and advance the quality of education in all our schools, including rural schools, is clearly pronounced in the 27 national goals of The Action Plan TO 2014, Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. Since the advent of democracy the government has undertaken several initiatives aimed at improving the quality of education in previously disadvantaged schools, including rural schools. These involve, among others, closing the resource gap between schools; providing more Learning, Teaching and Support Material (LTSM) to poor schools; introducing measures to equalise and redress funding in all schools; improving infrastructure of poor schools; providing scholar transport; providing school nutrition through NSNP; and developing intervention programs and strategies for improving learner attainment. These efforts, however do not seem to translate into improved learner performance in rural schools where the performance of children is amongst the lowest in the country. Hence, there is a need for a collaborative effort to improve the quality of education in rural schools by identifying, developing and implementing context-specific and sustainable strategies for improving quality and performance. It is, therefore, important to create a forum in the sector, for DBE and PEDs to manage rural education delivery, as well as to create links with relevant stakeholders in an effort to support the improvement of the quality of education, and subsequently learner performance, in rural schools.

  1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to set out Terms of Reference for the Inter-provincial Rural Education Committee.

  1. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following constitutes the envisaged roles and responsibilities of the Inter-provincial Rural Education Committee: The Committee shall;

  • Provide strategic direction to the improvement of quality education in rural schools;
  • Make recommendations for the provision of quality education in rural schools;
  • Co-ordinate, monitor and support the implementation of programmes aimed at improving the quality of education in rural schools.
  • Empower provincial and district officials to lead the mission of advancing education in rural areas.
  • Facilitate links and ensure on-going communication and consultation between and among relevant stakeholders and sectors.
  • Provide reports and input to the HEDCOM Sub-committee on Teacher Development and Curriculum Management (TDCM).
  1. COMPOSITION

The Inter-provincial Rural Education Committee will be chaired by the CD: Curriculum Implementation and Monitoring or the Acting Director: Rural Education and will be comprised of permanent and invited members.

4.1The permanent members shall be:

4.1.1 One representative from each of the following DBE Directorates:

  • Early Childhood Development (ECD)
  • General Education and Training (GET)
  • Further Education and Training (FET)
  • Inclusive Education (IE)
  • Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST)
  • Rural Education (RE)

4.1.2 One official per province responsible for Rural Education.

4.2Invited members may include, but not exclusively, the following:

4.2.1 Representatives from the following DBE Directorates:

  • Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD)
  • National Assessment
  • Curriculum Innovation
  • Education Human Resource Planning
  • Physical Planning
  • National Government Departments
  • Universities and non-governmental organisations
  • Stakeholders involved in Rural Education Programmes
  • Teacher Unions
  1. SECRETARIAT

The Directorate: Rural Education in the DBE will act as the Secretariat of the Committee.

  1. MEETINGS
  • All meetings shall be chaired by Chief Director: Curriculum Implementation and Monitoring or Acting Director: Rural Education.
  • The Committee shall meet on a quarterly basis.
  • The Chairperson may, from time to time, invite other stakeholders whose expertise is deemed valuable for a particular issue under discussion.
  • The committee shall discuss issues relating to the improvement of quality education in rural areas [see (b) above] and matters relevant to that.
  1. AGENDA, MINUTES AND REPORTS
  • The agenda will be compiled by the Secretariat for each meeting and distributed to members at least five (5) working days before each meeting.
  • Minutes of the meeting will be circulated to all members within five (5) days after the date of each meeting
  • All reports to be presented at the meeting shall reach the Secretariat at least five (5) working days before the date of each meeting.
  • The Secretariat shall distribute documents, incorporating agenda, minutes, reports and other matters of discussion at least five (5) working days before the meeting.
  • Progress reports will be presented to SMM.
  • A report on each meeting will be presented to the TDCM HEDCOM Subcommittee and relevant issues then referred to HEDCOM.

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