The role of local government in the basic education system: the case of the Eastern Cape Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the role Local Government can play in the Department of Basic Education with the aim of addressing the enormous challenges faced by the Department of Basic Education with specific reference to the Province of the Eastern Cape. Currently the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape gets regular media coverage for the wrong reasons. Problems highlighted by the media normally include the following; over-crowded classrooms; mud schools; lack of ablution facilities at schools; delays in delivery of text books and stationary; shortage of teachers; unpaid teachers and the bungles with school transport and school nutrition programmes. Currently the National Government and Provincial Government have jurisdiction over basic education. An in-depth literature study was conducted in order to get insight in the Department of Basic Education in the Eastern Cape with its numerous problems and challenges that are crippling education in the province. The researcher also deemed it necessary to conduct an in-depth literature study on Local Government’s role in the education system in other countries e.g. USA, Wales, Great Britain and Nigeria where education is managed and financed by Local Government. Empirical studies were done through face-to-face interviews with the sample population from school principals, teachers, education specialists, administration officials and parents serving on School Governing Bodies in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole. The findings of the study suggested that Local Government is not yet in a favourable position to control the entire Department of Basic Education, although certain functions can be shifted to Local Government e.g. school transport, school nutrition programme; teachers’ salaries. The general feeling is that councilors at Local Government level are more likely to be aware of and sympathetic to the needs of their communities than Ministers and MEC’s. Through the relevant data the researcher has drawn certain conclusions and recommendations were made to alleviate the plight of education in the Province of the Eastern Cape