SAHRC invites the attendance of the Department of Basic Education and All Education MECs to a hearing over non delivery of learning material

Media Advisory: 31 March

ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters

South African Human Rights Commission has been following with concern reports around the non-delivery of school learning material across the country.

It is for this reason that the Commission has decided to embark on an Investigative Hearing starting on Tuesday 02 April 2013, to be held at the SAHRC Head Office in Johannesburg.

To help it with its investigation, the Commission has decided to invite the presence of the Director-General at the Department of Basic Education and all provincial MECs of Education at the  hearing to present oral and written responses to a listed number of questions around the challenges of delivery of learning material to schools.

The Commission became aware of the crisis around the delivery of learning materials in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape provinces in 2012. The seriousness of this was heightened by a number of civil society campaigns and court actions resulting in three orders of court.

Given that the focus of previous court actions focused on challenges of learner material delivery in only two of the nine provinces, the Commission wishes to investigate whether similarly-situated schools in the other seven provinces are face similar difficulties.

The outcome of the hearing of the Commission will be the production of a National Report on the state of delivery of learning materials to schools in the nine provinces of the country.  This will be shared with the public and sent to Parliament for implementation.

The hearing is in line with the constitutional mandate of the Commission which includes the role of investigating human rights violations of the rights of children to basic education.

Note to Journalists: This will be a closed session, and as such media would not be allowed.

ENDS

For more details please contact:
Isaac Mangena, SAHRC Head Communications - 0718848273