Key to the withdrawal was the positive results from the department's initiative, which included the appointment of the two key vacant posts of Head of Department and Chief Financial Officer.
Financially, the Eastern Cape Education Department has had one crisis after another in recent years leading to large-scale interventions by the national government. In 2011, the department was placed under administration following reports that it had over-spent by more than R2bn.
Giving an update on the department's activities, latest initiatives and interventions, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, who visited the Eastern Cape last week, where she received a full report on the intervention, announced that the department is withdrawing its intervention from Section 100 (1) (b) to Section 100 (1).
Motshekga explained that the withdrawal was based on the four areas that the department intervened in which included issues of scholar transport, school nutrition, finances and teacher deployment.
She highlighted that by last year, two issues, scholar transport and school nutrition were resolved. Motshekga said there was a sense of stability regarding the scholar transport and with regards to school nutrition, the department has since decentralised the model and given the money to the province. In terms of the school nutrition programme, the minister said they had to deal with the accruals by paying the companies owed in the scheme.
Apart from the appointment of the new Head of Department and Chief Financial Officer, through the department's intervention, more than 2,300 part-time teachers have now been fully employed and more teachers would be employed to ensure effective learning and teaching takes place.
"In the downgrade, a CFO has been appointed and we've put in place auditing companies to sort out the books problem and the report showed positive progress.
"We may not be able to get the clean audit this year because there were many challenges but the department was able to sort out the books in the province.
"The sense is that things are on the correct path. Other things are an on-going progress belonging to the province," Motshekga explained.
On the eradication of mud schools, Motshekga said the department is making strides to eradicate mud schools in the Eastern Cape.
Last week, the department officially opened a further two schools, one as part of Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) and another as part of the department's continued partnerships with the private sector to uplift and improve the country's school infrastructure.
ASIDI is funded from the Schools Infrastructure Backlog Grant and aims to replace 510 schools that were built with inappropriate structures with facilities which meet the department's standards of basic functionality.
"The programme will also supply 939 schools with sanitation and basic water supplies to 1.145 schools for the first time. We have committed to the eradication of mud schools by the end of 2013/2014. The ASIDI, which is a part of the National School Built programme, has already delivered another 13 schools in the Eastern Cape.
"We have pledged to deliver 49 schools to the region by the end of March. We currently stand at 17, the outstanding schools are at 85% completion on average," Motshekga noted.
ASIDI has set targets for the financial year, where 200 schools will be built; provide water and sanitation to schools, and electricity to 369 schools.
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