Staff working on 'teething problems'

Staff members in the departments of basic and higher education are working round the clock to make the split of the education department yield results.

This was the assertion of higher education director-general Mary Metcalfe during a joint meeting of parliament’s basic and higher education portfolio committees, which was discussing the department’s annual report for the past financial year.

President Jacob Zuma split the education department into two - basic and higher education - when he took over government following last year’s election in a bid to give impetus to the delivery of quality education.

DA MP Wilmot James asked Metcalfe, who was appearing along with her basic education counterpart, Bobby Soobrayan, whether the split was having any impact on staff morale.

James said “extreme energy and commitment” was required to make the split work, saying “the jury is still out" on whether it would.

Metcalfe said her sense was that her employees in the two departments understood that public service was a vocation.

“They understand that they are working for the future of this country. They work incredibly hard despite the frustrations of the job. They do that because they believe in the future of this country.”

Soobrayan told the committee that the split had a negative impact on the delivery of education. He said processes were complicated by the assignment of functions to two ministers and directors-general, while the budget remained with the now-defunct department of education.

“The obvious risk was the teething problems that were necessary and they are being dealt with”, said Soobrayan.