The numbers behind educational bookselling

The National LTSM Forum met on 13 July 2017 in Pretoria. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) did not have timeframes for changing current catalogues. Changing catalogues required funds and the DBE was still in discussions with National Treasury about this matter. The DBE plans to issue a comprehensive National Further Education and Training (FET) literature catalogue in 2018, for implementation in 2019.

Eastern Cape: 2017/18 Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) Top-up catalogue went out to schools on 28 June 2017. Deadline for submissions is 28 July. Orders will be expected by end of August. CAPS top-up and grade 10 literature budget not confirmed.

Free State: The 2017/18 budget is R51m but unfortunately payments for accruals come from this budget. The focus for 2017/8 remains grade 10 literature and top-ups for grades 1-3 & 10 CAPS and grades 11 & 12 literature.

Gauteng: No information yet on how much the 2017/18 provincial budget is going to be. The focus of provincial spend is textbooks top-up, new grade 10 literature books and grade 11 and 12 literature top-up. Delivery of ordered Learner teacher Support Materials (LTSM) to managing agent and then to schools will be between 1 August and 31 October 2017.

KZN: Proposed provincial spend is R480m on textbooks. The focus is on grade R to 12 top-up and literature grade 10 to 12. Ndabase started releasing orders to publishers on 29 June 2017. Section 21 schools to receive their funds and to close orders in the third term.

Limpopo: The provincial spend for 2017/8 is not yet known, it will be confirmed once the orders have been consolidated. The focus of provincial spend is on grade R – 12 top-ups and grade 10 literature. Distribution will be decentralised and publishers are expected to deliver to multiple warehouse locations.

Mpumalanga: Top-up from grade 4 – 12 is R79m. Bongani Rainmaker remains the distributor despite the fact that their contract expired last year.

North West: The provincial budget for LTSM is R282m. The focus will be on grade R top-up, grade 10 literature and grade 11 & 12 literature top-up. The process of appointing new service providers has not been finalized.

Northern Cape: The LTSM allocation in 2016/7 was R35m and the budget for LTSM for 2017/8 is R36, 4m. Schools had to order and be verified by end of June 2017. Most did not.

Western Cape: The WCED will be focussing on the following areas:
Grade 10 literature. The department will be purchasing 1 novel and 1 drama for home language and for first additional language they will purchase 2 out of the 4 genres. Therefore a total of 4 books per grade 10 learner will be purchased.
Technical subjects. The budget for Grade 10 literature and technical Subjects is R30 million.
Norms and Standards has been decreased by 2 – 3%. Budget is approximatley R126 million for both Section 20 and Section 21 schools. The focus will be on top ups across all grades.

EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT
Hentie Gericke
Education Sector Chairperson
August 2017