Progress Update on School Staff Vetting in Gauteng Department of Education
Providing an overview of the progress update on vetting school staff in the Gauteng Department of Education against the Child Protection Register (CPR) and National Register for Sexual Offender (NRSO). The document discusses the purpose, challenges, mitigations, and project plan related to the vetting process, as well as the current status of CPR and NRSO vetting initiatives. Challenges with the Department of Social Development's online system, along with mitigating actions taken, are also highlighted.
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Presentation Transcript
GAUTENG DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE MEETINGS: DATE: 07 NOVEMBER 2024
PRESENTATION OUTLINE PURPOSE. ABOUT CPR VETTING & STATUS. CPR CHALLENGES & MITIGATIONS. ABOUT NRSO VETTING. SUMMARY OF NRSO VETTING PROGRESS. NRSO CHALLENGES & MITIGATIONS. PROJECT PLAN.
PURPOSE To provide a progress update (Jan 2024 date) on the vetting of Staff against:- 1. Child Protection Register (CPR) Department of Social Development Regulation 44 - Section 126 of the Children s Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005). 2. National Register for Sexual Offender (NRSO) Department of Justice & Constitutional Development Section 44 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007) The objective of these is to vet the sexual offender status of all school-based employees who are in contact with learners and the vulnerable, thereby ensuring a safe learning environment.
ABOUT CPR VETTING & STATUS HR practitioners conduct this vetting at the point of appointment of an employee using the Department of Social Development online system. The following data covers the period from January 2024 November 2024 : REGIONS TOTAL VETTED Ekurhuleni 2867 (33%) Johannesburg 3054 (35%) Tshwane 2861 (32%) Grand Total 8782 (100%)
CPR CHALLENGES & MITIGATIONS Challenges The Department of Social Development s (DSDs) online system does not provide data conducive to drawing a detailed report. i.e. no data on job titles, gender, etc. Furthermore, the CPR does not interface with South African Police Services (SAPS) records and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD), this means that the outcomes are not always a true reflection of the sexual offender status of employees subjected to vetting. Mitigations The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) & Department of Basic Education (DBE) Human Resources (HR)convened a meeting with the DSD to raise the report challenges and the DSD committed to addressing them which they have not done to date. Gauteng is additionally subjecting employees to NRSO vetting to ascertain their sexual offender status.
National Register for Sexual Offender (NRSO) Vetting
ABOUT NRSO VETTING Target is existing school-based employees, however, new appointees are also subjected to this vetting. This vetting involves the SAPS and DOJ It is a manual paper-based exercise, with no online system. The GDE NRSO process flow 1. Schools submit to District 2. District Collates submits to HO 7. Districts collect from HO National Register for Sexual Offender (NRSO) Vetting 3. HO collates for province submit to SAPS / SP 6. DOJ generates cert & HO collects 4. SAPS / SP generates SAPS69I HO collects 5. HO Submits to DOJ
SUMMARY OF NRSO VETTING PROGRESS DESCRIPTION AMOUNT 1. Target of Gauteng Education School Employees. 86 367 2. Total applications received from districts to date. 33 251 3. Total applications to be returned to schools (no POP). 12 000 4. Total applications submitted to SAPS for generation of SAPS69i report. 13 386 5. Total SAPS rejections (fingerprints incorrectly captured & incomplete). 262 6. Total SAPS69i reports received from SAPS. 11 265 7. Total outstanding from SAPS. 2 488 8. Total applications awaiting delivery to DoJ-CD. 1 212 9. Total applications submitted to DoJ-CD. 17 872 10. Total DOJ rejections (Duplicates & Incomplete). 636 11. Total NRSO certificates received from DoJ-CD. 7 530 12. Total GDE rejections. 249 13. Total outstanding from DoJ-CD. 10 125 8
NRSO CHALLENGES GAUTENG PERFORMANCE Compliance (application received from schools) = 38% Total vetted employees (certificates received) = 9% Non-compliance of school-based educators refusing to be vetted. SAPS issued communication that they will no longer be generating SAPS69i reports free of charge for the GDE. The Province has 12 000 applications that need SAPS69i reports. We are working internally on a strategy to fund the payment of the vetting exercise for Primary and Secondary school officials, proving to be challenging due to austerity measures. Three sexual offenders (2x General Assistants (GA s), 1x Food handler) have been identified. Cases were routed to Labour Relations in July 2024 for implementation of legal proceedings. Employees were dismissed 30/10/2024. An additional six (4x educators, 2x GA s) employees in primary schools have been convicted of rape (identified by SAPS69i). DOJ committed to issuing these certificates within the week of 4 to 8 Nov 2024. DoJ has raised capacity constraint issues regarding the handling of the volume of GDE applications. Non-adherence to turnaround times DoJ 10 125 outstanding NRSO Certificates 9
NRSO MITIGATIONS Gauteng is the first PED that has appointed a service provider (In line with CEM decision: 2 March 2023) for the sole purpose of performing biometrics/criminal checks for vetting of outstanding/non-compliant Learner with Special Education Needs (LSEN)/Special school employees to expedite the vetting of this cohort for this financial year as they are the most vulnerable, as a project. Purpose of service provider: to receive electronic fingerprints and generate AFISWITCH report/SAPS69i report (turnaround time 48 hours except if positive crime). To mitigate the challenges experienced through SAPS. The project plan for the vetting of special schools is on the following slide. 10
PROJECT PLAN: Description Briefing session (HR Personnel). Training (HR Personnel). Dual linking of HR officials to AFISWITCH. Communication to District Directors for support. Testing of system & credentials. Districts to communicate with targeted LSEN schools & design roll out plan. Biometric scanning (fingerprints) of special school employees. Date 11 October 2024 18 October 2024 21 October 2024 22 October 2024 Progress Done. Done. Done. Done. 1. 2. 3. 4. 23-25 October 2024 23-25 October 2024 Done. Done. 5. 6. 28 October 2024 to 29 November 2024 Work In Progress (WIP). WIP. 7. Weekly Reporting (Mondays). w.e.f. 04 November 2024 8. Projected end of project. 12 December 2024 Due. 9.
