While business should assume some responsibility for delivering educational returns through its various community social investment programmes, accountability for ensuring quality education lies largely with government, which is often informed by its political interests and beleaguered by capacity shortfalls, National Planning Commission (NPC) commissioner Dr Vincent Maphai said on Friday.

“Whether we like [to admit it or not], the State has a capacity issue. In addition, at the basic education level, educational programmes are not [centered] on improving educational resources, but are largely political.

“As a country, if we want to make headway at a basic education level, we need to address these [politically-driven] programmes, he said.

Maphai was speaking at the launch of the findings of a 2013 research report, which revealed that a R100-million educational investment campaign by platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) between 2009 and 2012 had yielded few positive results.

Among the factors identified by lead project researcher Neissan Besharati as contributing to the seeming failure of this social investment programme was the lack of coordination between companies and government.

Maphai emphasised, however, that sustainable, effective changes in the education sector could only occur through government efforts and that contributions from the private sector should be used to support systematic transformation in terms of the functioning of the State.

“The State must take accountability [for improving the quality of education]. Companies and nongovernment organisations have an obligation to take the education process forward, but the accountability belongs with government, don’t confuse that,” he added.

Maphai further noted that, while government had succeeded in extending education opportunities, the challenge now lay in improving the quality of that education.

This challenge had been addressed in government’s National Development Plan (NDP), he averred, which outlined ways in which the quality and reach of education could be improved upon.

“Key issues driving [the interventions] of the NDP centre on education, job creation and investment. These shortfalls are [essentially the result of] inadequate State capacity. Importantly, the reason that Amplats’ education investment programme failed in certain educational areas was because it wasn’t its job to succeed in those areas,” Maphai said.

“We need to honestly consider if it is the primary responsibility of a private company such as Amplats to deliver major [educational] returns at a system level. If the answer is yes, then we make government redundant. I don’t think it’s the job of Amplats to [be the driver] of a fundamental change of the entire educational system,” asserted Maphai.

The commissioner added that, for educational outcomes to be achieved, government and business needed to remain cognisant of one another’s priorities, but should also identify a united “sense of purpose" to achieve developmental objectives.

“Business and government should pool their resources to achieve social goals, but the independence of the two sectors should never be compromised. Amplats should never try to behave like government and government should never try to be Amplats,” Maphai cautioned.

He meanwhile lauded Amplats for its transparency in releasing the results of the study.

“The NPC commends Amplats for undertaking the evaluation. Subjecting oneself to evaluation and criticism is always a risky business, as you never know if you’ll like what you hear. What’s important, however, is that you hear it,” Maphai said.