| 1. |
Pursuant to Circular 0108/2002 of 3 September 2002 you are again requested to give earnest consideration to the nomination of officials for this special award. |
| 2. |
Only one award per month can be made for the whole Western Cape Education Department (WCED), which indicates that it will only be awarded to an individual or group of persons for really outstanding achievement. Past experience has, however, proved that each month there is at least one person or a group of personnel members who can be considered for the award. |
| 3. |
This means that a suggestion, exceptional achievement or service with a view to saving and/or greater effectiveness, must attest to one or a combination of the following:
Improvement in, amongst others, methods, procedures, equipment, tools and/or working circumstances Improvement in the quality of products and/or service Outstanding services like a beautiful garden and neat school grounds Reduction in costs and/or the elimination of wastage resulting from, for example, the use of stationery, stock and material Improved safety and security measures and/or conduct A special or complex and demanding piece of work which, besides the normal duties of those involved, was undertaken with extraordinary vigor, and successfully completed Any other improvement, saving or extraordinary work performance or provision of service Examples of outstanding motivations received in the past, are attached as Appendix IX. |
| 4. |
Assessment criteria and weighting Cases must in future be assessed according to the following criteria (weighting in brackets):
Merit (10 points) Practical value (10 points) Proven advantages (10 points) Effort and sacrifice (10 points) The final mark is awarded out of a total of 40, and an official or group must score at least 80% (i.e. 32 out of 40). Score sheets ( Appendix V for individuals and Appendix VI for groups) are attached. |
| 5. |
As mentioned in paragraph 2 an award can also be made to a group of personnel members. The qualifying requirements and the criteria according to which a group will be assessed, do not differ fundamentally from those used to assess an individual. A nomination for a group is made on the prescribed form ( Appendix III ).
Group nominations must be accompanied by a full exposition of the responsibilities (per individual) that applied during the process. For this purpose Appendix IV, which must include, amongst others, the following information, must be used:
A summary of what the task or project involved An exposition of the respective responsibilities of the officials involved in the project An evaluation or allocation of marks with regard to each official’s contribution to the end result |
| 6. |
Details in respect of the rewarding of individuals or members of a group, are as follows:
An award to a group is in the form of a maximum cash sum that is determined by the Superintendent-General. The basis on which the cash sum is to be distributed to members of the group must be mentioned in the motivation. The award to an individual in a group may not exceed the value of the individual’s basic monthly pensionable salary. The award is accompanied by a certificate signed by the Superintendent-General. |
| 7. |
In order to distribute awards fairly among departmental employees, it is still the policy to consider only nominations from a specific district in a specific month. From January 2004 nominations from the various Education Management and Development Centres (EMDCs), their districts and Head Office will be awaited as indicated below.
January 2004 METROPOLE NORTH
February 2004 HEAD OFFICE
March 2004 SOUTHERN CAPE/KAROO
April 2004 METROPOLE EAST
May 2004 WEST COAST/WINELANDS
June 2004 METROPOLE SOUTH
July 2004 BREEDE RIVER/OVERBERG
August 2004 METROPOLE CENTRAL
September 2004 METROPOLE NORTH
October 2004 HEAD OFFICE
November 2004 SOUTHERN CAPE/KAROO
December 2004 METROPOLE EAST |
| 8. |
It is extremely important that nominations should be submitted betimes and you are therefore again requested to ensure that for the months to come, a nomination for a specific month reaches this office no later than the 15th of the preceding month. For example, the nomination for March must reach this office before 15 February. The EMDC or directorate concerned must therefore regard the10th of the month preceding the granting of the award as the cut-off date. |
| 9. |
Please note that all public service personnel attached to an EMDC and all the institutions within the district served by that EMDC, or Head Office, must be considered within the specific month indicated above. It is also essential that preliminary sifting of the nominations takes place at EMDC or directorate level. |
| 10. |
Reports on those persons or groups of persons found worthy of nomination must be submitted by the relevant institutions to their respective EMDCs, where the nominations will be sifted by a committee under the guidance of the director and/or the administrative head. Once the preliminary sifting has been done, the selected reports from institutions and also those in respect of EMDC personnel, with a recommendation as to the person or group who should receive it, are referred to the Personnel Office at Head Office for final consideration. |
| 11. |
A record must be kept of the discussions during the preliminary sifting process at EMDC or Head Office level with a view to further enquiries. |
| 12. |
The following documents which have a bearing on the process and/or must be used, are attached:
Appendix I: Format in respect of the nomination of an individual Appendix II: Format in respect of the job description of an individual Appendix III: Format in respect of the nomination of a group Appendix IV: Format in respect of a group nomination
(full description of the responsibilities per individual) Appendix V: Format in respect of a score sheet for an individual Appendix VI: Format in respect of a score sheet for a group Appendix VII: Section 37(2)(c) of the Public Service Act, 1994 (as amended) Appendix VIII: Details of personnel who received awards last year Appendix IX: Examples of good motivation
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| 13. |
It cannot be stressed enough that the achievement must be really outstanding for a person or group to be considered for this award. |
| 14. |
The award is applicable to all public service personnel at all post levels below the senior management level (salary level 13). For your information particulars of personnel who received awards last year are attached as Appendix VIII. You are requested to make the contents of this circular known to all employees at your institution or in your component. |
| 15. |
Your co-operation will be appreciated. |
SIGNED: R.B. SWARTZ
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2004:02:19
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