Post SoNA Media Briefing by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and Higher Education Minister Mduduzi Manana

Panel: Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga; Deputy Minister of Basic Education Enver Surty; Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Mduduzi Manana; Director General of Basic Education Bobby Soobrayan

Statement by Minister Angie Motshekga and Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana See Appendix

Questions and Answers [This transcript is provided by GCIS]

Journalist: Minister you mentioned great concern to do with teacher accountability. I wonder if you could put some figures on that, how many teachers are not arriving on time. How many teachers are not spending a full day teaching? What is the scale of the problem? Secondly you referred to 495 inappropriate structures, how many of those are so called mud schools? When will you reach a point when you can stand here and say there are no more mud schools, there are not more students having to be taught under trees.

Journalist: As much as you can’t pre-empt tomorrow’s budget Minister, what are your expectations in terms of basic education when it comes to that. Will the Government be putting its money where its mouth is so to speak in particular eradication of mud schools in my beloved province? I couldn’t help but spot in your hand out on the delivery status of textbooks in Limpopo, there are some regions that are sitting at 0% delivery, like the Mupane region for example that I couldn’t help but ignore. What is the hold up there, are we still having the same problems as last year?

Journalist: I just want to get a sense of the targets for teacher recruitment as outlined in your plan?

Journalist: Basic Education Minister Motshekga, I wanted to ask a little bit about this new policy of pushing Grade 10 or 11 learners who have already failed through. I just want to understand a little bit more about what would be the point if the likelihood of them not being ready or likely to pass their matric, what would be the point of pushing them through. Why do it if they are not going to get that senior certificate? Why not assist them until they could graduate? I just want to hear a little bit more about that.

Journalist: Minister would you be able to give us more detail about the Commission that is going to be reviewing public servants salaries. The President said that teachers were going to be a priority in that review and just explain how it is going to work and what the aim is.

Minister Angie Motshekga: Thank you very much Programme director, my colleagues will assist me here. Let me start with teacher accountability, I think to be safe to even quote statistics, which I have not collected. It is a major problem, this year for instance we as National department had to oversight on schools and visit schools, make an oversight on provinces and just one province in one district that we visited, that we visited in one province on a single day, that district is one of the worst performing districts, almost 10% of them were not there which is huge. It means that if we are working on a scale of 500 000 teachers it means about 50 000 teachers, so it is huge in this incident. International results that we do trough (sic) and SACO (sic), which also looked at, information that we have taken out in public that we can share with you because it is different studies we have done. It was also done by NGO’s some we got from (sic). They were saying we have the highest in SADC the rate of absenteeism. Whilst in SADC the figures stood at 9% of teachers absent for the year, we were at 19%, 19 days per year, so it is huge, and so it is the average of 10% nationally. As I said it is statistics that we get from different sources, both the work that we do they in most instances complement each other.

Part of it is the bearing of disease where you find teachers in a period of time who have not been to school but in most instances it is just poor administration. That is why we wanted to replace the paper based reporting and make it electronic. We think it is going to be more reliable and we will be able to get information on time, so it is really replacing the current system with a biometric system that is electronic. It will be able to give us more information as a sector because we can only get that, because currently we are using paper based system and we can only get that information at a very long period of time. With the biometric system we can get it immediately. In terms of current mud structures and that is why I said in our books and the budget we are giving is for 496 schools. We did the first 50, this year we are planning to do the 200 and we have increased the number of partners because we need more capacity. The 50 schools we did with DBSA, so we have put in place COEGA, we are going to work with IDT and more service providers. So this financial year we are looking at this financial year. By 2015 in terms of mud schools we should be done. But in terms of learners under the tress we will be able to give, I think by September DG a full report on our school plan so that not only in terms of learner under trees but just unsuitable working conditions, staff rooms, labs and libraries, we are compiling that full report. So I don’t think I would be able to honestly say but I plan in terms of school in 2025 we are saying by 2025 we should have the necessary basic infrastructure in place. But until we have that final report that final plan I am not able to say what we should.

In terms of what we expect from the Budget whether Government will put its money where its mouth is. I think it is already done so maybe the question should be will it continue to do it because I think one of the biggest gripes the Basic Education sector has been getting quite a big chunk of the National Budget but also in provinces education gets the bigger slice. So we expect the trend to continue so it won’t be anything new.

In terms of delivery where you see 0 it means there is no shortage, it doesn’t mean that there is no delivery, so that is how it should be read. I did expect that is why I prepared a report for you. Let me just go through the figures that I have.

Journalist: It says the number of books delivered-none. It says delivered, 0.0%.

Minister Angie Motshekga: I will clarify that, I knew so I thought let me just deal with the textbook saga in Limpopo once and for all and that is why we issued that report. To say in terms of the books that we procured for Limpopo, and I am not speaking about (unclear). For Grade 11 we had to buy 1 695 592 books, for Grade 4-6 we had to procure 1 139 000 books. In total for the province we have procured 2.7 million. From the reports of shortages that have come after the reports and which was also reported is that we had a shortfall despite the fact, a shortfall of about 2000 books that constitutes one point something percent of the shortages that we have. We have procured an additional 60 000 books to deal with the shortage and any other shortage that may arise. So if there is any reflection to the contrary which I think, maybe the DG is trying to work out is that indeed we delivered more than 99% of the books. It is an ongoing thing in Limpopo and that is why Stats South Africa has gone to the province to do a head count. It is just a problem around statistics where the system itself was not very clear on how many teachers and learners it has. So we are doing a cleanup and that is where the snake has been. But we can assure the nation to say indeed the 2.7 million books have been sent to schools. We have ordered an additional 60%, 60 000 books to deal with shortages.

The targets for teacher recruitment I will ask the DM to answer. I am not sure what the figures are; I will ask the DG to assist us. I will come to the policy review around pushing of learners. But the Review Commission on teacher salaries is led by the Department of Public Service, it is going to review all public servants, we said they must start with teachers, so it is not led by us. It is part of the Public Service Commission work. So we will be making our inputs as a sector but it is not done under DBE, it is done by Public Service. The policy around pushing of learners which I think is a very important one, if you look at our 9unclear) from Grade 10-11 that has been the policy all along. A child can’t be made to repeat a phase more than twice because or more than once. It has always been policy (unclear) It has not been implemented in the FET belt from 10-12. We will streamline to make sure that one it is policy throughout the system. The rational is quite clear that failing kids does not help their performance; if a learner is struggling the learner has to be identified in good time and be supported. So you don’t solve the problems of struggling learners by failing them repeatedly. Schools have to put in place mechanisms of identifying struggling learners and support them. If the support has not been adequate the learner in the same system they have to be able to make sure that even by the time the child goes to the next grade they are assisted. Learners can be failed more than 3 times without any support that the school can be held accountable for. So I say schools have to identify learners who are struggling, support them rather than solve their difficulties by failing them. If you look at our statistics and that is why we have high dropout rates in our FET phase. You have in Grade ten 200 learners, Grade eleven 120, Grade twelve 20 learners so it means there is something wrong. The school has to provide support for learners to help them to move and not get them to repeat. They can repeat many times as long as they are not assisted to fail, that is one of the reasons we have a high dropout rate at that phase. So by failing them we are not assisting them we are pushing them out of school. So they have to be assisted and be failed unnecessarily if they have to be failed the school must be able to explain why they fail. It has nothing to do with NFC but it has much more to do with supporting learners who are struggling. It has been policy we have consulted on it quite extensively, we have briefed I think the DG can say what the process has been. It is something that has always been there in all the other phases it has just been absent in the senior phase. We are regulating and making sure that there is uniformity in that phase. So as I said it has nothing to do with pushing but with forcing schools to support struggling learners and not failing them repeatedly without providing support to them.

DM is always informed, if you can help with the targets for teacher recruitment and other things.

Deputy Minister Enver Surty: Thank you for the questions. Minister with regards to the teacher, the Funza Lusaka that is the bursary that is awarded to teachers. If my memory serves me right the end of this year we are expecting 13 870 graduates amongst which 70% of them would have done mathematics and science and technology and 20% would have been in the foundation phase. For the current year I think if my memory serves me right it is more than 6700 teachers that have been recruited which is subject to correction I don’t have the data here but it would be in that particular vicinity. So that is very encouraging and to say that the Funza Lusaka Bursary Fund is fully funded, it basically covers all aspects of subsistence for learners at university. We have also encouraged students; we have a Bachelor of Science Degree for example to do a post graduate certificate in education to be able to become teachers so that we are able to attract a pool of resource persons in mathematics, science and technology in particular.

With regards to the issue, with your permission Minister and Programme Director, the mud schools, it is a very interesting question. Some 6 years ago we had the phenomenon in KwaZulu-Natal, in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. It is virtually eliminated in all the other provinces; I am not saying there are no unsafe structures but the mud school phenomenon. KwaZulu-Natal has one or two left out to be eliminated. With respect the phenomenon in the Eastern Cape is more a question of poor governance rather than a question of as a whole being unable to eliminate that particular structure. That is why the (unclear) is focused particularly in the Eastern Cape. The Minister has indicated that we would look towards the end of this financial year for the elimination of about 40 of the mud schools; I think 35 without any shadow of doubt, 40 very close to that. The remaining would be within a month or two, thereafter and the additional resources that we are putting in the Eastern Cape for example is at least 50 mud schools, addition 50 mud schools for this year but we are identifying another 32 sites for the Eastern Cape.

With regard to the issue of your public service, what the President has indicated as well as the Minister of Public Service in the4 debate of the State of the Nation Address is the investment that is going to be made in relation to public servants in general. But given the importance of education, as an apex priority would mean that they would look closely at posture, performance and attitudes. Those are the kind of returns that you would want to have in relation to the investment that is going to be made. Obviously you would be looking at the element of multiyear agreements in relation to remuneration rather than year by year fixing of remuneration to avoid any of those particular actions. So I thought that would give us a sense and it does not exclude other public servants. It starts with education, health and then the other sectors.

Minister Angie Motshekga: If I could ask the DG to clarify the matter that was raised around the delivery of textbooks in Limpopo.

DG Bobby Soobrayan: Thank you very much for that question about the delivery. Let me draw your attention to page 9 of 11 and explain that you are talking in fact about the work books. The work books have been developed in two volumes, volume one is used in the first half of the year volume two is used in the second half of the year. We deliver volume one first in preparation for the opening of school. Now if you look at page 9 of 11 and you look at Mopani there you will see that 99% delivery and the reason it is not 100% is because we used data of the previous year because we deliver in the previous year. Then we mitigate shortages in the actual year, so that is for the first half of the year. The table you have been quoting from correctly is on page 10 of 11 and that is for volume two. Volume two is used from June onwards and the deadline for delivery of volume two is end of February and thereafter we mop up by March we have that delivery completely well ahead of the beginning of the second half of the year when volume two will be used. I hope that clarifies the question and it is workbooks we are talking about here not the textbooks. So Mopani volume one to repeat has 99% and that 1% is the marginal mop up that we are doing currently.

Journalist: Just a quick question with the situation in Cuba, the medical students. I wonder if you are in a position to give us an update as to what is going on at the moment. Obviously the last we heard was that the Health Minister wrote a letter to the concerned students in that country. What is the latest at the moment?

Journalist: I would like to follow up on that salary review question. I would like some comment on how one begins to measure the performance of a teacher.

Journalist: Just a point of clarity, you mentioned that the level of absenteeism nationally stands at 10%, is that correct? Which is much higher than the average in the SADEC region? Secondly the Ministerial Team, which is now investigating poor performance in maths, or learners’ poor performance in maths and science, you say their report will be submitted at the end of April. How will their report be used to improve results nationally?

Journalist: Minister would it be possible to get an update on the Eastern Cape, we haven’t heard much of that, obviously with Limpopo eclipsing things for a while. Is the province still administration, what progress has been made?

Journalist: I just need to find out the issue of teacher absenteeism; I think you said 19%, sorry 19 days that is far above the average in SADC. Do you think it is just a lack of caring for the students or pupils that when teachers don’t necessarily take what they do seriously. They can just do whatever they want to, how do you then begin to address that problem?

Journalist: I just need to find out about this proposed biometric testing, if you have been in discussion with SADTU about it and what their reaction is. And also if you are discussing with the problem of absenteeism and the culture of teaching.

Journalist: On discussions with the unions, SADTU and the other unions on the essential services matter. I remember they were calling for meetings of clarity with the Minister have those taken place and what have the discussions been about?

Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana: We have since assigned officials from the Department of Health and the Department of Higher Education and Training working closely with a mission and our embassy in Cuba to come closer to the situation. The reality is that we will not be able to meet the demands of the students because the stipend that we are giving them obviously they are not accepting. We have therefore directed the embassy to arrange a process of deportation if needed. But the Department of Health and the Department of Higher Education and Training working with our embassy are indeed dealing with this particular problem. I am certain that the Minister of Health will be able to update the nation on progress that has been made. (Unclear)

Minister Angie Motshekga: On the salary review question, the question if I understood is was how do we measure teachers’ performance. The sector uses different ways of assessing the effectiveness of teachers mainly it is around learning and teaching because that is what their core function is. We normally use tools like curriculum management to see if teachers are keeping pace with the curriculum. We look at the quality of assessment through learners’ books or even the quality of work that is being given. So there are a series of tools that are used for teacher effectiveness, discipline, punctuality and quite e number of things. That is why it is important for us to have the, what we call the (unclear) results which then help to benchmark so that we don’t have the same to say every teacher has to perform at 80% when they are starting at a low base. So a teacher who was performing at 80% will be expected either to sustain or move over 80%. If it is a teacher at Grade 4 who is inheriting kids who are a grade behind you can’t assess them at 80% we assess them from the benchmark that is there. But, there different tools that are being used to assess the effectiveness of teachers in classrooms. Whereas the review that is there partly will be linked to what the President said just getting value for money. There was concern amongst teachers to say they are underpaid and there has been this debate to say what will be a realistic salary for different Government employees in relation to the budget, what the State can afford.

If you can recall during the teachers’ strike there were clear difficulties with the way the teacher salaries have been structured. The entry levels are relatively comparable with professions at their levels of 4 years post matric but as they proceed after 8 years they just stagnate there is not progression. And those are some of the structural problems that I guess the review will say how do we restructure the teacher salaries to say it is not only attractive at entry level and then after sometime teachers who have been in the field for 30 years find themselves with the same salary structure with people who have just entered 10 years back. And those are structural issues we expect the review also to look at but then also say link it also to value for money.

On teacher absenteeism, let me just get into the Ministerial team around if it reports in April. What I have done after we got the results for instance in December was to set up, because we have the national (unclear) strategy which was adopted by CM which was to be implemented in provinces. So what we did as part of our work as national was to review the implementation of that structure and say what the weaknesses are. Compare provinces and see what the practices are, we will be discussing that for instance at CM this weekend, so that we have done. Then the review of maths is different because there is also a maths and strategy, so the reviews cause us to ask why we are not making the breakthrough. We are having a parallel process, which is a different process in terms of improving the performance of maths and science so we are continuing with our interventions around maths and science. Appointing, providing learning support material and making sure that there is a maths and science teacher. So the strategy continues in terms of improving quality, in terms of what we plan so we are not stopping and waiting for the review. But (unclear) why is it so dismal. So we do hope that we continue to improve but we just think the problem is bigger than just being able to intervene. So there is a parallel process of improving, resourcing quite extensively. For instance we have given every school (unclear) starting with a book just to make sure that kids have high quality resources. We are ensuring that there is a maths and science teacher for every learner. We are having special programs, so it is a parallel process, we are continuing to push for improvement but we are reviewing to say if there are structural problems that we need to understand in terms of teacher content which is generic and deal with it in addition to support the strategy that we have, so it is a parallel process. So we do as I say I am very optimistic that we will continue.

Eastern Cape, yes the province is still under administration, (unclear). The Deputy Minister is much more hands on in the Eastern Cape so I will ask him to say how far they are. I will ask the Deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister Enver Surty: Thank you very much Minister, its not that the Minister don’t have the answers is simply that there is a collective of Ministers. It is the Minister of Justice and Constitution Development, Minister of Basic Education, Minister of Public Service and Administration, Minister of Finance who signed the responsibility of overseeing the process on behalf of Cabinet. They then decided to establish the task team, the foot shoulders, the Deputy Minister to do that. And we have been working collaboratively with the Deputy Ministers across the sectors that I have referred to. And that has been very useful because we work as a collective both with financial support, legal support and support from education. If you recollect and it is a long time ago that the intervention was based on several things. One was the failure to provide nutrition to the learners in the Eastern Cape the second was the lack of the provision of transport to the learners, the third was the provision of personnel in schools, the fourth was the delivery of textbooks and stationery and the fifth was a systemic nature in terms of financial management and human resource capacity. Broadly with regard to your nutrition wonderful strides have been made, I would say it is absolutely perfect but we have been able to establish, decentralise procurement in a way that schools have been provided with utensils, with training in terms of nutrition. It has been an empowerment process where communities had to deal with the responsibility. From the records that we received across the province the nutrition programme is working extremely well and has had the benefit of moving away from the procurement exercises that is not benefiting the school where there is a direct ownership by the school community itself in terms of provision with adequate support in terms of development with regard to nutrition itself as well as food gardens in the various schools, so that is very promising.

With regards to stationery and textbooks, we have made wonderful strides in the Eastern Cape and certainly I won’t say it in absolute terms but we have dealt with the challenges of textbook provision with provision in the Eastern Cape. The Eastern Cape is a huge vast area but I say we are relatively satisfied with the efforts that have been made in that direction.

With regards to the issues of transport, currently more than a 155 000 learners have been transported in the Eastern Cape and that is the information we have. I do believe that more has to be done because of its remote and rural area. And probably more than 200 000 learners should be transported as we speak but given that there was that absolute collapse of the system I think it is now on its feet and that particular responsibility has been assigned away from the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape to the Department of Transport. They are working collaboratively and they have dedicated a person within the Transport Department who is assisting and managing overseeing that particular process.

The issues with regard to personnel are used in the Eastern Cape, it is a huge legacy. It doesn’t exist for two years it is almost from its inception and that perhaps is the biggest challenge in our opinion with relation to staff provision. We are trying very hard in that particular respect and obviously when we talk about staff we talk about surplus teachers, additional staff over the redundant teachers, redeployment to different areas, it is a huge area of contestation. Unions get involved; they don’t want teachers to move at the whim of the Department even where there are justifiable reasons for doing so. There is an attempt to protect temporary teachers who are under qualified etc. So that contestation is a difficult area of contestation but what we can say is that we are working extremely hard towards solutions. We have extended the period to march to ensure that we are able to provide a solution in relation to personnel in the Eastern Cape. I want to be honest if you tell me what is the biggest problem in the Eastern Cape right now I would still say it would be in relation to the provisioning. What is interesting in the Eastern Cape and for the journalists over here unlike other provinces Gauteng has received many more learners in the schools so has the Western Cape and Durban for example. But in the Eastern Cape the learners have diminished, I think by more than 300 000 if I’m not mistaken. That has different implications because if you look at your learner teacher ratio is schools it has influenced by the drop in the learner numbers in real terms and that become another area of contestation. So it is not an easy situation it is a difficult situation but the post provisioning norms are being looked at very carefully and collaboratively between the provincial department, the national department and other stakeholders. So we are in constant conversation with the unions and trying our level best in terms of that.

With regard to systems in terms of HR capacity and finance, we have dedicated staff from the Department of Basic Education supported by the Department of Finance also supported by the Treasury as well is Public Service and Administration to help in a systemic way. There is a turnaround strategy that has been developed and things are looking certainly much more promising. What was ignored in the Eastern Cape previously was the issue of district management and we have created a framework for that to enhance the capacity of districts. And for the first time let’s be honest it hasn’t happened before; it is the first time they have broken the ceiling of 60% in terms of their achievement. So while the interventions have taken place we look very closely and the Minister has really been at the helm of that particular aspect to say that go and do your other work but don’t forget what happens in the classroom. And so we pay particular attention to that kind of support in the Eastern Cape and indeed they have broken the 60% barrier, it is not sufficient. But if you also look at the NUNR(sic) results in terms of the grades the Eastern Cape has been improving in terms of that quality. So there are positive messages but I think the perhaps most promising thing about it is that there is no tension or acrimony in relation to the intervention. Previously there was an unwillingness to accept the intervention as being beneficial to the Eastern Cape and its governance (unclear. The endorsement was set publicly in the ruling party’s conference in Mangaung and in fact continues to be the case. And we have learned some important lessons of collaboration and synergy between national departments provincial department as a result of putting our efforts collectively in this. But the challenge in the Eastern Cape is a huge and enormous one, which I would not want to underestimate but to say that certainly there are indications of good progress in the province and stability within the environment.

Minister Angie Motshekga: So the long and short of it quiet but it is not (unclear). We will be going back to the Eastern Cape for a longer period. The Deputy President will be leading a delegation in March to see if we can’t resolve some of the most difficult questions once and for all. Mainly around HR but also around statistics. I mean the questions we are asking about mud schools, for the first group of schools we have said it should take the highest number of learners and say they should not build a school for the, that is how we selected it. There shouldn’t be a school for less than because we are quite worried about statistics there. So we will build the school on the basis of what we have on record but there are 550 kids and we have build that school, so even stats is a major problem there. There are also a number of unviable schools where there we have instructed the province to consolidate small schools. They have done that, they were supposed to take decision in 235 schools if they will continue the (unclear). I discovered for the first time if you maybe come from Gauteng s very highly populated (unclear) just strange issues around statistics, so that is one of the biggest issues. We have sent a team to do a headcount, learners one by one, teachers one by one, schools one by one. It also affects our ability to move in speed in terms of eradicating mud schools. We have identified 496 it may be that we don’t have to build 496, we might have to consolidate if the distance is viable, so we have to look at all those things. So we might end up in 2015 saying that we have only built 200 schools when we have planned 494. So 495 structures that we have identified which have to be demolished which does not necessarily translate that we have to build 496 but those are structures which have to be demolished. So it is your HR, your statistics and just general. As I say we are not giving up, we are going the in March under the leadership of the Deputy President to again deal with the ongoing challenges that we have in the province. I think as the DM said there is now much more cooperation is just that even ourselves as national it does drain us because it means we have to do the work. We are supposed to monitoring and we are geared for it. That is what we are structured for to monitor and support, not to go and do. So we have to then go from our main budget get bodies to come and assist us. The company that did the headcount we had to commission a company from outside because that is not our capacity to do headcounts in provinces. But we should be able to report after we come back from the Eastern Cape, so we might issue just a report of what we found and what we are going to. But there are still lots of challenges we must admit.

In terms of absenteeism, there is a number of reasons why and not sometimes good. As I said one of the main reasons is just management. Schools that perform well, there isn’t a serious problem it is school management and leadership in schools. Secondly some of them are quite genuine problems about the (unclear) of disease where you find that a person is not absent but is marked absent because he has not yet been replaced, or has not been bordered appropriately and it is just not recorded properly. As I was saying also in most instances its management and a serious neglect of duties and responsibilities. That is why I have said to teachers repeatedly as a teacher I find it extremely embarrassing for professionals to be told they have to be in class teaching that is the basic thing that they are being employed for. It borders around poor adminsitrat4ion but also a poor management system even from u sin terms of information where if a teacher is chronically ill they have to be properly boarded and a replacement brought in.

In terms of biometric testing, it is not testing it is really a change of administration and that is why I was quite surprised about the (unclear) because we are replacing what is there which is paper based. Teachers do sign in and out but it is paper based it is old time books and it is an ICT age which will make us more effective and efficient. So we will inform unions because it has nothing to do with the conditions of service because it is there as part of our administrative tools. We are saying we want to replace that paper base system with an IT system which will be able to give us information much more quickly so that if indeed there are people who are chronically ill they will have to be replaced and the province will have to know immediately so they can support the school. So it is also to the advantage that we can get the information quicker so that we can be able to support schools. We think it will be a very good management school. It is just as I said not something (unclear). We will discuss with the unions on the implementation it is not anything that really affects the conditions of service because it is there that they have to report like all of us have to report for duty in and out and explain our whereabouts. It is an administrative tool; it is not anything that has to do with conditions of service and therefore requiring consultations.

On essential services also, there is nothing about conditions of service that we have to discuss with them on the matter. And as I said it is not directed at teachers, we have been trying to explain that repeatedly. When we say education is an essential service and maybe we have to use a different term so that we not trapped in this legalistic ILO(sic) definition of an essential service that teachers can’t go strike and it changes conditions of service, it is not that. It is even directed at me as a Minister, when books have to be in Limpopo it has be in Limpopo. It is so essential that we can’t go wrong and that is why we are trying to pull all stops to make sure that we don’t go wrong on our duties all of us in the sector. It is directed also at parents to say whatever is their grievance, whether there is no electricity or there is no road they should not interfere with education because of its essential value to the life of their kids. But also to teachers to say if there is anything that will disrupt teaching let’s find amicable ways of resolving the conflict so that it does not spill over in affect teaching. That is the call that is why I am saying it is unfortunate that it gets trapped in the essential service sense of in the legalistic sense. I have been speaking to different countries in the long run the country might have to think about it, if you review people’s salaries, you are satisfied, you all agree. There are other countries that are successful like Japan where public servants are not allowed to go and strike but it is a different debate and that is not what we are tabling now. That is a different debate, which I think the Minister of Public Service at the time suitable will be able or will declare whatever the sectors of the public service. So it is not me as the Minister of Education because I am not in charge of rules and regulations in conditions of public servants in that broad sense. There is a Minister of Public Service who can say I have decided that education becomes an essential service for the following reasons but we really are not there as yet. Though ideally in the long run the interest of education as a country we might want to say lets cease hostility and let’s make sure that we have a special treatment for education.

Journalist: I believe that there are currently teacher protests ongoing in the Eastern Cape around teacher shortages, how do you propose handling the current protests that are ongoing. And then just on the matter of essential services when the education is let’s say declared an essential service based on what you were just saying now. What would mean for teachers as is going on presently in the Eastern Cape. Would it mean then that they can still take to the streets whenever they feel aggrieve by something or would it then mean that teachers can’t take to the streets, cant protests when they feel that something is not to their liking.

Journalist: Can you conclusively say that the Limpopo textbook crises per se is done and dusted because a little more than 10 days ago you had opposition parties mainly the DA say that 42 000 textbooks remain in warehouses across Limpopo and haven’t been delivered. Are they confused, is it maybe the difference between workbook one, workbook two that you are referring to. Minister I do apologise maybe we are getting involved in semantics, what does it mean when you say we are trying to make education an essential service, we are making it a priority, trying to all pull together and ensure that we make sure that education is being carried out by Government Departments. And when you say you might need to look into making it an essential service eventually, what does that mean? I mean, is Government looking it at?

Journalist: Just a follow on, if it has nothing to do with striking then is it about being empowered by the law. So for example if parents are not sending their children to school as we have seen in the past few weeks for whatever reason, does that mean that the Department may have more power to sue those parents? Or would the Department then be sued as you say you have responsibility, I mean there has been court action against you. Does that empower you more; if it is declared an essential service does that mean it is ruptured up in terms of the power of the law. Secondly for the Deputy Minister Monana, the DA says that higher education and basic education should again become one Department. What is your response to that? Just lastly Minister Motshekga, earlier when you had a sigh for the Eastern Cape scenario, I mean it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the past few years with Limpopo, Eastern Cape, the World Competitive Report listing us as bottom in the quality of our basic education. Is the state of our education better than it was in 2009 or have these instances just come to a head, or are we seeing a deterioration of our basic education system?

Journalist: Minister just a couple of points of clarity, your reference to biometric and IT. Essentially I understand this to mean you are going to have teachers clocking in and clocking out, is that correct? When will that start from and how does SADTU feel about that. Then just some clarity the 19 days average absenteeism, how much of that is sick leave?

Minister Angie Motshekga: 19.

Journalist: 19? And then could you just confirm the total number of teachers employed by your department at this point in time.

Journalist: I am also going to hammer on the essential service issue. So it means teachers are going to be allowed to strike essentially, they can strike if they feel like it, Government is happy with that. If you could just clarify that. The second point is speaking after the State of the Nation to a number of Government officials they said that they understood that essential services means that there must be bigger responsibility from everybody, the parents, the teachers, especially the parents, the governing bodies, that type of thing. That is not only shall we say that the teachers’ prerogative or job to improve education. So if one agrees with that, that everybody has a bigger role to play to improve education how would one explain the decision in Joburg by that school that said we can’t have too many kids in the school. So they have gone to court to improve the education at that school one could argue. The Department is now forwarding that case. So I am just curious about the contradiction, if there is one or not. Then my last point is regarding on page 8 where you are talking about the progression of students, where you are saying that students from Grades 10-12 won’t be allowed to fail more than once. I mean why don’t we just put anybody in matric in Grade 10 and we just let them write the matric exam three times. I don’t understand what the point is if they are just going to be put through. If you could just perhaps clarify that.

Minister Angie Motshekga: You see the essential service debate is really semantics. I don’t know how many times I am going to explain that it was not, it is not a legalistic, it was not articulated in a legalistic sense. So I have run out of explanations, it is semantics and we are going to be dancing around whether people can strike, we keep on saying that we want to ensure like we were saying it is everybody’s responsibility that everybody should see. The word essential can also be used as an English word to say it is something very critical; it is very essential for the well being of children, for the national growth. It is also something very essential for many other things, the stability of the country, economic prosperity, that is how important it is that all of us as South Africans, parents, teachers and the Department have to make sure that we see this not only as something that is important but as something that is key for development as a country, and that is what it is up to now. What it will become in future I can’t say, I am saying it could, I am not saying it will because it is not even on the table. What is on the table is the semantics of using the word essential as an English word to say it is something very critical for everybody, for the children’s well being. So beyond really explaining (unclear) yes we are saying it is a priority but it is essential so that we really get everybody to see that it is something quite critical that can’t be left to chance, that can’t be treated casually. It is something that has to be seen as a lifeline and it is quite important.

In terms of the scenario I’m really quite surprised that you could even ask this question. Honestly I don’t want to sound rude; anybody who has eyes has to know that we are making progress. We have reviewed for instance the curriculum, the OBE, there is so much that is (unclear). Because that is a key instrument in terms of how well we are moving as a sector. We are going to assess and speak to teachers about what do they feel about the curriculum. They feel it is much clearer, it is articulate, it is cohesive, and the structure of the system has really improved in terms of the design. So that is very important in education to be able to get curriculum satisfaction at that level. The other instrument that we want to measure if our system is working is in terms of even access to books. Just between 2002 we had 45% in terms of just books in the hands of children, we have increased dramatically the number of books. So I don’t even want to use matric results as a benchmark because you will know as a journalist we didn’t go back since 2009. It is a useful indicator, which is independent from us. So I am sure you are just asking for a debate but you know deep down in your heart that we really made great strides, we have made improvements to stabilise the sector. There are now lots of clarity, there is confidence, and we all feel that we are moving, that it is just upwards.

In terms of being a troubled sector, it is a very challenging sector. The problems in the Eastern Cape are not new as the DM said, we are just confronting them. The Eastern Cape has always performed below par, it has always been the lowest performing province, it always had all sorts of difficulties. It is one province where (unclear). So it has just always been in such trouble waters. The difficulties they are experiencing, I was saying to the MEC he is lucky that he has been in the office for more than 3 years, there is never an MEC that has lasted for more than 3 years in the Eastern Cape office. Heads of Departments were changed overnight, so it has always been in trouble and it is not anything new that came from 2009. It started finally as Cabinet decided to take a very drastic step to intervene, something not very easy to do, it would have been easier for me to say you do this and not get myself to be part of the problem. Limpopo has also actually not functioned well, the deficit that had led them to collapse is old, they always been bailed by that Treasury. It was the first time that the Limpopo Treasury said you have to sort yourself out. This accumulation of R2 billion that they were overspending on excess teachers is something that has moved for years in the department. So the problems of Limpopo and the Eastern Cape are old and there were even more problems in other provinces. KZN has improved quite dramatically, Mpumalanga is really on the upward, I think for the first time they have a clean audit, they have broken the 70% barrier. Free State for instance is in the 80%, it is doing exceptionally well but as I said it is a very big sector more than 22 000 schools. Even the biggest company in the world don’t have so many stores where you have 12 million clients a day in your care for more than four hours; it is huge, even in stores people go in and out. But there you have to look after 12 million people for more than 6 hours, so it is a huge sector with lots of challenges, with a big budget, lots of people employed.

The 19 days as I say that we, again I will repeat just pure absenteeism, sometimes as I said the burden of disease. And in some instances what I have found also which I am not sure to what scale because we have not done that assessment unless the DG can assist to say what exactly causes teachers to upset themselves. But it is also teachers who stay in urban areas who teach in rural areas and are absent or leaving early and all sorts of things. I went to a school in Denroy where teachers in Pietersburg go and teach in rural schools and stay in Pietersburg and as a result have lift clubs, they arrive late, before then they pick each other up on the way. So it is quite a number of factors but I really can’t point to one specific thing.

In terms of this Gauteng school again, you see Government has responsibilities that it has to carry out by law. We can’t say basic education is compulsory and still not provide spaces. Public schools are a public asset it is not a private asset. Public schools belong to the public to there is no way from where I sit unfortunately that is what (unclear) that Government will determine the size and number of schools. I can’t expect to say Minister make basic education compulsory then the parents can say we will keep (unclear). That is a public space you can’t privatise it and determine in your own terms how it is going to be utilised. It is a national asset and it has to be used in the national interest of everybody. So if there is a child who stays Rivonia who has to go to a school I am not going to get the parent to stay with the child at home to say I can’t find space for you, you have to find space for that person. It is a legal responsibility, I think it is a moral responsibility also that we have that there is no child that can be allowed to sit outside because there is a governing body that says I want my class size to be 25 kids, it can’t be. It is a public space not a private space and it has to be used in the public interest and not in the interest of the parents. So we have joint responsibility, parents have the responsibility but the State also have a responsibility and it is very important in carrying out those responsibilities we have to be able to assist each other. So that there is no parent who can have the right to lock out kids simply because they are looking after their own kids. And if the other parent doesn’t have space put the State in the predicament where they don’t know where to take the kid. So the Rivonia one is actually a typical example of how the law itself undermines it because Salsa (sic) says parents have to decide the class size and other things and we are saying there is a moral responsibility to ensure that every child has access to school. No governing body can determine whether the school is full for another child.

Journalist: May I just have a follow up to that. Minister I just have 2 points and I am sorry of it is becoming a debate but it is an important issue I believe. My first point is at what level Government says this school is now full, I mean you can’t say there has to be space made then you sit with classes of 50 to a teacher. So what would the optimal level be of teacher to student? And the second point is, now it has gone out of my mind, I am sorry. Surely then Government would have to say maybe we should just build a new school if there is a need for space then why don’t we just build a new school.

Minister Angie Motshekga: You are quite right that if there is a demand for a new school Government should provide more space. But if there is one extra child to go to the Rivonia school that does not justify me to build a school. I have the responsibility to find that one child a space at the nearest school. So there is no way a parent can say to me that one child unless you build a school cannot come to the school. And that is why the law states the MEC determines whether the school is full or not. It I sin our interest that there is quality education at schools. It is ion our interest that kids are comfortable, it is in our interest that our teachers have manageable sizes. It is in our interest also to make sure that as State the working conditions, the school environment is conducive to learners to teachers but it is also our moral and our responsibility to ensure that every child has access to space. Building school, you are quote right if there is an explosion of population like you have. Then that is why. You should look at the plans we have for Gauteng, which was announced by the Minister, there is an explosion of young people like you have in the Midrand area, the State has an obligation to build a school. But I can’t have Midrand High say to me these ten kids can’t come here until we build a school. These kids have the right to a school and the principal can’t say these ten kids can’t come here. To an extend and it is very unfair and I really have to say this with due respect, in our poor communities where there are explosions which were really not planned for, schools even platu, same school used by two schools, other kids have to come in 7h00, other kids have to join at 11h00 because every child has the right to access to a school. So the principal of the first school can’t tell me he won’t platu in my school because this is our school, no it can’t be. If we say there is an explosion of leaner’s we are going to get you to platu, the principal is going to have to allow us to platu, or the SGBC will allow us to platu because those kids have the right to education and that is the bottom line. But agree with you to say the State has a responsibility and obligation to provide, if there is a need for more space Government has to make sure that it provides space. Having said all that there is a moral and legal obligation to access to every child to access schools.

Journalist: Teacher shortages please mam. There is a teacher in the Eastern Cape that is protesting currently about teacher shortages. How do you think this can be resolved and is your department working on that problem?

Minister Angie Motshekga: The Eastern Cape has a shortage in the phase of excess teachers. So what we said to the Eastern Cape is that they must move teachers to where there are jobs. Teacher unions took the State to court to protest against a movement, they lost the case and I said to the MEC implement it. All of us, I have just grown to love Cape Town but it is not my first choice to be here because my work compels me to be here. So as workers we have to follow our jobs and that is what we have said to the Eastern Cape. As the DM said we have given them the opportunity to move teachers because you can’t employ more teachers until such time you have placed the existing teachers otherwise you are going to have this double parking that is there. And that is the big issue. I have not received reports, maybe the office will tell me that there are protests in the Eastern Cape, but we will look at it and see exactly what the issues are. But the bottom-line is they have to move people before we can employ more people.

Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana: On the call of the DA, I think the President took a very informed decision to separate these two departments so that there is specific focus on both the schooling and post schooling systems. And I think that the kind of problems that you see today is not as though they were not there. They get to be lifted now that there is specific focus on both. We have one education system in South Africa we work coherently with Basic Education and Higher Education but of course for instance we can come and give you a progress report on the strides we are making at universities. You have seen less student protests since 2009, for the first time we are building new universities since the inception of democracy. There is more focus on education and training, so I am just outlining these few things to demonstrate that indeed the split was necessary so that there is a specific focus. Basic Education and Higher Education has made tremendous strides in trying to correct the wrongs that existed in this sector and therefore I think the call of the DA is very ill informed. But we will continue to work; this will not structure us.

DG Bobby Soobrayan: I want to again draw your attention to the report I was referring to earlier, this time on page 5 of 11 to look at the 3^rd and 4^th columns. The 3^rd column talks about the original quantity of books audit and the 4^th column the quantity of books actually delivered. You will see there that two million nine hundred and ninety four thousands book were ordered, two million nine hundred and thirty five thousand were distributed, Now 42 000 firstly you will appreciate is a very small proportion of that number but it is still a big number of books. And the reason we have that is that similar to the point I made earlier on, when you work on data of a previous year for the next year you got to anticipate there will be changes in learner numbers because of changes in the number of learners that come into school, failure, bigger classes in the next year and inaccurate estimations by principals. And therefore we have procured extra books and keeping it in a warehouse to mitigate shortages and that’s indeed what we have been doing. We have been encouraging everyone who has knowledge of shortages to report it to us and the Minister has officially thanked those people who have come forward including organisations who have done so to indicate shortages for us. What we do in that instance is to firstly verify that it is indeed an accurate shortage. We look at the proof of delivery, we have signed proof of delivery for all schools, we then mitigate the shortage immediately. To do it quickly from my experience last year we know that we must have a (unclear) in the warehouse in that is why we have ordered surplus stock. This stock won’t go to waste because it is new curriculum stock. It is stock that will be used next year as well and that is what we do in mitigation. So all our organisations FETSA and so forth have reported to us and we are constantly in the progress of mitigating those shortages. But as the, every year that goes by the accuracy of our data that we use improve dramatically and we find that this year is dramatically different from last year but we still have to have a quantity of stock available to mitigate.

Appendix 

Briefing statement by Minister of Education Angie Motshekga on the occasion of the post-State of the Nation Address Ministerial briefing on government priority: Education

26 Feb 2013

In his 2013 State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma acknowledged the National Development Plan (NDP) as a strategic framework to form the vision and basis of future government planning towards 2030. The President emphasised the importance of elevating education to its rightful place, and to improve the quality of learning and teaching and the management of schools.

He further reiterated government’s mandate to focus on massive public infrastructure development, which includes building schools and institutions of higher learning.

Quality education and skilling were singled out as being of paramount importance to our country’s advancement. Whilst government acknowledged that the education system is more equitable than it was before 1994, which is a significant achievement; there continues to be a lot that needs to be done to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

On Basic Education, we will report on government’s plan to improve the quality of learning and teaching in schools, using as a blueprint, Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. This plan speaks to key aspects of education, that include teacher recruitment and development, learner enrolment, school funding, mass literacy and numeracy, and overall quality of education. It has specific measurable targets.

We will also report on progress, in line with the mandate of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), on the strategy to increase the ratio of young people who are in education, employment or training by 2014/15. It will address various initiatives to improve the quality and standard of our higher education system in the interest of the country’s skills development.

These plans include professional, vocational, technical and academic learning programmes, and the promotion of the Further Education and Training (FET) institutions, the goal being to turn them into centres of excellence for skills-development and training.

We reiterate the President’s call for improved school performance, particularly in the context of education being South Africa’s apex priority. We note also the steady and positive improvements in the performance of the Class of 2012, increasing the previous 70.2% in 2011 to a 73.9% pass rate in 2012.

Significant improvements were noted in the provincial and district performance as well as in subject performance. To this end the National Diagnostic Report on Learner Performance for the year 2012 has been published and will serve as a basis for all provinces to engage in their own diagnostic analysis of learner performance.

 

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

The Department has committed to improving the quality of basic education, across the system, and with added emphasis on laying a solid foundation from the lower phases. To this end, there has been an increase in the number of children benefitting from Early Childhood Development.

According to the School Realities 2012, a total of 767 865 learners are enrolled in Grade R. The major focus will be on improving the quality of provision in Grade R. Whilst being pleased with great strides with access and curriculum alignments and improved skills development for practitioners, issues for the conditions of service for ECD practitioners needs to be finalised through a national framework of national norms and standards for this phase.

In an effort to improve the quality of education, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) will pay special attention to gateway subjects and, in collaboration with teacher unions, step-up teacher development.

 

Accountability in the system

We have noted with great concern the calls by various role players also including parents who have observed the trend in teachers’ absenteeism and lack of accountability. As Education remains a key government priority, we have taken swift interventions in this regard. The Department has taken some measures to enforce teacher accountability. These include: effective and reliable staff attendance registers and learners’ class attendance registers and monitoring the utilization of accountability instruments. We are currently exploring various mechanisms to monitor staff attendance.

The biometric system will be piloted as done currently in the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. And this is not a policing system, but a management tool to monitor school attendance for both teachers and learners.

The system is aimed at relieving the school principals of the burden of clocking in teachers manually. It is simply a modern way to monitor the TTT, and will replace the manual attendance register, which every school currently uses.

The process of rolling out the system has not yet started. The DBE will consult widely before implementation, hence the cost; time frames etc. are still not available.

The main aim of the system is to ensure attendance, contact time between learner and teacher, which in turn has been proven to improve learner performance.

The President has made a call on strengthening Quality and Accountability in the basic education system, in that call an option of introducing the school inspectors was mooted as one amongst others.

I have looked at the system as the Minister of Basic Education in the context of the President’s call to see what needs to be done with what is currently in the system and that which might require new introduction. It is a fact that quality and accountability measures are not operating at the intended efficacy levels at this moment in time.

In response to the President’s call and in appreciation that more needs to be done systemically to push the bar higher in terms of quality outcomes and accountability, we will immediately review and strengthen the functions of three major mechanisms which are already there in the system. It is this review of the existing mechanisms which will guide the system as to whether we introduce a new mechanism or we strengthen and refocus the current one’s to perform optimally their functions.

 

School Management and Governance Support

This above mechanism is already there in the system and is a direct replacement of the School Inspectors in terms of values, approach, methodology applied to support and develop schools. But they are the ones who supervise school principal’s work, monitor compliance, intervene when the School Management team is not taking the school forward in terms of academic performance, policy compliance, Governance and management of the school as a whole.

Their mandate is to monitor schools at any time. With or without prior announcement they enter schools and check on the systems, policies, compliance and hold both the principal and the school governing board (SGB) accountable when things are not happening as expected.

Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS)

This mechanism oversees the nine key areas of school functionality from outside the immediate environment of the circuit, as they evaluate and assess the school in terms of the 9 agreed areas of school functionality. They are also evaluating the work of both the School Management Team.

The department must also have a clear process, section and Senior official responsible for receiving these reports, organising their review sessions and conducting accountability session within the provisions of the South African Schools Act, which calls for accountability to HODs and MECs, an alignment to National Ministry must be clearly defined and given time frames.  

 

Annual National Assessment

In September 2012, about 7 million learners in Grades 1 to 6 and Grade 9 participated in the Annual National Assessments (ANA).The Department of Basic Education prioritised ANA to test literacy and numeracy skills of the county’s learners and it proved to be a pivotal mechanism for monitoring and tracking achievement of goals as set in the sector-based Action Plan.

The 2012 ANA results recorded a noticeable increase in the performance of learners in Grade 3 in both Language and Mathematics. However, the Department acknowledges the shortfalls of the grade 9 dissatisfactory performance in Mathematics which will receive immediate attention through additional and more intensive structured intervention programmes.

We are satisfied with the explanation that the President gave on the matter of declaring during the State of the Nation Address on considerations to declare education an essential service. Key to this position is the reiteration of government’s conviction that education is a societal issue and therefore must necessarily be a concern of all South Africans.

Government is currently revising salaries and conditions of service of teachers in order to, attracts, motivate and retain skilled teachers. In this regard, the Presidential Remuneration Commission has been established to investigate the appropriateness of remuneration and conditions of service provided by the state to all its employees.

School infrastructure

We have prioritised the eradication of unsafe and mud schools. Over three years, our plan is to eradicate 496 inappropriate structures. We are confident that by end March a total of 35 will be completed and handed over. With some additional pressure five schools can be completed which will then take us to the 40 schools that the President spoke about in the SoNA.

Learner wellness

More effort will be placed on the Integrated School Health programme (ISHP). Major strides have been made in this regard as government seeks to address immediate health problems of learners as it implements interventions for promoting health and wellbeing of learners.

Government also noted with great concern periodic reports about violence in our schools. The rape of schoolgirls and sexual violence and abuse, threaten to become a feature of the schooling experience of many boys as well as girls, and this is unacceptable.

The horrific rape of the young teenager in Bredasdorp and the continued violence against our children cannot be tolerated.  As a Department we bear the responsibility to protect our children and ensure their safety while in our care. We acknowledge that we need the support of all stakeholders and the general public in turning the tide against gender based violence.  Hence, the collective rage in the country has to be turned into tangible action.

It is within this context that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and LEAD SA have announced details of a major initiative to raise rape awareness and educate the 10, 2-million learners in South African schools. The Lead SA partnership with the DBE will go a long way in heightening awareness and educating schools about rape and gender-based violence.

In his reply to the State of the Nation address in the National Assembly, President Jacob Zuma commended the Department of Basic Education for looking at inculcating values of nationhood at an early age, and promoting rights and responsibilities among children. In line with the impetus to promote fundamental human rights, we thus request that on the 1st of March 2013 at 08h00, special school assemblies be convened in all our schools to take a stand against rape and violence. The Minister has issued a directive to all provincial education departments to instruct schools across the country to call special assemblies to highlight the scourge of rape and gender-based violence.

SADTU demands

In the last few weeks the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) has presented demands to me concerning the Director-General of the Department, Mr Bobby Soobrayan. Yesterday I wrote a letter to the General Secretary of SADTU, Mr Mugwena Maluleka responding fully to the issues raised with me. I remain hopeful that this matter will be resolved.

Progression in the further education and training (FET) band

In response to questions raised relating to the regulation stipulating the maximum number of years to be spent by learners in the further education and training band, the Regulations state that a learner should not be retained for longer than four years in the phase, which includes Grades 10, 11 and 12.  This implies that a learner can only fail one of these grades and if a learner fails a grade in the phase for the second time, he must be progressed to the next grade. However, the learner will not be awarded the National Senior Certificate if he does not pass the Grade 12 examination.

The rationale behind this decision is that the curriculum for the FET band is a three year curriculum spanning three years and the learning outcomes for each of these grades, although they need to be obtained at the end of each grade, are finally assessed at the end of grade 12 in the National Senior Certificate examination. Learners may therefore be allowed to progress from grade 10 to grade 11 or from Grade 11 to Grade 12, without meeting the required performance level of that grade, but finally the learner must satisfy the requirements of the NSC examination that is taken at the end of the phase.

A National Senior Certificate is only issued if the learner achieves the standards or qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) i.e. the candidate complies with the three-year programme and promotion requirements of the National Senior Certificate as stipulated in policy and regulations.

The school has a responsibility towards a learner that fails to meet the grade requirements and is retained in the grade for the second year, to provide the learner with additional support so as to assist him to meet the grade requirements in the second year.

There is a Gazette published in October 2012 that establishes the National Senior Certificate task team. The task team is looking at the general standard of the National Senior Certificate with particular focus on the quality of the pass mark, whether life orientation should be an examinable subject, enrolments in mathemathics and science, publication of results in newspapers and the drop out rates.

In the State of the Nation Address, The President announced Ministerial Team to investigate the reasons why performance of maths and science is poor in schools. The team is chaired by Professor Bradley from WITS University and members include provincial maths and science coordinators, experts from the NGO sector and a reference team. A report from the team is expected by end of April 2013. Thereafter a roundtable meeting will be held. Its objectives will be to strengthen the national mathematics, science and technology plan which will improve participation and success rate of girl learners, provide a revised plan for all the private public partnerships of channelling resources to schools amongst others.

Higher Education

Government has reached a major milestone in regard to the quality of higher education and the structures, initiatives and programmes that have been put in place in this regard. Infrastructure development has also become one of the major priorities of government and in this regard government has invested more than R6.8 billion for the upgrading and expansion of infrastructure. This financial year the Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated a further R3.8b for infrastructure expansion. The construction of the two universities comes purely after the realisation that there is inadequate capacity to accommodate the growing number of qualifying school leavers.

The Department of Higher Education and Training has developed a vision for Post-School Education and Training and in this regard, the department has noted the sharp increase of FET college enrolments which have almost doubled from about 350 000 in 2010 to over 650 000 in 2012. This is as a result of effective strategies which include the introduction of fee-free education for poor students and the expansion of shorter skills courses offered in FET Colleges with the assistance of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).

In 2010 two task teams were appointed to investigate the feasibility and possible models for the establishment of universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. The task teams engaged stakeholders in the provinces, and, taking into account provincial and national needs, made recommendations on the type and size of the two new institutions, including information on possible sites for the institutions. Consultations held with various role players confirmed that there was wide-ranging support for the establishment of the new universities in both provinces.

The university in Mpumalanga will comprise facilities for 15 000 students, including general lecture theatres, seminar rooms, laboratories, accommodation for 60% of students on campus, multi-purpose sports fields, academic and administrative offices and ancillary services. The university in the Northern Cape will have the same resources but its facilities will only accommodate 5 000 students with accommodation for 80% of students on campus. The establishment of these universities is informed by the President’s SoNA which touched on a number of planned social and economic development interventions focusing on the building of roads, schools, universities and others.

In addition the department is also establishing a new comprehensive University of Health Sciences on the Medunsa campus, which is currently being demerged from the University of Limpopo. This will be more than just a demerger as the new university will be an expanded institution which will include not only the training of medical doctors, but also other health professionals such as dentists, veterinarians, nurses, physiotherapists, medical technologists, radiographers, and so on.

It’s important to note that significant capital investment and operational expenditure is required because currently, this initiative is only funded by government. Up to 2018/19 total of R16.5bn is required. The projects are labour intensive and create both temporary and permanent jobs. Full support is therefore required over a period of time before universities become self-sustainable. There also needs to be a concerted effort to attract high level academics and build up the necessary human resource capacity. Government will therefore need to work closely in partnership with a range of private and public institutions so that it is able to address these and other challenges.

Also; over the period 2006/07 to 2009/10, R3,628 billion was allocated to all universities for infrastructure, for the period 2010/11 to 2011/12, R3,265 billion was allocated and over the next three years 2012/13 to 2014/15, R6 billion has been allocated. It is projected that this allocation will result in the creation of 37 470 direct job opportunities.

The briefing by Minister Trevor Manuel on the National Development Plan charts the direction of where the country is heading with regards to critical skills for the economic growth of our country. The green paper on Education and Training also seeks to mitigate these plans through producing more graduates with the in-demand skills necessary to grow the economy. As such, the paper outlines targets linked to various government expansion strategies, including the National Development Plan.

Just to re-emphasise the major milestones with regards to skills development; an exciting new development has been the declaration of 2013 as the Year of the Artisan, under the theme: “It’s cool to be an Artisan” which was launched on February 4th. It is also important to also boast about our country which sits as one of its highest priorities the development of qualified artisans to support the economy, particularly when one considers the fact that to successfully deliver on the strategic infrastructure projects, the country needs artisans. Statistics attest to this, indicating that our country is currently producing 13 000 qualified artisans per year.

The Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated over R100 million from the National Skills Fund for the establishment of the South African Centre for Renewable Energy. The project will create high level capacity for the production of skills in the area of renewable energy. This project is in partnership with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the University of Stellenbosch and FET Colleges. Construction work is expected to commence in the first quarter of the 2013 calendar year.

The Department of Higher Education and Training recently announced the turnaround strategy for FET colleges. This comes after the realisation of the uninformed perceptions that FET colleges are “weak institutions”- Government is in a mission to ensure that FET colleges are seen as viable and credible higher learning institutions; therefore a radical overhaul is needed in order for these colleges to become colleges of choice. The National Development Plan stated that the current FET college system was not effective and too small, while its output was poor.

In 2007, the allocation for the Bursary Scheme was R100 million from which 12,371 students received bursaries. By 2010, a total of R649 million had been allocated to FET Colleges with over 173 000 student beneficiaries. In 2011, however, the DHET ensured the fourfold increase of the Bursary Scheme from R318 million in 2010 to over R1, 2 billion in 2011, which, in 2011 alone, benefitted over 100,000 students across the FET College sector. This was followed by an allocation of R1,7 billion in 2012, making it possible for the state to provide financial aid to more than 130,000 students. It is expected that the number of students assisted in 2013/14 will grow from 331 842 in 2011/12 to about 350 000 in 2013/14.

For the 2013 academic year, the Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated R1,988 billion to the Bursary Scheme and it is expected that this amount will benefit 178 000 students. What this means is that by the end of the current academic year, more than half a million FET college students would have benefitted from state-sponsored financial aid since the creation of this facility for the College sector.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme continues to offer loans and bursaries for first undergraduate degrees at the 23 South African public Universities and Universities of Technology, as well as bursaries for the National Certificate (Vocational) and certain NATED courses at public further education and training (FET) colleges. For 2012/13 financial year, National Student Financial Aid Scheme had a budget of R7.5 billion made up mainly of a grant from the Department of Higher Education, and other government departments such as Basic Education and Social Development. Funding from Department of Higher Education and Training alone is R5,1 billion and is expected to increase in 2013/14 financial year.

The President in his state on the Nation address emphasised the importance of linking all government programmes to be in line with the recommendations outlined in the National Development Plan; the turnaround strategy addresses exactly what has been highlighted in by the National Development Plan. The strategy also encompasses some interventions to stabilise some of the weaker colleges.

Education is the key responsibility of our entire country and of the building of a good education system is a collective responsibility of all citizens. Government would therefore like to call on all role players to take their part in making the future of our children.

The Minister of Higher Education recently released the new SETA Grant regulations that include a massive estimated R3 billion increase in discretionary funding for SETAs to use on PIVOTAL grants that include artisan training programmes. We call upon employers in all spheres of our economy to seriously consider the needs of the country and the youth in particular, especially since an apprentice at a workplace actually helps an employer to produce products or render services that benefit the employer, all at a very low stipend for the apprentice.

It is with great excitement to announce the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development which aims to strengthen the capacity of the formal teacher education system to the DHET.

The establishment of new teacher education campuses aligned to universities is a strategy outlined in the Framework, and aligned to the implementation of the Framework. In the short term, plans are in place to establish new campuses in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. These new campuses will offer approved higher education programmes for Foundation Phase and Intermediate Phase teachers. Where possible and feasible, former teacher college sites will be used for this purpose.

The launch of the first of these, the Siyabuswa Teacher Education Campus in Mpumalanga province, is currently being launched by Minister Blade Nzimande as we speak. The campus will be supported to grow until it is fully utilised for Foundation Phase and Intermediate Phase teacher education. The campus will become part of the new university in Mpumalanga when it is formally established. This event marks the advent of a new and exciting era for teacher education in South Africa.

South Africa belongs to all who live in it and collectively, we have a crucial role to play for future development of our children. Government is also aware of the challenges facing our country’s education system and the impediments that could possibly impact on our children’s future. Government pledges its commitment to ensuring ongoing professional running of our schools and to ensure that education receives the attention and priority that it deserved.

Photos of the media briefing