Hansard: NA: Debate on Vote 15: Basic Education
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 15 Jul 2014
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
TUESDAY, 15 JULY 2014
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
__________________
Members of the Extended Public Committee met in the National Assembly Chamber at 16:35.
House Chairperson Mr C T Frolick, as Chairperson, took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
Start of Day
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 15 – Basic Education:
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Hon Chair, hon members and colleagues, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for this debate on Vote 15 - Basic Education. During the state-of-the-nation address the President reminded us that – as we enter the second phase of our transition from apartheid to a national democratic society – we have to embark on radical socioeconomic transformation.
We must do this in order to push back the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment. And this change can only come about with far-reaching interventions. The President also confirmed that South Africa is a much better place to live in than it was in 1994 and that the lives of millions of our people have improved.
In Basic Education we continue to open the doors of learning and a culture with high levels of participation at 99% enrolment in the compulsory Basic Education. Eighty-six per cent of our schools have been declared no-fee schools and over 9 million learners are fed at school through the National School Nutrition Programme.
Through the pro-poor package we will achieve more than R8 billion in funding for no-fee schools to ensure that no child is left behind because of poverty. The amount allocated per learner for the no-fee schools in 2014 exceeds R1 000.
As we present the 2014-15 budget we wish to confirm that, as we embark on this radical transformation, both the National Development Plan, NDP, and the ANC manifesto of 2014 will guide our programmes. Our medium-term to long-term plans elaborate on the work to be done between now and 2030.
The NDP states that education is a means to building an inclusive society and providing opportunities for South Africans to realise their full potential. It further says that education provides a tool for people to solve their problems.
We are very encouraged to know that the President confirmed that the ruling party continues to rate basic education as an apex priority for this government. We will continue to promote universal access to education by ensuring that all children between the ages of 7 and 15 are in school. We will increase the number of Grade 12 learners who can gain entrance to university, moving incrementally from 172 000 in 2013 to more than 250 000 in 2019. We will work to improve both the quality and quantity of our passes.
We will continue to eradicate mud schools and other inappropriate structures, particularly in the Eastern Cape, and provide the necessary resources needed for proper schooling to take place.
Our own internal assessments and international benchmarking assessments confirm that once progress has been made with access, equity and redress, the emphasis in this administration will be on attaining quality efficiently.
The focus for 2014 to 2019 is consolidating the achievements that we have made so far, and then driving home the theme of improving quality and efficiency throughout the entire schooling sector with renewed emphasis on curriculum coverage, the need to strengthen quality, efficiency and accountability in our provinces, districts and schools. In the next five years we will make sure that there are more aggressive radical changes and appropriate interventions to turn our schooling system around.
We have therefore moved boldly to reconfigurate the Basic Education department internally for an even better performance. In line with heightening accountability and enhancing service delivery, the department is invoking sections 3 and 8 of the National Education Policy Act of 1996 to hold districts and provinces that are not performing accountable. We believe that the time has come to place responsibility and accountability where it belongs. We will track learners' performance more closely in order to ensure that our interventions are working and that we are decreasing the drop-out rate and increasing retention levels in our schooling system. The Council of Education Ministers held its first meeting a week ago and all MECs agreed that the time for radical transformation has come. In the first week of August we are meeting again to finalise our plans as a sector.
Today we stand here to account and to seek a fresh mandate for the 2014 programme on the gains made in recent years. Our overall budget for the Department of Basic Education for 2014-15 stands at more than R19 billion. Last year it was more than R17 billion. This is an increase of R2,008 billion. This once again this confirms government's commitment to education.
The budget allocation to provincial departments of education stands at R186,147 billion and it will exceed R200 billion in 2015-16. In this budget Umalusi has been allocated R1,7 million in 2014-15 and it will reach R112,7 million in 2015-16. The budget of the National Education Evaluation Development Unit, Needu, has also been increased to R14,2 million.
The Kha Ri Gude programme, which is our mass literacy campaign and which impacts on the lives of many millions of people, has been allocated R634,9 million. And from that allocation R66,2 million has been allocated to the Expanded Public Works Programme.
The year 2014 is a watershed year, which marks the completion of the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements, Caps, throughout the education system. It is a year that sees the first cohort of Grade 12 learners sitting the Caps-aligned national curriculum and National Senior Certificate, NSC, examinations and this signals stability on the curriculum landscape.
We have allocated an amount of R30 million for 2014 in order to improve learner outcomes and this will reach R40 million in 2014-15. As of June 2014, over 9 million learners in more than 21 000 quintiles 1 to 3 primary schools and secondary schools benefited from the school nutrition programme. This increase is attributed to the successful extension of the programme to public secondary schools. The conditional grants for the national school nutrition programme has increased by more than R288 million to R5,462 billion and it will reach R5,7 billion in 2014-15.
Although the department has made strides to extend the basic right to nutrition to millions of learners in our schools, it has become necessary to consider a nation-wide deworming programme linked to the national school nutrition programme to maximise the health and cognitive benefits of school meals.
We will continue to enhance learner safety and the wellbeing of our learners through a concerted campaign against drugs and substance abuse as well as youth criminality.
We want to report that any country that chooses to hide its heritage and historical footprints from its children takes the risk of having them repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. As a result we are currently conducting comparative studies and research on countries offering History as a compulsory subject. Research has shown that History as a subject has a number of positive effects that contribute to nation-building, national pride, patriotism, social cohesion and cultural heritage.
We are also working on a language development framework. We have prioritised the implementation of a SA Sign Language investment and we have made progress in the development of African languages, including the implementation of the policy on the incremental introduction of African languages. We are working hard to strengthen utility of and proficiency in English as a first additional language and the language of learning and teaching through the strategy of English across the curriculum.
In respect of early childhood development the National Development Plan underlines the need for all children to have access to at least two years of preschool education. The ANC, in its manifesto, echoes this sentiment of making two years of preschool education compulsory. And due to successes in rolling out early childhood development programmes, legislative review to make schooling for young people aged 5 to 15 years compulsory is on the cards.
The department has made significant progress in increasing access to Grade R. Currently we have 16 909 public schools offering Grade R. The intention is to increase them to 18 475. The enrolments at preschool institutions are currently standing at 779 330. The general household survey of 2013 indicated that a total of 481 000 five-year-old learners are in preschool institutions.
The first ever impact evaluation of Grade R on learning outcomes was conducted in 2013 with the support of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the report was presented to the Cabinet on 19 March 2014. In response to the recommendations made, a management plan has been approved to strengthen the quality of implementation and provision of Grade R schooling in our country, especially in relation to teaching.
The National Curriculum Framework for children under four years of age is also being rolled out at registered early childhood centres. And all preparations, like practitioner training and supply of resources, have already started and will be completed during this calendar year.
It is clear that our interventions are bearing fruit. As indicated in the fifth administration, quality education and efficiency will dominate our work. The department is committed to the improvement of learners in the National Senior Certificate results this academic year and beyond in order to strengthen strategies to improve the quality and the quantity of passes. I don't want to repeat last year's statistics, and the feats that we made, when we grew from 67,8% in 2010 to 78,2% in 2013 in terms of matric results – and when the supplementary results added we ended up at 80,8%.
In terms of annual assessments, education experts point out the fact that the first five years in education are the most crucial in the educational career and outcomes of children. And we commit ourselves to continue to strengthen learning in the foundation and intermediate phases and ensure that the senior phase provides a solid base for studies in Grades 10 and 12 or the Further Education and Training band.
Regarding maths, science and technology, MST, due to our focus on quality and efficiency, the recommendations of the ministerial task team on reading, maths, science and technology have been integrated into our plans. Excellent progress has already been made in implementing this recommendation. The MST directorate has been established and the office already has a person from the maths community working to ensure that indeed we implement all the recommendations in the report.
Before I leave this subject of maths, let me congratulate the six learners from both KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape who represented our country in the International Mathematical Olympiad, which was conducted in our country between 6 and 12 July – and for the first time on the African continent.
I want to thank the maths community that successfully hosted a very successful Maths Olympiad, but in particular I want to thank a Grade 12 learner, Robin Visser, from here in the Western Cape, who earned our country a bronze in the Olympiad. [Applause.] I also want to thank the entire maths community who ensured that, as a country, we hosted a very successful event at the University of Cape Town.
On learner and teacher support material, the Department of Basic Education has made great strides to positively change the learning and teaching landscape in the country over the years, with various research findings and reports bearing testimony to this. The expanded access to learning and teaching material has been at the centre of this positive shift.
In 2011-12 the sector spent R7,7 billion on the roll-out of textbooks for the implementation of Caps over the last three financial years. So, 2014-15 has been targeted as the year in which the sector will be moving towards one textbook per learner per subject. The sector has developed, printed and delivered more than 200 million Grade R and Grade 9 language and mathematics workbooks to more than 24 000 public schools - this has been done twice a year since 2011.
As a sector we are very concerned about the low retention and retrieval of these valuable resources, which militates against the provision of a textbook for each learner per year in every subject. However, the budget for the top-up has been provided to provinces. But following a national screening process a single core textbook will be listed for each subject in the national catalogue to ensure universal coverage.
There will no longer be eight titles per subject simply because the high cost involved demands more rational and cost-effective approaches. Millions of textbooks and workbooks have been delivered to schools. The focus from here onwards will be to continue to monitor their utilisation in order to improve learning outcomes and impact. Parents, educators and officials are therefore encouraged to retrieve and protect these books.
I also want report that, as Minister, I have received the ministerial committee report from the team, chaired by Prof Brian O'Connell, which was looking at the National Senior Certificate requirements, popularly known as the 30%. I am currently studying the report and I will make an announcement shortly on the recommendations in going forward. But I have to make sure that I present the report to the Council of Education Ministers and immediately after our meeting we will make public the report, and also our response to the report.
In the 2014-15 budget an allocation of R896,7 million for workbooks has been made and for textbooks the provinces have been allocated R4,2 billion. For infrastructure 2014-15, we have been allocated R10,1 billion and of this R6,9 million go to provinces for the education infrastructure grants and the balance remains with the national department.
Regarding the information and communications technology, ICT, Action Plan 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025, the action plan for 2014 requires that we put an e-education strategy in place. I again want to make the commitment that, together with the Department of Communications and all other relevant departments nationally and provincially, we will be announcing a national e-learning plan in due course. We are working with the provinces to align all our programmes in order to make sure that we have one single e-strategy in terms of e-education.
On teacher development, the cliché which says every education system stands and falls by its teachers is very true. Study after study from our local assessment and evaluation programmes to international tests confirm the central role of teachers. As a result, everything we do with teachers - from their conditions of service, recruitment, deployment and utilisation, including their general professional development and conduct - occupies a very high position on our list of priorities.
Because of time, I will quickly read the figures, but we want to confirm that we are completely committed to making sure that teachers, who are indeed at the centre of everything we do, receive our highest attention.
For 2013-14 we have been allocated a budget of R893 million, which has increased from the R424 million budget of 2010-11. We have done lots of work around teacher centres with partners like Vodacom. We have also done lots of work with the British Council of Education in terms of education first for all. We are implementing a self-diagnostic assessment for teachers which will be introduced in 2015. The SA Council of Educators, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education, is phasing in the continuing professional teacher development management of teachers.
The department has also reviewed the current integrated quality management system in consultation with teacher unions and has developed a revised instrument, the quality management system for school-based educators. For the current year the Integrated Quality Management System has been allocated R42,2 million.
We also want to say, we are conducting research into the Grade R programmes in order to mainstream teachers and make sure that they remain at the centre of our work. We are strengthening our work with districts to make sure that indeed we are able to support schools because the centrepiece of our entire work is schools.
Education districts have a very important role in supporting schools, improving their functionality and developing the countries' education institutions in order for the national learning outcomes to be achieved. Analysis of district performance over a period of four years indicates that we must strengthen the processes and systems by which districts support schools and capacitate officials and managers who work at district level in order to provide much needed support to underperforming districts and schools.
Let me use the last few minutes, let me take this opportunity to thank the chairperson, the members of the portfolio committee, my colleague Comrade Enver Surty - who is always a pillar of support - and my colleagues from provinces for supporting us during the debate and also attending the programme.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners who were invited, my family – with the head of the family over there - for their support ... [Laughter.] Let me also thank the members of the committee – I have run out of time.
We will publish some of the plans that we are working on. We have been working on a plan with the Deputy Minister and in the next 180 days we will be issuing it in detail, because, hon member, you said you wanted details. So, we promise that in the next 180 days we will issue the details and plans of an aligned programme. We have to align our programme with provinces in order to make sure that, indeed, members can hold us accountable around dates, times and outputs that we put in place. So, we are working on comprehensive plans on libraries, ICT, and psychosocial support for learners to make sure that we produce holistic-minded children.
However, because of time, we are unable to give you all the details and the timeframes. But we will make them public as soon they are ready in the next 180 days. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Ms N GINA
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
Ms N GINA: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister of Basic Education, hon members of the portfolio committee, MECs from various provinces, acting director-general - though I have not seen him, I think he is present - officials and board members of our statutory bodies who are present, the Department of Basic Education officials and distinguished guests, I greet you all.
I am humbled to take part in this debate on Vote No 15 for Basic Education at the start of the new and far-reaching phase of our democratic transition, where we are marking 20 years of democracy. Indeed, it is a great stride. It is a phase where we continue to make education available to all. It is a phase that continues to bolster the gains achieved in the past five years.
In the past five years, those who care about our education system did not only lament, but did their bit in supporting the call to make education an apex priority. Groundbreaking achievements were made and a great and solid foundation exists for all to see. Those who are not pessimistic about our education system will join us again as we move forward in making sure that Basic Education remains an apex priority in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, MTEF, of 2014 to 2019. Everything is being put in place and there is no confusion about what needs to be done.
The ANC manifesto presents the key commitments in the coming five years as, firstly, making early childhood development a priority; secondly, eradicating illiteracy; and thirdly, improving the quality of teaching and learning in all schools.
We want to forge ahead towards realising the two years of compulsory preschool education and strive for fuller integration of Grade R educators in the post and remuneration structures. The ANC commits to providing interventions through curriculum and assessment policies to improve performance in our schools. In order to improve performance, the ANC-led government will do the following.
Firstly, it will maintain an upward trend in the mathematics pass rate while improving the quality of those passes. Secondly, it will also introduce compulsory African languages in schools through the Department of Basic Education. Thirdly, it will prioritise teacher development. Fourthly, it will campaign to ensure good discipline and accountability in all our schools so that teachers are on time, in class and teaching and that learners are in class and learning. Principals will be supported to maintain discipline and high standards of conduct.
IsiZulu:
Lokho-ke Ngqongqoshe kwenzelwa ukuthi, ngokwesintu siye sikholelwe ukuthi uma ufishi ubole ekhanda konke okungezansi kubolile. Yingakho othishomkhulu bezoqiniseka ukuthi bayazibamba lezi zikole ukuze sikwazi ukuthola imiphumela ekufanele siyithole ezikoleni.
English:
Furthermore, we will implement school safety programmes aimed at ensuring that every child has a textbook for every learning area and that the retrieval of those textbooks is improved. Lastly, we will continue to work towards the eradication of illiteracy through the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy programme.
Our mandate is clear. Our mandate is to support the journey that we have travelled the past five years. In the past five years, we have made substantial gains and, going forward, we need more vigour and significant interventions.
There is no doubt that in the past five years, we have stabilised the curriculum. The incremental implementation of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement, Caps, is culminating this year, where our Grade 12s will also sit for the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement-aligned examination. This means that all teachers across the grades in our country and phases deliver curricula that are coherent and streamlined.
In the past five years, we have seen the landscape of the learning and teaching resources changing for the better. The provision of the learning and teaching support material, LTSM, improved tremendously. When Caps was introduced to each grade, efforts were made to provide each learner with a relevant textbook or workbook. We are pleased with the report from the department that since 2011-12 the sector has spent over R7 billion on the roll-out of textbooks for the implementation of Caps over the last three financial years, to which the Minister has just alluded.
Since 2011, we have seen the roll-out of about 204 million Grade R to Grade 11 language and mathematics workbooks to over 24 000 public schools and bear in mind that that is done twice a year. So, as the committee and the ANC, we would like to commend and congratulate the department for doing such a huge job.
Our good story to tell is the immense contribution by the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign. This project provides adult basic literacy and numeracy. To date, over 3,4 million citizens have benefited and indications are that the Kha Ri Gude graduates have been able to find better employment. Furthermore, over 240 000 volunteers participated, which gave them employment opportunities. However, as committee, we advise that an impact evaluation of the programme is necessary so that we know the exact extent of job opportunities and the employment rate of the graduates that we get from Kha Ri Gude.
We, however, note the calls around the quality and value of the National Senior Certificate or matric qualification. In our view there are notable interventions and improvements in the system. While others say there is no quality in our education system, we see improved performance.
The improved performance is attributed to the strategic interventions implemented by the national and provincial departments, which are aimed at ensuring that learner resources such as the provision of Mind Map, Shuttleworth and Siyavula study guides, exam papers, additional classes and continuous teacher support initiatives are provided to all targeted schools.
IsiZulu:
Siyi-ANC sibonga kakhulu kothisha ngokuthi sibabone befaka igxalaba namandla ngokweqile, ukuze sikwazi ukubona intuthuko nobungcono bemiphumela yokufunda kwabantwana bethu.
English:
Further concerns are that our education system is shedding learners throughout the 12-year journey of learning. Some commentators even give numbers that out of 1,2 million learners that entered Grade 1, only half a million sit the Grade 12 examination, 12 years down their schooling. This is indeed a concern. However, we are convinced that the phase we have entered in is working efficiently.
In our committee, the Minister indicated that the department is ready to tackle the challenge of quality, to address the drop-out rate and increase the retention rate. The department has developed the National Strategy for Learner Attainment Framework. This is a comprehensive strategy that has been incorporated into the Provincial Improvement Plan, District Improvement Plan and School Improvement Plan with 104 clear activities that encourage all efforts to be channelled to the classroom, where it matters the most.
We want to continue the journey of sustaining and improving on the gains we have made in increasing the number of passes in mathematics and physical science. While we have reached parity in the participation rate of boys and girls, the quality of passes in mathematics and science by girl learners is lagging behind. We welcome the establishment of the Ministerial Task Team for Mathematics and Science to help further identify and address challenges in the areas of mathematics, science and technology and hope that the findings will be addressed adequately.
The provision of the hybrid workbooks in natural sciences, technology and mathematics should be commended. We also have confidence in the partnership with Japan in the Japan International Co-operation Agency project to improve learners' ability to solve word problems in primary school mathematics.
The 2014 allocation to the education sector is R19,6 billion. This will increase to R23 billion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The allocation confirms the continued intention of the department and government to deliver on the non-negotiables as identified in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework priorities of the department. Let us remind the country that the department has set targets with the intention of moving towards 100%, based on steady progress and the reality of challenges in the sector. We need to move faster, but efficiently.
As we have been promised by the Minister, we welcome the department's commitment to the following non-negotiables, namely the delivery of LTSM, infrastructure, district support, teacher placement, deployment and development, information and communication technology, ICT, Kha Ri Gude, library services, rural focus, curriculum, partnerships and social mobilisation, and norms and standards for business processes across the provinces.
However, the department must note the challenges that continue to engulf education in farming areas, multigrade classes and cases where learners need a differentiated curriculum. Our oversight visit to the Free State and the Western Cape in 2013 showed that there are many gaps that still need to be closed.
Another challenge to the department is that there should be clear and well-communicated programmes on how to address the calls for our teachers and learners to be in class and on time. While we celebrate progress, we can't ignore that there are still instances where teachers are always absent from school, teachers are at school, but not in the classroom, there is insufficient curriculum coverage in a year and little written work is given to learners. The impact on learner performance if these issues are not rectified is immense.
IsiZulu:
Okunye Ngqongqoshe, kukhona la sathola ukuhlukumezeka kakhulu, sihambe nekomiti siye endaweni yaseMpumalanga Kapa lapho sathola ukuthi sengathi sekuwumthetho ukuthi kube nerejista ebizwa nge-early departure register. Lokhu okusho ukuthi othisha baphuma ngaphambi kwesikhathi bese bekubhala lokhu kuleyo rejista. Njengekomiti sithanda ukukhala kakhulu ngako sithi uma umkhuba onjengalo ungabanjwa usaqala singagcina sibona intuthuko nempumelelo yezikole zethu singasakwazi ukuyithola ngenxa nje yemikhutshana abantu abathanda ukuyenza kodwa ibe ingasiniki imiphumela emihle.
English:
However, having said that, as a committee, we are yet again pleased to know that the Minister is having quarterly meetings with all the district managers, because we find that in these meetings, they are given a platform to share good practices. We hope and believe that bad elements and an unacceptable culture that is beginning will be discussed and we will eliminate it.
We realise that the Minister is confronted with a huge challenge, that she can't expect the same excuses and the same approaches to address the challenges in the system. Something must change, fast and drastically. Hon Minister, we all know by now that the learner outcomes are not optimal across all grades and this has been confirmed by many results and challenges. It can't be right that the next phase keeps acknowledging such challenges while not addressing them adequately.
The Department of Basic Education officials promised us that there will be seamless and co-ordinated long-term planning in the sector and things will be done faster and more efficiently. We support that commitment and we welcome it. As the portfolio committee, we will strengthen our oversight to that effect.
We wish the department all the best and hope that this phase will indeed be a milestone characterised by efficiency and urgency, to deliver quality education. The ANC supports this budget. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Ms A T LOVEMORE
Ms N GINA
Ms A T LOVEMORE: Chairperson, it is all about jobs, Minister. It is all about jobs. Education is all about jobs. Every phase of the education system is about preparing for jobs. Whether it is about preparing to become an artist, or an artisan, or an engineer or a politician, it is about preparing for a job.
There can be no better life without a job. There can be no true freedom without a job.
The youth of South Africa are worst affected by unemployment, with nearly 4 in 10 out of a job. South Africa's Statistician-General has attributed the youth unemployment rate to a mismatch between skills and jobs.
A National Treasury report states that unemployed youth in South Africa are generally low-skilled. The principal reason given by employers for not employing young people is that schooling does not accurately reflect skill levels and skilled, inexperienced workers are seen as risky to employ. In other words, employers cannot trust the senior certificate.
Tragically, those low skill levels and excessively high unemployment rates affect predominately our poor black youth.
Minister, you have achieved the numbers. You have achieved quantity within education. With very few exceptions, all of our young people between the ages of 7 and 15 are in school. Grade R is available to almost all our preschool children.
Secondary schooling is a constitutional right, and it is available to all. For the development of a system that, in theory anyway, does not discriminate on a racial basis and is open to all, we do salute you.
But counterproductively, Minister, your government has aspired to quantity before addressing quality. You mentioned this and it is not the norm internationally. South Africa is an outlier in this regard.
The quality of education in South Africa is by every international and national measure poor. We feature extremely low on every scale that measures the basics of all learning - numeracy and literacy. And the quality of our education is unequal. It is the poorest for the poor.
Our low-skilled youth have little chance ever of complete independence from the state; young people who are destined never to break their cycle of poverty. We can do it, Minister; it can be done.
We spend R200 billion on education in this country each year. We cannot allow one fifth of our national expenditure to buy us a predominately low quality education. It cannot be allowed to buy us a low-skilled young populace that employers find too risky and too costly to take a chance on.
Now, what is to be done? We certainly look forward to interrogating the plans that you will be making public. And we appreciate the fact that you will make those plans public.
Minister, your department's annual performance plan presented to us a fortnight ago for the 2014-15 financial year has again failed to specify targets for learner outcomes, and for almost every measure of education quality and excellence for which you have been found wanting in the past.
However, a fortnight ago you also presented us with a promising document, your draft Medium-Term Strategic Framework for 2014-19. Some of your 2019 targets - in my view, and you are aware - are too low, such as having 55% of our teachers competent to teach in the year 2019. But we welcome your commitment to aspects such as competency tests and performance agreements for principals. Today, you presented your focus on quality and efficiency. That quest for quality will inform all interactions in the education sector in South Africa going forward.
So, it becomes important to understand what we mean by a quality education. Let me explain what we mean. There exists a very straightforward, universal definition of quality. Quality is very simply fitness for purpose.
So, the learner that you educate must be able to leave school fit for the purpose of becoming an involved, contributing member of his or her society. That includes being fit for the purpose of getting a job. The economy must have a place for the young people leaving our schools. And employers must have confidence in the certificate that the young people present to them.
The education offered to our young people must be of such quality that it is fit for the purpose of offering every young child the chance to develop and reach his or her potential no matter what the specific inherent abilities of that child might be.
Quality is not what Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi is advocating. He wants every child in Gauteng's secondary schools taking pure maths. Quality is not what you mentioned today, Minister. It is not what Sadtu, South African Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, is calling for, and you are advocating very quickly, and that is compulsory History.
No, we have to realise that some children are academically strong, some are practically inclined, and others are creative spirits. Each individual child's inherent abilities must be supported to full development. And we have to measure quality accordingly.
So, how do we transform our schools and our education system into an environment that boasts competent, committed teaching and truly effective learning? And, crucially, given the past from which we come, how do we transform it into an environment that is truly equal and non-racial, where outcomes are not intrinsically linked to the colour of a learner's skin or the place of the learner's birth?
How do we best allow education to reach its potential in breaking the cycle of poverty? Then, there is no shortage of sources giving ideas or advice on how to reach those goals.
Minister, start with the National Development Plan with 34 pages dedicated to education, 34 pages that we support fully, and reflect very closely, the DA's education policy.
I know that you have already started to implement the quick wins. But underpinning every recommendation in the NDP is the requirement that the administration of education in the public sector is the prerogative of the government, not of Sadtu.
No longer should Sadtu members get away with ill-disciplined behaviour in our schools; no longer should Sadtu interfere with appointments; no longer should Sadtu members refuse to sign performance agreements or undergo competency tests; and no longer should Sadtu members escape accountability. You have to, Minister, reclaim your management prerogative from Sadtu, as does every education MEC.
Last week in Gauteng, Sadtu urged its members publicly to work to - in their words - defend the ANC's control of government in 2016. We know that you are up against a political ally, but you have to rise to the challenge and put the interests of the learners first, always.
Use the courts to do whatever it takes, but make Sadtu understand that it does not run education in this country. Take a look, please, Minister, at the list of critical skills recently gazetted by the Department of Home Affairs. We are prepared as South Africa to grant permits to people who possess these skills because we need them so desperately. Maths, science and technology are the underlying themes in that list.
You will, I trust, be addressing technology from the beginning of next year. You have committed to the phased implementation of a revised curriculum for schools of technology from the beginning of 2015. With motor mechanics, electricians, fitters and turners, every imaginable kind of engineer on that list of critical skills, delay is not an option.
To your credit, you had the state of maths and science teaching investigated. The report you know is damning. Urgent intervention is required.
In fact, the Minister announced that all secondary schools should offer mathematics. He announced the filling of all vacant maths and science teachers' posts as soon as possible. South Africa has to hold him and you, Minister, to this promise.
The third critical document in our view is the McKinsey 2007 report entitled "How the world's best-performing schools come out on top".
McKinsey asserts that the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. Three things matter most: getting the right people to become teachers, developing them into effective instructors, and ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child.
We need to find and train enough of the right people. Please, screen aspirant teachers, Minister. A poor selection process can result in bad teachers being in our system for up to 40 years.
Work with your colleague in Higher Education to ensure that teacher training is producing competent teachers. Place teachers so that they teach what they are qualified to teach. Keep on doing competency tests and provide truly effective support to get ill-performing teachers up to speed. Pay teachers well. Turn teaching back into a profession.
Minister, you have said it and I will echo it. Quality education is the future focus. We will expect nothing less for every child. The phenomenon of poor education for poor people must cease to be. Quality education must yield fit-for-purpose young adults.
Education cannot continue to contribute to the high unemployment rate. Indeed, education must contribute to employment in a very direct and progressive way. Minister, ultimately, it is all about jobs. [Applause.]
Ms N R MASHABELA
Mrs A T LOVEMORE
Ms N R MASHABELA: Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister, and hon members of the Committee, the budget before us seeks not to transform basic education, but to continue the status quo that compromises the education of a black child. The EFF rejects the budget as proposed by the Department of Basic Education, because it lacks imagination and simply shifts the goalposts.
The first issue is early childhood development. Teach children when they are as little as three years old, because they absorb knowledge easier and are more likely to succeed in their education. It is unsurprising that only 24% of Grade 6 learners in former black schools can read, as opposed to 86% in the same grade in former white schools. Early childhood development means exactly that, as early as three years.
The EFF cannot accept that 20 years later only 41% of teachers who are currently meeting the required content knowledge levels of the subjects they teach. Learners are now paying for the department's bad decision of closing teacher colleges and 20 years later, we now have a shortage of teachers. The EFF says that the department should reopen teacher colleges, retrain the current teachers to have skills to deal with learners with special educational needs, and increase the salaries of teachers, and then results will improve.
Improving Adult Basic Education, Abet, is important when literacy levels in our country are as low as they are. The basic Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure document is useless, when we are sitting here with only 10% of 24 493 public schools having no water supply. Infrastructure is a challenge. This is not a good story to tell.
Twenty years later, Mthetho Senior Primary School in the Amathole region in the Eastern Cape is still a mud school. Makelle Primary school at GaKgoši Pheega, in the Modjadji region in Limpopo, with 167 learners from Grades R to 7 and three teachers, has only three mobile classrooms. They have no water supply, no security and no toilets. Teaching and learning that takes place in mud schools or zozo rooms [mobile classrooms] is unacceptable. Nondelivery of textbooks is precisely because the department lacks imagination and courage.
The state should build capacity to print and deliver the books and not rely on the corrupt tender system. The department should abolish tenders and build capacity to execute their own tasks. The department should make all teachers permanent. There is no temporary arrangement when one's aim is to professionalise teaching and learning.
The EFF is saying that the department should go back to the drawing board; build capacity to print and deliver textbooks; implement compulsory early childhood development from the age of three years; eradicate mud schools and zozo rooms [mobile classrooms] and build a flushing toilet in every school.
Mohl Modulasetulo, motšwagagabo ga a laele, ke Sepedi seo. Ge e le melato yona re tla rerišana. Sebatakgomo. [Legoswi.]
Mr A M MPONTSHANE
Ms N R MASHABELA
Mr A M MPONTSHANE: Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister, the hon Minister was correct when she said that we needed radical transformation in order for us to achieve quality education. But the unfortunate thing is that definitions of concepts such as radical transformation will remain ever problematic, meaning different things to different people.
If I may ask: "Does the Minister's definition of radical transformation include strong leadership as one of the most important blueprints for radical transformation?" Without this blueprint, no transformation can take place. The department, which continues to be without a permanent head, cannot effect any meaningful transformation.
To improve overall education performance, Programme 2 envisages inter alia, envisages increasing the number of five-year-old learners enrolled in publicly funded Grade R classes. This is laudable, but again, without the accompanying strong leadership at this level, the efforts will come to naught. Currently, Grade R teachers are not covered by the Employment of Educators Act. Their pay is ashamedly very low and not standardised; it varies from one province to another by R5 000 at the most. Surely, radical transformation is urgently needed at this phase in terms of the qualifications and salaries of Grade R teachers.
Again, to improve school management, Programme 3 envisages the following among other things, developing the SA Standard for Principals by the start of 2015 to define the role of school principals; and establishing learning networks for principals in June 2014, but today it is already July.
Do we have bold leadership to implement this? What happened, if one may ask, to the agreement for the evaluation of principals and deputy principals? The department's leadership has been held to ransom by teacher unions in the negotiating chamber for over five years now. I am told that this agreement has now been ... [Time expired.][Applause.]
Ms C N MAJEKE
Mr A M MPONTSHANE
Ms C N MAJEKE: Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, the UDM believes that the major intervention, if any is to be made in the basic education sector, should mainly be in school leadership; management and governance; teacher content and knowledge; school environment; learner discipline; and a culture of reading and writing.
In this regard, we wish to make the following recommendations for further consideration and prioritisation by the Ministry as part of enriching the departmental five-year strategic plan as well as the Annual Performance Plan for the financial season 2014-15. Some of these matters may have been raised; however, we strongly feel that they deserve to be lifted up in the prioritisation process.
In line with the Department of Basic Education's Medium Term Strategic Framework, MTSF, priorities, the critical activities and targeted outputs for the next five years, the department needs to improve the quality of early childhood education and primary schools education, including the implementation of the foundation for learning campaign, emphasising the promotion of language and numeracy; conduct external tests for all Grade 3 and Grade 6 learners every year and provide results to parents for further engagement and a practical role to be played by parents; investigate a system of effective evaluation of all learners based on the extent to which learner performance improve, with results influencing occupation-specific dispensation pay for teachers; ensure that teacher unions have a formal and funded role in teacher development; and strengthen management capacity to ensure working districts and schools - this entails bringing in management capacity from the private sector, civil society and elsewhere in the public sector; phase in a process of measurable improvements through targeting efforts selected education districts and dysfunctional schools; and to use infrastructure budget as an incentive for schools that deliver improved teaching and learning.
We further welcome the decision to improve national and provincial alignment and efficiency of education expenditure, through, amongst others things, procuring textbooks nationally and allocating resources to improve district capacity; and the use of conditional grants to ensure alignment.
The Department of Basic Education should also to develop a social compact for quality education. This will include a National Consultative Forum dedicated to clarifying the non-negotiable and performance targets for key stakeholders and the monitoring thereof.
Mobilisation of communities at all levels should be given priority to raise awareness and participation and education issues. Examples include graduates assisting former and dysfunctional schools, corporate social investment and party branch campaigns to clean up schools; supporting food gardens and encouraging young graduates to enter teaching ... I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
Ms C N MAJEKE
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon MECs for education who are present here, hon members in the National Assembly, members of the audience, ladies and gentlemen, two days ago we lost writer, a patriot, a voice for equality and South Africa's first Nobel laureate in literature - Nadine Gordimer. She was a voice for those who were opposed to oppression and opposed to a regime that excluded the vast majority of our people.
On Friday, two days from today, we will be celebrating Madiba, another Nobel laureate, a person committed to the transformation of our country and who contributed immensely to what we are today. In fact, he said the following on the birthday of Walter Sisulu, his comrade and colleague:
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
In other words, in living and in contributing, we should take note of the fact that life is not merely about being fit for purpose, or not merely about having a job, but about making a difference, particularly in the context of our country. It is about ensuring that we do more to enhance the opportunities, access and quality of education for those who have been historically deprived.
As we speak, we cannot pretend that in just a mere 20 years after the achievement of our democracy, there are no challenges within our democratic dispensation. The inequalities of the past still haunt us. We see that inequality in terms of infrastructure, and in the provision of water, electricity and resources. Notwithstanding the valiant efforts we have made in terms of providing that infrastructure and in improving resources, we still have a huge challenge ahead of us.
I cannot but agree with the hon Lovemore that poverty and socioeconomic circumstances do indeed determine the performance and achievement of learners. This means that we have to look at the socioeconomic conditions more closely.
Just three years ago, Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel Peace laureate, said there was a huge expectation that in a democracy we would achieve miracles. She said we had only enjoyed democracy for 17 years, and yet there was an expectation that we would be able to turn around systems that had been neglected and disregarded for decades, if not centuries. She meant that we should not be impatient about change; let us rather celebrate the strides that we have made and work harder together to make a difference.
I think Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu would have been quite happy and pleased if they were able to go to Lusikisiki or Libode in the Eastern Cape, to see a school being delivered week after week. This is not just an ordinary school or mud school ... [Applause.] ... but a school with a laboratory, a library, with media connectivity, sport facilities, Grade R classes, jungle gyms and sanitation facilities for learners. These are state of the art schools that have been delivered week after week since August last year, and will continue to be delivered in the course of this year and beyond this year. We have that particular responsibility if, indeed, we are compassionate and concerned about the quality of education, particularly for the poorest of the poor.
I take heart in what the colleague from the EFF said about early childhood development, but let me perhaps share some insight with you. Social scientists are saying that the most critical and crucial years of a child are the first 1 000 days, and indeed, cognitive and emotional development already takes place during the period of gestation. Therefore, the Department of Social Development, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education, has set out a programme of action to ensure that it does much more in relation to the first 1 000 days of a child's life.
We should take heart from the fact that we have done extremely well in that more than 85% of our children who are eligible to be in Grade R are in schools. According to the household statistics that have been provided, more than 92,5% of every child in South Africa has had at least one year of preschool learning. Indeed, the commitment of this government and the Department of Basic Education is to incrementally increase it to two years, as set out in the National Development Plan, the NDP.
Hon Lovemore, I do not think that there is any disagreement between what the NDP states and what the Department of Basic Education seeks to do. It seeks to do this because it believes that the manifesto of the ruling party, the NDP and the action plan of the department are the critical documents that will determine the course for the future. Indeed, we have already fully aligned the programmes of the department with that of the NDP, so there is no debate about that.
I think we should take heart from the fact that while we have a particular challenge in relation to the quality of education, there are unbelievable achievements that are occurring throughout the country. One needs to go to Limpopo, the province that was basically characterised and remembered for the nondelivery of textbooks, and go to Mbilwi Secondary School in a district called Vhembe. This school has 485 learners who study mathematics and science. They have produced more than 150 distinctions in mathematics and science, and they do so consistently. [Applause.] This is a huge, huge, positive result. From the enrolment that we had in Mbilwi Secondary School, more than 80% of its learners passed with a bachelors pass.
Yet, it's not only at Mbilwi where it is happening, but also at Dendron, a secondary school not too far from Mbilwi. This school is also situated in Limpopo. These are examples of huge increases that are occurring. We should not forget that in 2005, not very long ago, only 38% of learners in our country studied mathematics or any form of mathematics, be it on the higher or standard grades. Today, every single child who does matric is compelled to study either mathematics or mathematical literacy. Today, we see a significant increase in the number of passes in mathematics. Today, we see an improvement in the quality of passes in mathematics.
Indeed, what we have to say and agree upon is that we are slowly but surely moving away from mediocrity towards excellence. We have not reached that point, but it's a goal that we have to work towards together. I believe that with the commitment we have, we certainly can succeed, and I think this is what the hon Lovemore meant when she said that we have to work together to ensure that we change the quality of our people's lives.
Just two weeks ago I was in Tokyo, Japan, where we had an informal discussion amongst Ministers, and we tried to identify the challenges that we face in our countries. Interestingly, about a week ago I received mail from a university colleague of mine. Together we had studied towards honours degrees in Philosophy. He reminded me about two principles; the one is "episteme" or knowledge and the other one is "techne", not technical skills as you would get in a vocational school, but the methodology and the ability to be creative, and to utilise knowledge or the episteme in different contexts.
The conversation that took place amongst Ministers was no different to what Plato had spoken about during the time of the Greeks, many, many centuries ago. They said that in this rapidly changing world, we must recognise that people do not assume one particular task and function, but they must acquire the skills to be innovative and creative so that they could do more than being fit-for-purpose people, since people tend to change jobs more frequently in the 21st century than they did in the past.
They said that our single biggest challenge in the world is that of innovation, creativity, analytical theory and problem-solving. They also said that, notwithstanding the fact that literacy and numeracy lie at the heart of success – and we agree with that – there is evidence that countries such as China and Singapore that perform well in literacy and numeracy, have not performed well at all in terms of innovation, creativity and change. Therefore, the challenge in the 21st century is to develop that capacity amongst our learners, but in order to do that, it means that we would have to teach our teachers to be able to teach pedagogically and methodologically differently, so that they are able to teach learners to work collaboratively. Learners should have the ability to learn through self-regulation.
The paradigm in the 21st century is far, far different from the paradigm of the past, and it's for this reason that the Department of Basic Education has placed on itself the burden – in fact it is not a burden – the vision and goal of ensuring that we provide connectivity to our schools, that we utilise technology to enhance the capacity of our learners to work in that self-regulated environment, to access information in our knowledge economy and in fact to become citizens who are engaged with the rest of the world in the process of learning in this new paradigm.
We can take heart from the fact that more than 14 000 of our schools in the country are now connected. In Gauteng and the Western Cape in particular, information communications technology, ICT, is provided to more than 80% of schools, and more than 40% of our educators have been exposed to ICT training and have acquired the ability to integrate ICT into the curriculum.
I am certainly pleased to hear what the hon member of the IFP had said with regard to professional leadership and management. I think he would celebrate with us the fact that after much persuasion, the SA Council for Educators has launched the Continuous Professional Teacher Development programme. We can take heart from the fact that 27 000 principals and deputy principals have enrolled for the course on leadership and management. We agree that if you want radical transformation, there has to be systemic and comprehensive capacity-building exercise amongst all principals, deputy principals and heads of department, because they are the implementers of the curriculum and that particular recourse must be strengthened in order that it could permeate the learning environment. This is positive change; this is huge, positive transformation.
We tend to forget that in 1995 more than 15 000 schools were without water and sanitation. Today, we have less than 1 000. That means that there has been significant progress, yet we cannot defend the lack of water, sanitation or any such service in any single school.
An hon colleague referred to a mud school in the Eastern Cape. It is something that we have spoken about and that we should replace, and we are subsequently going to do that. However, what about the schools that are being delivered week after week, after week? Why do we not celebrate our achievements, as we ought to in our democratic South Africa? [Applause.]
South Africa has grown, and I think there is confidence and trust in what we are doing as a Department of Basic Education. We would certainly want to thank the hon Minister for her audaciousness, boldness and honesty in recognising that we do have challenges. The result is that we have been able to confront the realities and improve year after year. To achieve 78,7% is not a mean task. It improved from 60% to 78,7%.
In thinking of the deep, rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, who are the members teaching in those schools? Many of them, if not most of them, are members of the SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu. There may be rogue elements within the union, and these rogue elements must be dealt with. It means that we must be firm in our commitment to provide quality education, but certainly, we are not going to come here to the podium and rubbish all unions, because unions form part of the landscape of our education system. What about the SA Onderwysersunie, Sadou, the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA, Naptosa, and the other unions? We cannot rubbish one union at the expense of the others. That does not, in any way, suggest that where unions are counterproductive and where they tend to work against the better interests of our learners, we should not be bold and assertive in demanding that they comply. That is the view that we take and that is how we are going to move forward with regard to this.
Quite significant in South Africa's history is a collaboration education trust framework, where the Department of Basic Education, through the Minister, has entered into an agreement with the private sector in the provision of services throughout the country. Already we are beginning to see changes. We have a comprehensive data analysis of 8 districts, and the private sector is working with the department to ensure that we deal with issues of textbooks, infrastructure, governance and various other elements. This is a wonderful sign of confidence that the private sector places in the Department of Basic Education in ensuring that it is able to enhance the quality of education.
In reflecting, I want to make reference to 2010, when 23,6% of learners attained bachelors passes. In 2011, it was 24,3%. In 2012, the figure was 26,6% and in 2013 it was 30,6%. In other words, one in every three children who passes matric can now go to university. That was not the case in the past. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr D H KHOSA
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
Mr D H KHOSA: Hon Chairperson, Mrs Didiza, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, the chairperson of the committee on which I serve, colleagues ...
Xitsonga:
...na vamaseve eka voko ra mina ra ku dya masi, ndza mi xeweta, ri perile.
English:
Allow me to focus my speech or my contribution to the debate on a pro-poor programme because ...
Xitsonga:
...nhlangana lowu wu ndzi rhumeke ku ta vulavula haleno i nhlangano lowu wu tekelaka ngopfu enhlokweni vanhu lava va xanisekaka. Kutani ndzi lava ku vulavula ngopfu hi swisiwana. Ndzi ta tirhisa ngopfu swisiwana eka leswi ndzi nga ta vulavula hi swona.
English:
In 2008, the Southern African Development Community, SADC, Ministers of Education adopted the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning Programme. This was to respond to the challenges faced by children in the region. These include poverty, HIV and Aids, crime, violence and substance abuse. This programme was initiated so that quality education can be achieved in the region. The goal of this programme is to realise the education rights of the children, including the most vulnerable, through schools becoming inclusive centres of learning, care and support. This programme, Care and Support for Teaching and Learning, CSTL, situates the Department of Basic Education as a lead agency in addressing school-level barriers to education within a long-collaborated response that addresses the multiple barriers to education that vulnerable children are facing. South Africa is one of the five SADC countries that has been implementing this programme since 2008.
There are nine priorities that I want to talk about, which have been identified in South Africa to deliver on an integrated package of services with the aim of improving access, retention and achievement in schools. They are nutritional support, health promotion, infrastructure, social welfare services, safety and protection, psychological support, curriculum support, co-curricular support activities and material support.
I will start by looking at the Nutritional School Support Programme. This programme is one of the government programmes that has been successful in meeting the nutritional needs of learners from the poorest communities to help them to perform optimally. It is the government's plan, introduced in 1994, during President Nelson Mandela's government, for poverty alleviation, which was initiated to uphold the rights of the children to basic food and to contribute to learning in school by providing them with quality nutritious meals. Initially this programme was called the Primary School Nutrition Programme and was transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Education since it was seen as an intervention aimed at addressing the children's ability to learn.
Whilst we have made significant gains in improving the lives of South Africans since 1994, the level of poverty still remains high. Many children grow up lacking food and proper nutrition. The general household survey of 2009 revealed that an estimated 20% of South African households have inadequate access to food.
The National Development Plan, NDP, highlights the need to eradicate child hunger through nutrition and food security. The micronutrient affects nearly two billion people worldwide and South Africa is no exception, hence the need for supporting this type of budget that we are talking about.
The National School Nutrition Programme's primary objective is to provide daily balanced meals to learners from the poorest communities to enhance teaching and learning. With the success of this NSNP in the last 20 years, it has been observed that there are improvements in enrolment, school attendance, participation in class and also reduced absenteeism. Therefore, there is still a need to further demonstrate improvement in learning outcomes.
On achievements, as at June 2014, over 9 million learners in approximately 21 013 quintile 1 to 3 primary and secondary schools benefitted from this programme, which is up from about 4 million learners in the 2004-05 financial year. This has attributed to the extension of the programme to public secondary schools. Schools are required to provide meals by 10:00 on all school days.
This programme also contributes to economic activity. It contributes to the local economy by creating work opportunities through contracting small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and local co-operatives. It contracts 3 078 local SMMEs, up from 2 977 in 2012; 534 local community-based co-operatives, up from 312; and 170 big companies, which brings the total number of service providers contracted to 3 782. The 534 local co-operatives include women's co-operatives. This programme engages 54 125 volunteer food handlers, largely women responsible for preparing and serving meals to our learners, and they receive a stipend of about R900 per month in the nine provinces.
I would not have done the debate justice if I did not talk about substance abuse that is affecting our children. The drug problem in South Africa has been on a continual rise, especially in the last few years. Alcohol and drug abuse in particular are slowly eating into the social fibre of our communities. Substance abuse has taken a dramatic turn, including at primary level. This has a huge psychological and health effect and on the learning patterns of our children. All institutions in society should join hands in the fight against substance abuse. The government institutions, Department of Health, Basic Education, and Social Development should take the lead in this regard.
I must also talk about scholar transport as I am one of the victims who used to travel 30 km to and from school when I was seven years old. Hon members, the provision of transport has remained one of the key challenges that have confronted government in the postapartheid era. Many scholars travel long distances to access their schools and this is not conducive to learning. There is generally a lack of integration between communities and services and this results in an environment that is unsustainable for proper socioeconomic development.
The historical demographic characteristics of the country pose a massive challenge in the provision of basic services to rural communities. The rural communities are severely impacted by lack of access to services such as transport. Therefore, scholar transport is critical in providing mobility to scholars to access their educational institutions of learning. The provision of scholar transport ensures that scholars are able to reach their educational institutions in a healthy and a safe environment which enables an effective learning environment. Many scholars have been excluded from attending school and thereby from receiving an education because of a lack of transport.
Xitsonga:
Loko ndza ha gimeta, ndzi tsakela ku pfala ndzi karhi ndzi khensa ku hoxa xandla ka Holobye, Manana Angie Motshekga, loyi a hi tiselaka dyondzo ya kahle eAfrika-Dzonga. Ndza swi tiva leswaku na vamaseve evokweni ra mina ro dya masi va swi tiva kambe kova leswaku ntirho wa vona i wa ku kaneta. Kutani ha va pfumelela leswaku va kaneta ...
English:
... only if it is progressive. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick):
Mr D H KHOSA
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): The next speaker is the hon Carter. Hon member, can you the proper way, please. Do you want to cross the floor? [Laughter.] The hon Carter.
Ms D CARTER
Mr D H KHOSA
Ms D CARTER: Hon Chairperson, at the end of each year we congratulate and celebrate and it is all misperceptions of the true reality of our pass rate. The hon Gina today agreed that out of the 1,000,286 pupils who went to Grade 1 in 2002, only 34% of them actually passed. Now, it is really devastating and it is heartbreaking. What are we doing to correct that?
Claiming a 78% pass rate at beginning of the year is claiming a false sense of achievement which is not helping us to fix the problems that are there. The researchers show that students are pushed through with condone passes until they reach Grade 10. This brings me to the question if there is any truth in this new beast that's on the block that is called culling, where weak pupils, when they reach Grade 11, are prevented from going on to matric to boost the pass rate. We must face the reality that there are schools out there to which you have applied, and you are from that area, but you are not admitted to that school; this is especially the case with hostel schools. Children are taken in from outside and that is only to boost that school's pass rate. What is the government going to do about that?
The ruling party has been quoted as saying that our education system must ensure that no child is left behind. Now, it is pretty sad. If I have to quote the Deputy Minister, saying that Nelson Mandela would have been very proud today, I think he would have been heartbroken to know that, as we stand here today, halfway through the year, there is a model C school in Thabazimbi, where the Grade 9 learners have not yet received handbooks for mathematics, social sciences, technology, life orientation and Afrikaans. That is really sad - it is halfway through the year.
For far too long the government has allowed the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, to reign supreme with impunity within our education sector. It is widely spoken in the corridors that Sadtu was behind the removal of a former Director-General of Basic Education, despite him being exonerated following an investigation. More shocking is the report of Sadtu's involvement in the selling of positions. The fact remains that it is the Department of Basic Education that ultimately makes the appointments. It would, therefore, at face value appear that the department itself is complicit in the matter. The Minister needs to commit to a full and transparent investigation with regard to the rot in the department being influenced by Sadtu and possibly other unions as well.
Reading through the Estimates of National Expenditure, it is clear that it lacks clear ideas but how to bring the school system into the 21st century. Firstly, I need to say that it talks about the 21st century, but we are ready in the 21st century. I am skipping some days. Thank you, Chair. [Time expired.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, Hon members! Before I recognise the next speaker, may I just remind all members of the House to use the waiting benches on both sides and to refrain from crossing the floor when you approach the podium. In political, parliamentary terms, it has a terrible meaning, Deputy Minister, when you touch the centre of this floor. It means that you have plans. The next speaker is the hon Alberts.
Adv A D ALBERTS
Ms D CARTER/The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick)
Adv A D ALBERTS: Hon Minister, your department's vision is quite clear, "Develop, maintain and support a South African school education system for the 21st century." Now, if one honestly compares the output of your department with the stated vision, one finds a shocking disconnect. The 21st century requires highly skilled people to participate in the modern economy. Yet, what we find is a basic education system that is designed to allow pupils to pass when they cannot read, write or count properly. The bar for passing cannot possibly be lower than the present 35%, but perhaps this department will surprise us in future. The high pass rate also masks the low standards.
The result of 20 years of ANC education can be summarised as follows: 50% of employable persons under 25 are unemployed; the under 25s constitute 30% of the total unemployed; 60% of those that left school did so without matric; the average time spent looking for a job equals 806 days and young people are competing in a pool of 6,5 million job seekers.
Afrikaans:
Basiese onderwys is so swak dat diegene wat uit daardie stelsel kom, veral arm swart jongmense, beskou word as onaanstelbaar, behalwe vir ongeskoolde arbeid. Dit is 'n nasionale skande.
English:
Mr B A RADEBE: Chairperson, on a Point of Order: Could we have interpreters to interpret for us what the hon Alberts is saying.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Yes, hon member. I have been informed that the technicians are working on the problem. There seems to be a problem in terms of the direct interpretation as the members switch over from one language to another. They are attending to the problem; I just beg your indulgence. You may continue, hon member.
Adv A D ALBERTS: Thank you, Chair. The rest of my speech is in English.
Afrikaans:
Dit lyk of die regering opsetlik die massas ongeskool wil hou ten einde hulle makliker te beheer. Die eerste stap in die regstel hiervan moet die verskerpte implementering van moedertaal-onderrig wees, tweedens meer klem op wiskunde en wetenskap, en derdens die daarstel van hoër slaagstandaarde.
English:
We support the Minister's accelerated delivery and improvement of school infrastructure projects. We also urge the Minister to execute this with more mother tongue instruction in mind. If the Minister can execute her budget as planned, then we also hope that the Minister will advise the provincial MECs of education not to solve their school space problems by targeting Afrikaans mother-tongue schools and forcing them to take in learners who need education in English. It is clear that your programme to build new schools should actually solve this crisis.
Afrikaans schools have dwindled to almost 300 at last count and we think it is even less now. This is nonsensical in light of government's own pronouncements that demographic reality be the guiding light of spatial planning. Afrikaans is the third largest language in the country after isiZulu and isiXhosa with English a distant sixth place.
Mr G S RADEBE: Chairperson, on a Point of Order: Is it parliamentary to say in this House that something is nonsensical?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): It is a debate, hon member. It is an opinion that he is expressing and the other speakers can deal with the comments of the hon member when they take to the podium. Continue, hon member.
Adv A D ALBERTS: Therefore, should Afrikaans schools not actually increase in line with the demographic reality ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): What is your point of order, hon member?
Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chairperson, could hon Alberts take a question in relation to his estimate of these three languages that are dominating South Africa...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Wait, I have not given you the opportunity to ask the question. Hon Alberts, are you prepared to take a question from that hon member?
Adv A D ALBERTS: Yes, Chair, I am.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): You may ask the question, hon member, but keep it brief.
Mr G S RADEBE: How true is the fact that these three languages – I mean Afrikaans is one of the three dominating languages – what about other Sotho languages, because Sotho is very vast, and isiZulu is very vast, and isiXhosa?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you, hon member. Hon Alberts, you can reply.
Adv A D ALBERTS: Hon member, the national census has shown this. It has been shown by previous censuses and these censuses confirmed that Afrikaans is the third largest language in the country, with isiZulu the largest and isiXhosa the second largest and this is a fact and it is done by your departments.
... yet only Afrikaans schools are forced to accommodate non-Afrikaans-speaking learners. Minister, no mother tongue school should be forced to change its character in the end. This is unconstitutional and must stop.
Afrikaans:
Minister, u het beheer oor die belangrikste departement in die land. U weet self, sonder 'n onderwysstelsel wat goed funksioneer, het ons geen toekoms nie. Die stelsel sal drasties moet verbeter ten opsigte van standaard en moedertaal-onderrig ten einde 'n katastrofe in die toekoms af te weer. Dankie.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon members, may I once again remind you to take your seats in the waiting benches so the debate can proceed. Thank you.
Mr L M NTSHAYISA
Adv A D ALBERTS
Mr L M NTSHAYISA: Chairperson, hon Minister, all protocol observed, as the AIC, we are of the opinion that the quality of teaching and learning at schools should really be improved. This will only be successful if we begin to be serious about infrastructure, learning and teaching support material or LTSM, and improving educators' salaries because they are the people doing the real spadework in the schools.
With regard to the curriculum, we have been doing a lot of assessment policy statements over the years. We believe that we should make thorough use of Caps, or the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, and that it should be the last one, as there has been a lot of confusion for many of our learners and educators.
We always say that we have to supply water, electricity and sanitation facilities to our schools. We should mean exactly that. We shouldn't always make promises that are never fulfilled, because these are some of the issues that our learners and teachers are faced with at our schools.
Again, as the AIC, we believe that the assessment that is being done at schools now should be done continually. But due support should be given in time to educators so that they know exactly what they have done wrong and what they have to correct. This is because by doing so, we will be preparing our citizens that are learners to be responsible citizens.
There is the issue of the centralisation of textbooks and stationery. The distribution of textbooks and stationery has been centralised, but that does not mean an end to the corruption. This means that corruption will be more pronounced, because it will be done by senior officials and management of the department. Unless this tender system comes to an end, corruption will never end. So, we believe this is not a solution to the problem. We believe, as the AIC, that communities should be involved and encouraged to take part as people should be part of the government; they should take centre stage in governance.
We believe that there should be a follow-up of the monies that are always transferred to the provinces, because if we keep transferring these monies and there is no monitoring, then corruption becomes prevalent. [Time expired.]
Mrs J V BASSON
Mr L M NTSHAYISA
Mrs J V BASSON: Hon Chairperson, Minister of the Department of Basic Education, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Members of Parliament, board chairpersons of entities, members of the public in the gallery up there and my people in the Northern Cape, especially of Z F Mgcawu, where I come from, I greet you all, molweni!
Hon Chairperson, allow me to quote from a legend, an icon and a hero in all respects, the late Tata Rolihlahla Mandela, who once said:
Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that the child of a farmer can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given that separates one person from another.
[Applause.]
It is because of education that the child of an ordinary domestic worker and a railway worker, like myself, can today be called the hon Basson.
IsiXhosa:
Inene sisuka kude kwaye isende le ndlela.
English:
I would like also like to thank my organisation, the ANC, for giving me the opportunity to be part of this progressive and democratic ANC-led government. Indeed, I am honoured today to come and share with this House the developments on the budget and infrastructure of Basic Education as it is indeed one of the non-negotiables, and thus one of the key strategic priorities for 2014.
Albert Einstein once said that the world would not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them doing evil and not doing anything about it. Since the ANC-led government took over in 1994, it has committed itself to the task of social transformation, nation-building and promoting the notion that South Africa belongs to all who live in it and that all shall have the right to share equally the opportunities that are plentiful in the country.
In doing so, the democratic government sought to redress the injustices of the past, which were deliberately set to plant and promote the negative culture of divide and rule within the South African nation. We congratulate the Department of Basic Education on work well done in turning the tide against poor education in schools across South Africa. The work is particularly more commendable regarding the African schools in far-flung rural areas, where young Africans had to attend school under a tree, to use dongas and bushes to relieve themselves, to walk long distances, to cross rivers to reach school. I am also the victim of that, lest we forget.
Today, our good story extends beyond replacing the glass of a broken window and eradicating a mud school. Our good story tells of the building of new, modern, state-of-the-art school buildings embellished with science laboratories, multimedia centres, ablution facilities, sportsgrounds, well-ventilated classrooms, water infrastructure - all these things.
It is worth mentioning that in 2013, in the Eastern Cape alone, 49 inappropriate schools were replaced with new schools; 190 schools were provided with electricity; 237 schools were provided with sanitation; 173 schools were provided with water; and 49 sites located in Libode, Lusikisiki and in the Mthatha District, where more than 12 000 learners are expected to benefit from Asidi, the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, were handed to 16 contractors in January 2014, to the value of R675 million. Those schools will be handed over to the communities very soon. [Applause.]
Furthermore, let me tell you that we have good stories to tell. On Friday, 29 November 2013, something truly positive and historic happened in South Africa. The Minister of Basic Education, the hon Angie Motshekga, published legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure, Comrade Mashabane. For the first time ever, it is now law that every school must have water, electricity, Internet connectivity, ablution facilities - the list is long. [Applause.] It is long, indeed.
This is of great significance because it means that all learners in South Africa, regardless of race and class, will be able to learn in environments that have adequate and conducive infrastructure. Is this not a radical step or a radical move?
The ANC-led government deserves a pat on the back, comrades, because it is one of the few governments in the world to boast such a huge budget allocation for the provision of education services and infrastructure development. As ANC representatives in this portfolio, we view this large chunk of the budget as a very important milestone towards redressing the traumatic issues of the past and, as such, promoting general access to and equity in the provision of education.
Let me give a few examples of the MTEF 2014 allocation for the infrastructure backlog grant. It is as follows: R231 million is allocated for infrastructure for 2014-15; R479 million is allocated for infrastructure for 2015-16; and R556 million for 2016-17. This is over and above the transfer from the education infrastructure grant to provinces, which amounts to R231 million for 2014-15, R589,9 million for 2015-16, and R555 million.
Through this budget allocation, our government continues its efforts to implement its electoral promise and mandate of serving the nation. Our government has placed education centre stage of the development and as a strategic tool for both human and socioeconomic development. We are confident that irrespective of the numerous inherited structural weaknesses and challenges, our government remains resilient. It is on track and can never be derailed in its mission to educate the nation.
Today, the ANC-led government prides itself on pushing forward its set targets to provide adequate quality infrastructure with the education infrastructure roll-out plan of Asidi. We congratulate the Department of Basic Education on setting targets in its programme to deliver at least one completed, fully equipped, modern, state-of-the-art school in different provinces per week throughout this term.
As the ANC, we wish to concur that in this new era of democracy the right to education can never be overemphasised or compromised. Furthermore, we are encouraged that the Department of Basic Education has been working tirelessly to give a suitable response to the school furniture shortage, as was announced by the hon President in his state-of-the-nation speech, in which he committed the government to supplying and delivering new furniture to all newly built schools across the country by August 2014. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Ms H S BOSHOFF
Mrs J V BASSON
Ms H S BOSHOFF: Hon Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, distinguished guests, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, the right to basic education is a central, facilitative right. By realising this right, we invariably open doors to other rights and a brighter future. The state has the duty to respect, promote, protect and fulfil these rights.
We believe that a safe and secure teaching and learning environment is central to the right to basic education, and we expect the Minister to do all she can to ensure this achievement. In 2009, the ANC declared education as its apex priority. Bold statements outlined the various interventions that would assist in providing a safe and secure learning environment for our children.
Hon Minister, despite assurances, the DA is not convinced that the learning environment has received the attention it deserves. When a child dies in a pit toilet or when in excess of 100 cases of sexual abuse of learners by teachers are received annually by the SA Council for Educators then alarm bells ring.
When the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention finds that most violence in schools takes place in the classrooms, and that weapons, alcohol and drugs are readily available in many schools, again alarm bells ring. Learners spend more time in the care of educators in some form of educational setting than with any other role-player outside their home environment. It is therefore essential to ensure that this environment is safe.
The SA Council for Educators informed our committee last week that teachers are not vetted for previous involvement in sexual offences, and that teachers who are deregistered for such offences escape the sanction by transferring to a different province. How is that possible?
The law holds every principal accountable for the safety of every learner on his or her school premises. The Occupational Health and Safety Act also prescribes a range of steps to be taken to ensure safety. Are principals aware of this? Do they implement it? Hon Minister, we doubt it. If they did, the pit toilet incident would never have happened.
We are grateful to every public and independent school which has taken it upon itself to try and create a crime-, drug- and alcohol-free environment, where learners are able to concentrate on furthering their personal ambitions. It is essential that every education circuit throughout the nine provinces is assigned social workers and psychologists who are properly trained and equipped to assist learners who are experiencing difficult circumstances or who have been subjected to traumatic incidents. Who is there to speak to pregnant teenagers, learners from HIV/Aids-affected homes or young people exposed to gang violence?
Valuable lessons can be learnt from the Western Cape's Safe Schools Call Centre, where immediate advice and assistance is given to callers by trained counsellors. Hon Minister, I appeal to you to encourage the other eight provinces to introduce such a system.
Failure to provide trauma debriefing as soon as possible after a traumatic event could have negative consequences, including a greater risk of a learner dropping out of the system. Currently, only 40% of our learners who start Grade 1 ever finish Grade 12. Chances of obtaining employment are slim with a National Senior Certificate, but they are close to zero without one. Therefore, we must support our children to stay in school.
The Western Cape Education Department has a Youth at Risk programme to ensure early identification of learners who show signs of aggressive behaviour and their subsequent incorporation into a developmental programme, designed to assist them in addressing their behavioural problems.
Coupled with this are the 181 Mass participation, Opportunity and access Development, MOD, centres, spread across the province. The centres provide sport and recreational activities to over 40 000 registered participants from disadvantaged communities and underserved schools, with most MOD centre activities taking place after school, usually between 14:00 and 18:00 in the afternoon. Excellent, constructive diversion for all youth, but particularly for those at risk, is needed.
Many educators and other role-players must be commended for their courageous efforts in endeavouring to create, wherever possible, a stable environment for learners, sometimes under very difficult circumstances, because of the areas in which they work. These educators attend school, not only having to face their own fears, but also to be confronted with frightened and traumatised young learners affected by violent events. The educators also need help and support. They receive it in the Western Cape. Minister, there is no reason why you could not use your influence to spread this best practice countrywide.
If we focus on supporting our learners, on providing a safe and secure environment, coupled with discipline and respect, we stand a much greater chance of growing young adults who are tolerant, patient, courteous and responsible - just the sort of young adult any employer would welcome. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr D MNGUNI
Ms H S BOSHOFF
Mr D MNGUNI: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the ANC, the organisation to be reckoned with, applauds the practical development and training of teachers done by the Department of Basic Education.
As we speak now, the implementation of the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development will reach its first phase of implementation in 2014. A progress report detailing achievement goals, challenges and targets for the fifth administration is ready and will be communicated to the system from the end of July onwards. A key feature of this will be to strengthen the delivery of professional development programmes at school level through the increased support and monitoring of provincial education department programmes and qualitative support for the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, Caps, and the Annual National Assessment, ANA, considering the diagnostic reports on the previous years.
Comrade Lovemore ... honourable ... friend ... [Laughter.]...you have spoken about the meeting of the Department of Higher Education and Training. Indeed, we moved forward with the issue of the meeting, saying the department has made strides in partnering with the Department of Higher Education and Training and other stakeholders in education. In August this year, we shall see the completion of the training of 100 further education and training, FET, curriculum advisers, higher education specialists and union representatives on the collaboration project with the British Council on English as a first additional language. Wait and see. This project includes training in the foundation phase, intermediate phase and senior phase for officials.
We know that the department will intensify its monitoring of the delivery of these programmes. We also know that this department is working closely with the provincial education departments in the provinces. Indeed, the department has plans. For this financial year, it will provide training support to the provincial education departments for inclusive education. This includes sign language, Braille, the introduction of African languages, multigrade teaching, unqualified and underqualified teachers, including Grade R. If you were listening, you would have heard the Minister say something about that. This includes support for the provincial education departments in the establishment of subject committees and professional and learning committees. We are in the same portfolio committee, and we are going to monitor that closely - with you. [Interjections.]
There have been bilateral talks and initiatives between the Departments of Basic Education and of Higher Education and Training. Why? It is because they want to strengthen the initial teacher supply. The strategies that have been implemented so far include - hon Lovemore - the strengthening of the Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme, which provides full-cost, merit-based bursaries to students to become teachers in scarce-skills subjects. The spending on these bursary schemes, if you look at the figures, has increased from R424 million in 2010-11 for 10 074 students to R893,9 million in 2013-14 for 14 500 students - you see, skills are being uplifted. That is the beginning; we are coming. The projections indicate that more than 43 200 bursaries will be awarded over the medium term at a cost of R2,982 billion.
The other strategy that the department has is providing earmarked grants to universities to develop new infrastructure for teacher education. In the 2012-15 medium-term cycle, approximately R600 million was allocated to universities for teacher education infrastructure development. The other strategy that the department has is engaging with the universities through the enrolment training process to ensure that initial teacher education is prioritised as one of the priority areas for continued growth.
Hon Mahlabela from the EFF, perhaps you walk with your eyes closed. If you are talking about colleges, there has been expansion of teacher education to new campuses of existing universities. Where possible and feasible, former teacher college sites are being used for this purpose, for example, the former Ndebele College of Education site, now known as the Siyabuswa Campus for teacher education, the University of Mpumalanga and the establishment of the B.Ed Foundation Phase Programme at the Missionvale Campus of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, which has been enabled to be a teacher education site as well.
The Limpopo province has indicated that the Sekhukhune College of Education site and the Giyani College of Education site can be reutilised for teacher education. These strategies - Lovemore ... [Interjections.] ...hon ... I was coming to "hon" ... I just spoke too quickly... - are bearing fruit. In 2009, 6 855 new teachers graduated. In 2012, the figure stood at 13 702, which translates into a 99,8% increase.
The enrolment planning preparation indicates that by 2019, the public higher education system will be producing in excess of 22 000 new teachers per year. But, Comrade Alberts, or hon Alberts, the attrition rate facing us as a country as such currently stands at 3,2% to 5%, which translates into 12 000 or 15 000 educators exiting the system annually, although these figures are relatively low compared to other countries that are on the same level of development.
The more experienced educators have resigned, which are those figures. Something has to be done to address these figures. What is encouraging for us or the department or the ANC going forward has been the percentage of young educators showing interest in the past five years. The number of young people between the ages of 20 and 29 showing interest has been increasing from 3% to 6%, which shows the impact of Funza Lushaka, the ANC-introduced projects through the Department of Education and Training, with underqualified educators declining from about 5,5% to 3% over the same period.
The figures from the Department of Higher Education and Training show that the number of initial education graduates is increasing rapidly. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of graduates increased from 7 000 to 10 500. Look at the Funza Lushaka graduates: the number has increased from about 800 in 2008 to approximately 3 200 in 2013.
The ANC prides itself on what the department is doing. If one looks at underperformance, there is an improvement in literacy and numeracy in the lower levels of schooling, namely the foundation phase and the intermediate phase. We are looking forward to gradual improvement in the higher classes, which is beginning to be noticeable indeed. We also pride ourselves, as the ANC, on the Dinaledi schools and the Department of Science and Technology-adopted schools that show much improvement in the subjects of science and technology.
On the issue of discipline, the ANC and the department commend the large majority of teachers in our schools on the discipline shown. Their contribution is much appreciated, although it is not seen by the hon Boshoff, who says that teachers do not do much in their schools to control drugs. They are trying, by all means, to control drugs. However, one ill-disciplined teacher is one too many as this affects the integrity of the profession as a whole. We have provincial education departments that have exclusive jurisdiction to discipline teachers. We are confident that everything will be done to deal with all forms of misconduct, which includes fraud, excessive absenteeism and so forth.
The teachers must adhere to the non-negotiables, as clearly articulated by the hon President, the official South African Commander-in-Chief. I repeat: the voted-for South African Commander-in-Chief, President Jacob Zuma, who said, in his state-of-the-nation address that there would be assistance to impact positively for qualitative and effective service delivery in class. However, to regulate discipline, the Employment of Educators Act of 1998, specifically sections 17 and 19, has been enacted. We urge provinces to implement this Act effectively.
Comrade Mpontshane, whom I don't see here now ... hon Mpontshane ... [Interjections.] He is here. We have said much to the hon Matsheke from the EFF about the SA Democratic Teachers' Union, Sadtu. The SA Democratic Teachers' Union is not the only union that exists. [Interjections.] Sadtu helped in the development of this Employment of Educators Act. So, we should applaud Sadtu for the good that it does regarding teacher development. Do not single out Sadtu.
Districts have a pivotal role in understanding and addressing the country's educational institutions to achieve a qualitative and efficient national learning outcome. As the ANC, we are happy that the department has therefore initiated the following processes to ensure that districts provide the much-needed support for schools, which we appreciate. The first process is the promulgation of the guidelines on organisational roles and responsibilities of the education district. These guidelines provide a framework within which the provincial education departments can provide district provinces with the necessary roles, delegated authority and skills to enable them to perform their core functions. Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chair, is it parliamentary for the hon Yusuf Cassim to keep on chewing there?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Radebe, take your seat, please.
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
Mr N MNGUNI
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Chair, let me thank hon members for the debate and the contributions and we say those that are not responded to, we have noted them with respect and we will follow up on them. Let me just start by assuring the EFF member that I actually do not have the time or energy for people who behave like anarchists and bandits that are against everything and offer no solutions. She can go and count and not tell me about two schools or three mud schools. The mere fact that we are asking for a budget of R10 billion and say that we want to eradicate mud and inappropriate structures mean that they are there. So why are you telling me about one or two schools you have heard about? I can give you the figures and the names; they exceed 300. So, don't worry, the two you are talking about are too few; there are a lot of them. That is why we have budgeted for them, but let me say, really, I hope that now that the overalls are gone, perhaps sanity will start prevailing.
To the FF Plus member, I have to say, hon member, that there is no intention by this government to show disrespect to any language and any culture. There are more dynamics in addition to what you are saying that makes more learners not to take Afrikaans, including the parental choices. So you do begin to see Afrikaans-speaking parents taking their kids to English-speaking schools. It is one of the factors; and I am not saying it is the only factor. But, I must assure you that there is nothing like a deliberate undermining of any language by this government.
Hon Lovemore, with due respect, education is not only about jobs. That view is very reductionist, economical with the truth and it is not true. Education is much more than that. It is about releasing the full potential of our children, which is going beyond jobs. We are not educating our kids to be job machines. Otherwise we would not have Kha Ri Gude. Jobs are part of it, but they must be holistic, responsible adults who can hold their own in the world socially, economically and politically. We are not producing machines, we agree. Really, I think it is only on the last point where I agree with you, about quality. I think you must liberate yourself from this very limiting and reductionist definition of education.
Our kids are God's image and their potential is beyond being job machines. So this noise about jobs is right, but it is too limiting. Our work is much bigger than that, including getting our kids to know their history. So you cannot criticise history and talk about jobs. They have to know where they come from; it is part of this full potential. I didn't say that it should be compulsory, but I said we are investigating along with other countries. I agree with you, you can't just overload the curriculum and get all the kids to do everything; all of the subjects. I said in my speech here, we are investigating the calls, but we can't undermine the fact that our people are not job machines; they have to know more than that.
The other factor on which I want to give you clarity is the different systems. Every educationist internationally knows that there is unfortunately a strong link between socioeconomic background and academic performance. We do not have poor performance in poor communities because we do not care. It is because there is always a correlation. That is why, as this government, we consciously and deliberately have a pro-poor package to support kids from poor families because indeed they will always stay behind because there is no motivation at home; there is no support at home. There are a lot of things that militate against their success. That is why we have additional classes; we give them school uniforms; and we have remedial classes. There is always that challenge and that is why we have those pro-poor packages. These packages are not only resources, but they represent our entire support.
I forgot also to mention that, as a department - and where I agree with most members – we are quite concerned about the rot in the system. That is why the team that will investigate these posts for sale under Professor Volmne is ready to start doing its work because - I agree with members - if you are to maintain the status, the integrity and the respect of the profession, we have to assist it at all times to behave professionally, without necessarily saying which union is responsible. You can't say we have an 80% pass rate and then say a union that has more than 80% members did not contribute to that pass. It can't be like that, because it will be just dishonest to say that. Indeed there are rotten potatoes in most unions, but there are also very good, dedicated and hard-working teachers in all the unions.
Baba uMpotshane, it is just that the debate is quite short...
IsiXhosa:
... le nto iradical is true ...
English:
... that it means everything, lots of things, which you cannot define in one sentence, because the sector itself is complicated; it has many facets. Therefore, that radicalism has to deal with many facets. We can say what we will do in the senior phase, where we are experiencing poor progression, poor retention and poor pass rates. We are saying what we are going to be doing. We really yet again wish to tell the committee to deal decisively with what is causing those problems.
Let me just go quickly through what – I'm chasing time again, Chair - what we are working on with partners in education. If you recall, in July last year, we set what we call the Education Collaboration Framework and we can say it is starting to bear fruit. Through it we have co-ordinated and profiled schools in the targeted districts, school by school, detail by detail, and district by district to make sure we have what we call "fresh schools". That is what we call radical. We are dealing with issues systematically. We want to deal with the system, but we think we really have to begin to focus on issues school by school and phase by phase. From next year onwards, we are going to start with the senior phase because indeed the senior phase is a death trap. We are getting no more than a 20% pass in terms of our Annual National Assessment, ANA. We have high drop-out rates and failure rates and so we are going to deal with that phase decisively. In that phase we have to identify all the things that are supposed to be done. We will focus on the teacher training, resourcing, and teaching aids. Those are the things that we are talking about.
In this collaboration, for instance, we are working with more than 120 community members. There are trade unions, traditional leaders, and businesspeople who formed district steering committees that are working with us to improve schools. Already more than 291 schools that we are working on require urgent and focused attention. That is what we are talking about and these schools are, for instance, being provided with differentiated responsive attention, enabling them to have the opportunity to make a fresh start. That is what we are working on with the education collaboration task team. We can elaborate on this.
The last thing I want to talk about is to share with you that, as a department, a sector, we are overjoyed that corporate South Africa is coming on board big time. We have the Shuttleworth Foundation and Sasol Inzalo that are readily providing the support needed to get the sector moving. It is a pity that I can't list all of them and I have left some out. But what is also very exciting is that even our institutions of higher education are coming to the party.
What we see in other countries is that when universities start working very closely with schools, they both learn. They learn what they need to teach their kids and how to support a sector. On the hand, the sector benefits from the high skills that are located in those institutions and almost all our institutions in the country are coming to the party.
Also, our own employees in the sector are giving their best. I have invited Dora Moloi from Gauteng, who was the best district director in Gauteng, and I have also invited the director from the Free State who produced the best results in all the districts. Our employees have gone into the stream of making sure that things happen and are providing the necessary support.
I also want to say that this year we will be having the elections of school governing bodies and we will want different parties to encourage their members to participate in these elections.
In conclusion, I really want to say, what the Secretary- General always says: "thina siyaqhuba apha kumbutho olawulayo." [We are moving forward in the ruling party.] We are continuing undeterred, because we know we have to do it. Our country needs all of us. Sometimes it is a pity when you hear the DA making noises about the Western Cape. South African kids belong to all of us, even to the DA. Please celebrate other good things that are happening elsewhere and stop and stop saying Western Cape, Western Cape as if those are the only kids you value; value all of them. They all belong to you too, just as we celebrate kids in the Western Cape because they belong to us. Despite the fact that you could not get your 30% in the elections, console yourselves that you are the official opposition party and the national one. So, take a national stand and have a national view. Just grow beyond the 30% that you were aspiring to. Say, despite the fact that we did not get30%, we have managed to be the official ruling party and then grow big, big, big and celebrate all our kids, and not only the Western Cape kids as you are really closing yourselves off.
To hon Boshoff, I am really sorry. I can hear what we are going to hear for the next five years. I know the DA always picks up on negative, petty subjects, and I can hear that we are going to stay in the latrines with you. Good luck, I am not going there. So don't pick toilets; you are going to stay there alone. [Time expired.][Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you, hon Minister. That concludes the debate. Members are reminded that the extended public committees will continue from 19:h10 this evening in the following venues: Vote 24 - Justice and Constitutional Development - will take place in the NA Chamber; Vote 37 - Transport - will take place in the Old Assembly Chamber and the debate on Vote 9 - Government Communication and Information System - will take place in Committee Room E249.
That concludes the debate and the business of this extended public committee. The committee will now rise.
Debate concluded.
The committee rose at 18:52.
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