Minister of Basic Education Budget Speech & Responses by ANC, DA and IFP

Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 15 July 2014

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Honourable Speaker
Honourable Members and colleagues
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Honourable speaker, 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 socio-economic transformation. This we must do in order to push back the triple challenges 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 culture with high levels of participation at 99% enrolment in compulsory basic education. 86% 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 funding for non-fee paying schools to ensure that no child is left behind because of poverty. The per-learner amount for 2014 is R1, 059.00 for non-fee schools.

Honourable Speaker, 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 will guide our programmes. Our medium to long range plan elaborates 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 the tools to people to solve their problems. We are very encouraged to note that the President confirmed that the ruling party continues to rate basic education as the apex priority for this government.

We will continue to promote universal access to education by ensuring that all children between ages 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 250 000 in 2019, and work to improve the quality and quantity of passes.

We will continue to eradicate mud schools and other inappropriate structures particularly in the Eastern Cape, and to provide the necessary resources needed for proper schooling to take place. 

Our own internal assessments and international benchmarking assessments confirm that whilst progress has been made on access, equity, and redress, the emphasis in this administration will be on attaining quality efficiently.

The focus for 2014/19 is consolidating achievements made so far and then driving home the theme of improvement on quality and efficiency throughout the entire schooling sector with a renewed emphasis on curriculum coverage, and the need to strengthen quality, efficiency and accountability in our provinces, districts and schools.

In the next 5 years we will make more aggressive, radical changes and appropriate interventions to turn our education system around.

We have moved boldly, therefore, to reconfigure 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. The time has come to place responsibility and accountability where it belongs.

We will track learner 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 schools.

The Council of Education Ministers held its first meeting a week ago and all the MECs agree that the time for radical transformation has come. In the first week of August we will hold an education Lekgotla with all provinces to detail and align our plans to improve quality and efficiency.

Honourable Members, today we stand here to account and to seek a fresh mandate for the 2014/15 programme on the gains made in recent years.

The overall budget for 2014/15 for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is R19, 680 billion. Last year it was R17, 592 billion. This is an increase of R2, 088 billion. This, once again, confirms government’s commitment to education.

The budget allocation to Provincial Education Departments is R186,147 billion. It will exceed R200 billion in 2015/16.

Umalusi is allocated R107.4 million in 2014/15 and will reach R112.7 million in 2015/16 to cover its expanded mandate. The National Education Evaluation Development Unit (NEEDU) continues to do important work for the Department. For 2014/15, NEEDU is allocated R14.2 million.

Kha Ri Gude receives R634.9 million. This mass literacy campaign has impacted the lives of millions of our people. To this we have allocated R62.2 million particularly for EPWP: Kha Ri Gude, as a contribution to job-creation by recruiting and training volunteers.

Improved Quality of Basic Education

Honourable Members,

2014 is the watershed year as it marks the completion of the implementation of Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) throughout the education system. It is a year that sees the first cohort of Grade 12 learners sitting for a CAPS-aligned NSC. This signals stability in the curriculum landscape.

An amount of R30 million has been allocated in 2014/15 for the National Initiative to improve Learning Outcomes which will reach R40 million in 2015/16.

National School Nutrition Programme

As at June 2014, over 9 million learners in more than 21 000 quintile 1 - 3 primary and secondary schools benefitted from the school nutrition programme. This increase is attributed to the successful extension of the programme to public secondary schools.

The conditional grant for the National School Nutrition Programme has increased by R288.8 million in 2014/15 to R5, 462 billion. It will reach R5.704 billion in 2015/16.

School Health Programme

Although the Department has made strides to meet the basic right to nutrition to millions of learners in schools, it has become necessary to consider a national de-worming programme linked to the NSNP, to maximise the health and cognitive benefits of school meals. 

We will continue enhance learner safety and well-being by fighting drugs and substance abuse as well as youth criminality in our schools and communities in general.

Focus on History

A 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.

We are currently conducting comparative studies and research on countries offering History as a compulsory subject. Research has shown that as a subject, History has a number of positive effects such as contributing to nation building, national pride, patriotism, social cohesion and cultural heritage.

Languages

We are working on a language development framework and we have prioritised the implementation of South African Sign Language investment. We have made progress in the development of African Languages including implementing the policy on the Incremental Introduction of African Languages. We are strengthening the utility and proficiency in English as the First Additional Language and the Language of Learning and Teaching through the strategy of English across the Curriculum.

Early Childhood Development

In respect of Early Childhood Development, the National Development Plan underlines the need for access for all children to at least 2 years of pre-school education. The ANC in its manifesto echoes this sentiment of making two years of pre-school education compulsory, and due to success 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.

Honourable Members, the Department has made significant progress in increasing access to grade R. 16 909 of the 18 475 public primary schools have grade R classes with an enrolment of 779, 370 learners (2013 School Realities). The General Household Survey 2013 indicated that a total of 481, 000 5 year old learners were 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. The report was presented to Cabinet of 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 4 (four) years will also be rolled out in registered Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres from January 2015. All preparations like practitioner training and supply of resources have already started and will be completed this calendar year.

Our interventions are bearing fruit

Honourable Members,

As indicated earlier, in the 5th administration quality education and efficiency will dominate our work. The department is committed to maintaining the improvement of learners in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results during this academic year and beyond and to strengthen strategies to improve the quality of passes to 171,000 in 2014 through the strengthening of existing strategies.

The growth from 67.8% in 2010 to 78.2% in 2013, as announced, which actually reads 80.8% after the supplementary examinations, is a challenge that the new administration must better, thus propelling us further towards better performance.

Annual National Assessment

Education experts point to the fact that the first five years in education are the most crucial in the educational careers and outcomes for children. We will continue to strengthen learning in the foundation and intermediate phases and ensure that the senior phase provide a solid base for studies in Grade 10 to 12 or the Further Education and Training Band.

Mathematics, Science and Technology

Due to our focus on quality and efficiency, the recommendations of the Ministerial Task Team’s on Reading and Maths, Science and Technology have been integrated into our plans and excellent progress has already been made in implementing these recommendations.
The MST directorate and the office have been established in this regard.

International Maths Olympiad

Before leaving this subject of Maths, let me congratulate the 6 learners from KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape who represented South Africa in the International Maths Olympiad held here in our country between 6 and 12 July for the first time on the African continent. In particular I thank Grade 12 learner Robin Visser who did South Africa proud, earning a bronze medal at the Olympiad. I also thank Professor Johann Engelbrecht from the South African Maths Foundation and the entire mathematics community who ensured that we host a very successful event as a country.

Learner Teacher Support Material

Honourable members, the Department of Basic Education has made great strides to positively change the learning and teaching landscape in South Africa over the years, with various research findings and reports bearing testimony to this. Expanded access to learning and teaching material has been at the centre of this positive shift.

Textbooks and Workbooks

Since 2011/12, the sector has spent R7, 7 billion on the roll out of textbooks for the implementation of CAPS over the last 3 financial years. 2014/15 has been targeted as the year by which the sector will be moving towards one textbook, per learner, per subject.

The sector has developed, printed and delivered 204 million Grade R to 9 Language and Mathematics workbooks to 24,000 public schools, twice a year since 2011 and will continue to do so in the coming years.

Low retention and retrieval of these valuable resources has militated against the provision of a textbook for each learner per subject at the commencement of the school calendar year.
Budgets provided in PEDs for the 2014/15 financial year and beyond are therefore used to provide top-ups for damages, non-return and shortages as a result of the inward migration of learners.

Following a national screening process a single core textbook will be listed for each subject on the national catalogue to ensure universal coverage. There will no longer be eight titles per subject simply because the high costs involved demand a more rational and cost-effective approach.

Millions of textbooks and workbooks have been delivered to schools; the focus from here onwards will be to continue to monitor utilisation to improve learning outcomes and impact. Parents, educators and officials have an important role to play to ensure that the tax payers’ investment in the future of our children is not wasted.

Ministerial Committee on the NSC

I have received the Ministerial Committee Report from the team that was chaired by Prof Brian O‘Connell, the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape.  I am currently studying the report and I will make an announcement shortly on the recommendations that I will take forward. This should be done soon after presenting it to the Council for Education Ministers.

The allocation for 2014/15 for workbooks is R896.7 million and for textbooks the estimated budget is R4.2 billion allocated to PEDs.

School Infrastructure

The total allocated infrastructure budget for 2014/15 financial year is R 10.1 billion and this includes a portion of Education Infrastructure Grant amounting to R 6.9 billion. The Education Infrastructure Grant increases to R9.4m in 2015/16, R10m in 2016/17 and R10.5m in 2017/18.

ICT in education

The Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 requires the e-Education strategy to play a central role in the attainment of its goals by improving accessibility, inclusivity, quality and efficiency across the education system. The DBE has reformatted the existing workbooks to be interactive so that they can be accessible via electronic ICT devices.
Together with the Departments of Communication we have developed a Broadband Policy and the consultation process is underway with provinces. The implementation date for the broadband policy is 2015 after the consultation process has been finalised. We will announce detailed plans in due course.

Teacher development

The old cliché that says every education system stands and falls on its teachers is very true. Study after study from our local assessments and evaluation programmes to international tests confirm the central role of teachers.

Honourable Members, everything to do with teachers from their conditions of service, their recruitment, deployment, utalisation and development including their general professional development and conduct occupies a high position in our list of priorities. The Department of Basic Education and Department of Higher Education and Training, through various bilateral engagements and initiatives, are working together to strengthen this very important area of our work.

The Funza Lushaka Bursary scheme has increased from R424 million in 2010/11 to R893.9 million in 2013/14, when 14 500 bursaries were awarded.

In partnership with Vodacom, we have equipped and connected 40 Teacher Centres across the 9 provinces. 31 of these teacher centres were equipped and connected in the last financial year. In this financial year, Vodacom will further equip and connect 20 new teacher centres. This means that a total of 60 teacher centres will be fully digitised by the end of this financial year.

In collaboration with the British Council, the Department has developed educational resources for English First Additional Language (EFAL) Grades 1-12. The department has also further developed Mathematics Grades 1-12 educational resources. These educational resource items are ready to be piloted.

The full implementation of these self-diagnostic assessments for teachers will be introduced in 2015. It is aimed at identifying content deficit and for teacher development purposes.
South African Council for Educators in collaboration with the DBE is currently phasing-in the implementation of the Continuing Professional Teacher Development Management system. This is done according to the three cohorts starting with Principals and Deputies in this year, HoDs in 2015 and Post Level 1 Teachers in 2016.

The Department has reviewed the current Integrated Quality Management System, in consultation with teacher unions, and developed a revised instrument the Quality Management System for school based educators. For the current year, the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) is allocated R42.2 million.

We are conducting research on the inclusion of Grade R teachers in mainstream and the impact this will have on the post provisioning model and their conditions of service.

Fellow South Africans,

Strengthening Districts for better outcomes

Schools are a centre piece for our entire work as the Department of Basic Education. Education districts have a pivotal role in supporting schools, improving their functionality and developing the country’s education institutions in order that national learning outcomes are achieved.

Our 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 to spread good practice between districts which have managed to improve teaching and learning outcomes.

Our district monitoring unit has been strengthened and will now comprise a branch which will focus more carefully on capacity, systems and processes required to strengthen district planning, management, support, reporting and accountability for improved quality basic education.

Education Collaboration Framework

The Education Collaboration Framework that we set up in July last year has started bearing fruit in the education system. Through the National Education Collaboration Trust, that coordinates the implementation of the ECF, we profiled all of the 21 target districts to understand, in detail, the challenges in both the district offices and the schools.

Over 120 members of communities, teacher unions, traditional leadership and businesses have been mobilised into district steering committees who are working with the district offices, schools and communities so as to drive improvement activities in the target schools. While we are working to improve the performance of the district offices to better support and monitor schools, 291 schools that require urgent and focused attention.

These schools are being provided with more differentiated and responsive attention thereby enabling them with the opportunity to make a fresh start. We invite more South Africans to join hands around these ideals and to participate in supporting schools and districts targeted by the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) in order for them to achieve more swift and in-depth improvement.
Honourable Members,

SGB elections

We have just emerged from the country’s successful elections in May this year. Over 250 000 governors are elected every three years to serve in our public schools, united by a common purpose, to make education a real societal issue.

School Governing Body (SGB) elections will take place from 6 to 28 March 2015 and we encourage all parents to support the elections by standing as candidates or by participating as voters in the SGB elections as voters.

Without parental and community support, education can never be a societal issue as envisaged by government.

Tributes

I wish to thank Deputy Minister Surty, Chairpersons of the Education Portfolio and Select Committees and their respective members, education MECs, HoDs and our Acting DG, Mr Paddy Padayachee, for their support. We are grateful to teachers, principals, parents, learners, SGBs, individuals, officials and staff members for advancing the nation’s educational goals.
We have enjoyed productive collaborations with various ministries and will strengthen these in the coming financial year.

Allow me to acknowledge and pay tribute to my special guests Mr Marthinus Coetzee, the 2013 National Teaching Awards Lifetime Achievement Award Winner and Mrs Dorah Moloi, the 2013 Top District Director for Sedibeng East in Gauteng. I thank both for their exemplary leadership and dedication to ensuring quality education for our children.

Conclusion

There is good progress in respect of delivery in the current electoral mandate.

If we continue to improve at the speed we have done in recent years, the lives of ordinary South Africans will be fundamentally transformed and we will face a brighter future.

We are resolved, with provinces, to step-up monitoring and evaluation, to improve accountability, and to enforce better planning for faster implementation and more lasting change.
I thank you.

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Responses by ANC, DA and IFP

Budget Vote Debate 15 - Basic Education by AM Mpontshane (IFP)
 
Chairperson,
Hon Minister and Deputy Minister
 
The Honourable Minister was correct when she said that we need radical transformation in order for us to achieve quality education.
 
But the unfortunate thing is that definitions of concepts, like radical transformation will remain ever problematic, meaning different things to different people.
 
Does the Minister's 'definition' 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 not having a permanent Head, cannot effect any meaningful transformation.
 
To improve overall education performance, Programme 2 envisages the following, inter alia, 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 low and not standardised, R5000 at the most! Surely radical transformation is urgently needed at this phase in terms of their qualifications and salary?
 
To improve school management, Programme 3 envisages the following, amongst
others:
 Developing the South African standards for principals by the start of 2015, to define the role of school principals
Establishing learning networks for principals in June 2014
Do we have bold leadership to implement these? What happened 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.
 
Radical transformation Hon Minister, will entail overhauling the whole system of employment of educators processes.  The observer status which is accorded teacher unions during interviews, should be abolished.
 
It has led to manipulation, nepotism, inefficiencies and downright corruption! I know this and you know this Hon Minister!  But nothing is being done!
 
Problem?  Timidity on the part of Department's leadership.

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Speech by Hon Khosa During the Debate on the Budget Vote, Basic Education (ANC)

Honourable Chairperson Honourable Minister and Deputy Honourable Members and Comrades Distinguished guests

Pro-poor programme

Honourable Speaker/ chair allow me to focus my speech on pro-poor programme. In 2008 the SADC Ministers of education adopted the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning programme (CSTL) to respond to the challenges faced by children in the region, these include poverty, HIV and AIDS, crime, violence and substance abuse. This programme, Chair, was initiated so that quality education can be achieved in the region.
The goal of this programme, chair, is to realize the education rights of children including the most vulnerable through schools becoming inclusive centre of learning, care and support. This programme, CSTL situates the DBE as a lead agency in addressing school-level barriers to education within a longer collaborated response that addresses the multiple barriers to education that vulnerable children are facing and South Africa is one of five SADC countries implementing this programme since 2008.

Chair/Speaker nine priority areas 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:

1. Nutritional support intended to address barriers of learning associated with hunger and malnutrition.
2. Health promotion which enables leaners and educators to increase control over their health.
3. Infrastructure Water and Sanitation.
4. Social welfare services i.e. ID`s and Birth certificate
5. Safety and protection: schools should be free of all forms of violence, abuse ad bullying
6. Psychological support which involves provision of care and support in response to emotional, mental and social needs of leaners and educators
7. Curriculum support which includes efforts to ensure that the curriculum is effectively delivered to leaners by skilled educators.
8. Co-curricular support activities intended to support and augment curriculum implantation in and outside of the school
9. Material support like financial and material resources like school fees, uniform, etc.

National School Nutrition Programme

Honourable Speaker/ chair the NSNP is one of the key government programmes that have been successful in meeting the Nutritional needs of learners from poorest communities to help them to perform optimally.
NSNP is the government`s plan introduced in 1994 for poverty alleviation initiated to uphold the rights of the children to basic food to contribute to learning in school by providing them with quality nutritious meals. Initially this programme was called primary school nutrition programme and was transferred to the Department of Education from Department of Health as 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 household have an inadequate access to food.

The NDP highlights the need to aradicate child under nutrition and food security. Micro-nutrient affects nearly two billion people worldwide and South Africa is no exception, hence this budget, chair/ Hon speaker must be seen to address these.

The NSNP`s primary objective is to provide daily balanced meals to learners from poorest communities to enhanced teaching and learning with the success of NSNP in the last twenty years, it has been observed that there are improvements in enrolment, school attendance and participation in class and it also reduced absenteeism therefore there is still a need to further demonstrate improvement in learning in learning outcomes.
Achievements and Impacts
Honourable Speaker/ chair as at June 2014 over 9 million learners in approximately 21013 quintile 1-3 primary and secondary schools benefitted from the programme up from about 4 million learners in
2004/05 financial year. This has attributed to the extension of the programme to public secondary schools. Schools are required to provide meals by 10h00 on all school days

Contribution to Economic activity

The NSNP contributes to local economy by creating work opportunities through contracting SMMEs and local cooperatives. It contracts 3078 local SMMEs (up from 2977 in 2012), 534 local community based cooperatives (up from 312), 170 big companies which brings the total number of service providers contracted to 3782. The 534 local cooperatives include women cooperatives. These programme (NSNP) engages
54125 volunteer food handlers largely women responsible for preparing and serving meals to learners in all nine provinces and they receive a stipend of R900 per month.

Substance abuse

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," President Jacob Zuma

Substance abuse has taken a dramatic turn including at primary level, this has a huge psychological and heath effect and the learning patens of our children, all institutions in society should join hands in the fight against substance abuse. Government institutions, dept. of health, basic education, and social development should take a lead in this fight.

Scholar transport

Honourable members, the provision of transport has remained one of the key challenges that have confronted government in the post-apartheid era. Many scholars travel long distances to access their schools and this is not conducive for learning. There is generally a lack of integration between communities and services and this result in an unsustainable environment for proper socio-economic development. The historic demographic characteristics of the country pose a massive challenge in the provision of basic services to communities. The rural communities are severely impacted by lack of access to services such as transport.

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 under healthy and safe environments which enables effective learning environment. Many scholars have been excluded from attending schools and thereby receiving education.

I thank you Mr Speaker


Speech by Hon Gina (ANC) MP, during debate on Budget Vote No 15, Basic Education (ANC)

Honourable House Chairperson
Honourable Minister and Deputy Minister of Basic Education
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee and the National Assembly
The Acting Director-General of the Department
Officials and Board Members of our Statutory Bodies: ELRC; UMALUSI; and SACE
Department of Basic Education officials
Distinguished guests
I greet you all!

I am humbled to take part in this debate. We debate the Vote 15 for Basic Education at the start of our new and far-reaching phase of our democratic transition. 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. Those who care about our education system did not in the past five years only lament but did their bit in supporting the call of making education an apex priority. Ground breaking achievements were made and a great and solid foundation exists for all to see. Those who are not pessimists 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 (MTSF) 2014 – 2019. Everything is being put in place and there is no confusion on what needs to be done. The ANC manifesto presents the key commitments in the coming five years as:

making early childhood development a priority;
eradicating illiteracy; and
Improving quality of teaching and learning in schools.
We want to forge ahead towards realising two years of compulsory pre-school education and strive for fuller integration of Grade R educators in the post and remuneration structure. The ANC commits to providing interventions, through curriculum and assessment policies, to improve performance in our schools. In order to improve performance, the ANC government will:

maintain the upward trend in the mathematics pass rate while improving the quality of those passes;
introduce compulsory African languages in schools;
prioritise teacher development;
Campaign to ensure good discipline and accountability in our schools: 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;
implement school safety programmes;
aim to ensure that every child has a textbook for every learning area, and that the retrieval of textbooks is improved; and
will continue to work towards the eradication of illiteracy through the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy programme
Our mandate is clear. The mandate supports the journey that we have been travelling in the past five years. We have in the past five years made substantial gains and going forward we need more vigour and significant interventions.

It is no doubt that in the past five years we have stabilised the curriculum. The incremental implementation of CAPS is culminating this year where-in our grade 12s will also sit for the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) aligned examination. This means that all teachers across the grades and phases deliver the curriculum that is 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 the CAPS over the last 3 financial years. Since 2011, education sector has developed, printed, delivered 204 million Grade R to 9 Language and Mathematics workbooks to 24,000 public schools twice a year and will continue to do so in the coming years. The challenge that has to be addressed is the low retention and retrieval of the textbooks which is putting a strain towards a goal of providing textbooks to all learners. However, the Department has assured us that the goal of providing each learner with a textbook, per grade, for each subject is still achievable.

In the past 5 years, we have seen the rapid expansion of the grade R. To date, 18 475 public primary schools have grade R providing for 779 370 learners.

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 benefitted and indications are that Kha ri Gude graduates have been able to find better employment. Further, over 240 000 volunteers participated which gave them employment opportunities. We advise that an impact evaluation of the programme is necessary so that we know exactly the extent of job opportunities and the employment rate of the graduates.

We however note the calls around the quality and value of the National Senior certificate or matric qualification. To us 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 the Gap, Shuttleworth and Siyavula study guides, exemplar papers, additional classes and continuous teacher support initiatives are provided to all targeted schools.

Further concerns are that our education system is shedding learning throughout the 12 years journey of learning. Some commentators even give numbers that out of over 1.2 million leaners that entered grade 1, only half a million sit for grade 12 examination twelve years down their schooling. This indeed is a concern. But we are convinced that the phase we have entered in is for working efficiently. In our Committee, the Minister indicated that the Department is ready to tackle the challenge of quality and to address drop-out and to increase the retention rate. The Department has developed the National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) Framework. This is a comprehensive strategy that has been implemented into the Provincial Improvement Plan (PIP), District Improvement Plan (DIP) and School Improvement Plan (SIP) with 104 clear activities that encourages that all effort should be channelled to the classroom where it matters the most.

We want to continue the journey of sustaining and improving on the gains we made in increasing the number of passes in Mathematics and Physical Sciences. While we have reached the parity with the participation rate between boys and girls, the quality of passes in Mathematics and Science for girls learners is lagging behind. We welcome the establishment of a Mathematics and Science Ministerial Task-Team to help further identify and address challenges in the area of Maths, 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 Cooperation Agency (JICA) Project to improve learners’ ability to solve word problems in primary school Mathematics.

Honourable Chairperson, the 2014 allocation to education sector is R19.6 billion. This will increase to R23 billion over the MTEF. The allocation confirms the continued intention of the Department to deliver on the non-negotiables as identified MTSF priorities of the Department. Let us remind the House that the Department has set targets with an intention of moving towards 100% based on steady progress and the reality of challenges in the sector. We need to move fast but efficiently as well as promised by the Minister. We welcome the Department’s commitment to the following non-negotiables:

LTSM;
Infrastructure;
District support;
Teacher placement, deployment and development;
ICT;
Kha Ri Gude;
Library services;
Rural focus;
Curriculum;
Partnerships and social mobilisation; and
Norms and standards for business processes across provinces.
However, the Department must note the challenges that continue to engulf education in farming areas, multi-grade classes and the learners who need differentiated curriculum. Our oversight visit to the Free State and the Western Cape in 2013 showed that there are a lot of gaps that still need to be closed.

We also put a challenge over the Department 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 at school but not in the classroom; insufficient curriculum coverage in a year; and little written work given to learners. The impact to learner performance if these issues are not rectified is immense. In our school readiness oversight in January, in the Eastern Cape, we found a very strange culture called “early departure”, where teachers just report to work and by 10am half are out of school. We were informed that many schools do not cover syllabus. We were made aware that some districts do not have capacities and some are striped of the powers. Some districts support teams hardly visit schools. Distance of some districts is vast. What was surprising was that there seemed to be no mechanism in place of dealing with such problems in the province. These issues put more questions on the level of accountability of our teachers and some district personnel. If these issues are not addressed, our gains will be eroded and our interventions will fail.

We realise that the Minister is confronted with a huge challenge that she can’t expect same excuses and same approach to addressing the challenges in the system. Something must change, fast and drastically. Honourable Minister, we all know by now that the learner outcomes are not optimal across the grades and this has been confirmed by many results and researches. It can’t be right that the next phase keeps acknowledging such challenges while not addressing them adequately. The DBE officials have promised us that there will be seamless and co-ordinated long term planning in the sector and that things will be done fast and efficiently. We support that commitment and as the Portfolio Committee we will strengthen our oversight to that effect.

We wish the Department all the best and hope that this phase is indeed a milestone characterised by urgency and efficiency.

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Minister, our children are in danger. How can they learn? Sonja Boshoff (DA)

Minister, our children are in danger. How can they learn?
 
Honorable Chair, 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 its achievement.
 
In 2009 the ANC declared education as its apex priority.  Bold statements outlined the various intervention programmes that would assist in providing a safe and secure learning environment for our children.
 
Despite assurances, we are 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 South African Council of Educators, then alarm bells ring.
 
When the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention finds that most violence at schools takes place in the classroom, and that weapons, alcohol and drugs are all readily available at many schools, 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 Council for Educators informed our committee last week that teachers are not vetted for previous involvement in sexual offences, and that teachers who are de-registered 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 law - 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 this? 
 
Honorable Minister, we doubt it.  The pit toilet death would never have happened if they did.
 
Chairperson, we are grateful to every public and independent school which has taken it upon themselves to try to 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 9 provinces is assigned social workers and psychologists and that they 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, or learners in HIV/AIDS - affected homes, or young people exposed to gang violence?
 
Honorable Minister, 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.  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 Certificate, but they are close to zero without one.  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 and Growth, or 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.
 
Chairperson, many educators and other roleplayers must be commended for their courageous efforts in endeavouring to create, wherever possible, a stable environment for the learners, sometimes under 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, too, 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.
 
Madam Chair, 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 kind of young adults any employer would welcome.

 

Ultimately, it is all about jobs Annette Lovemore, Shadow Minister of Basic Education 
Chairperson
 
IT IS ALL ABOUT JOBS. Ultimately, it is all about jobs.
 
Education is all about jobs. Every phase of the education system is about preparing for jobs. Whether it is preparing to become an artisan, or an artist, 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 without 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, and that the principal reason given by employers for not employing young people is that schooling does not accurately indicate skill levels, and unskilled inexperienced workers are seen as risky to employ. In other words, they can’t trust the Senior Certificate.
 
Tragically, low skill levels and excessively high unemployment rates affect predominantly 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 pre-school 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 salute you.
 
But, counterproductively, your government has aspired to quantity, before addressing quality.  
 
The quality of education in South Africa, by every international and national measure, is 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 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 though, Minister. 
 
About 15% of our schools are producing highly capable young adults. They are mostly schools where parents are paying to ensure that their children are receiving quality education. 
 
By far the majority of the other 85% of schools, the other 5400 secondary schools, are suffering. 
 
However, not all have accepted the odds stacked against them. Some, despite those odds, have succeeded. One of the most inspiring stories is that of the Centre of Science and Technology  in Khayelitsha, ranked 9th out of the top ten schools in the Western Cape in 2011. The school has retained its record of excellence, with a 100% pass rate in 2013.
 
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 predominantly 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 ? 
 
Minister, your Department’s Annual Performance Plan for 2014/15 has again failed to specify targets for learner outcomes, and for almost every measure of education quality and excellence on which you have been found wanting in the past. 
 
But a fortnight ago you presented us with a promising document, your draft 2014/2019 Medium Term Strategic Framework.  Some of your 2019 targets are too low, such as having 55% of our teachers competent to teach, 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. 
 
The 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. Fitness for purpose.
 
So – the learner 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 value of the certificate young people present to them.
 
The education offered to young people must be of such quality that it is fit for the purpose of allowing EVERY child 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 secondary schools taking pure maths. 
 
No. 
 
We have to realise that some children are academically strong, some are practically-inclined, others are creative spirits. Each individual child’s inherent abilities must be supported to full development. 
 
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? Into an environment that is truly of value to all our learners and to our country?  
 
And, crucially , given the past from which we come, how do we transform it into an environment that is truly non-racial, where outcomes are not intrinsically linked to the colour of a learner’s skin or the circumstances of a learner’s birth?
 
How do we best allow education to reach its potential in breaking the cycle of poverty ?
 
There exists no shortage of sources filled with starting points, or desired end goals, or advice on how to reach those goals.
 
Start, Minister, with the National Development Plan. 34 pages are dedicated to education. 34 pages that we support fully, as do you. Proposals that closely mirror the DA’s education policy. 
 
I know 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 in appointments, no longer should  SADTU members refuse to sign performance agreements or undergo competency tests, no longer should SADTU members escape accountability. You have to reclaim your management prerogative from SADTU, Minister, as does every Education MEC. 
 
SADTU, in Gauteng last week, urged its teachers to work to, “defend 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 best interests of learners first, always. 
 
Use the courts – do whatever it takes. But make SADTU understand that it does not run education in South Africa any longer. 
 
Take a look, please, at the list of critical skills recently gazetted by the Department of Home Affairs. We are prepared to grant permits to people who possess these skills to work in our country with the absolute minimum of red tape. We desperately need these skilled foreigners.
 
Maths, science and technology are the underlying themes in the 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 January 2015. With motor mechanics, electricians, fitters and turners and every imaginable category of engineer on the list, delay is not an option. 
 
To your credit, Minister, you had the state of Maths and Science teaching investigated recently. The report is damning. Urgent intervention is required. 
 
In fact, the President announced that all secondary schools should offer Mathematics, and he announced the filling of all vacant Maths and Science teachers’ posts “as soon as possible”. South Africa must hold him, and you as Minister, to this promise.
 
The third critical document, in our view, is the McKinsey 2007 report entitled “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems 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 for every phase of schooling. 
 
Please screen aspirant teachers. A poor selection process can result in bad teachers being in the system for up to 40 years. 
 
Work with your colleague in Higher Education to ensure that teacher training produces competent educators. Place teachers properly so that they teach what they are trained to teach. 
 
Keep doing competency tests on a regular basis. Provide truly effective support to get ill-performing teachers up to speed. Use our many expert teachers to mentor and coach. Pay teachers well. Turn teaching back into a profession. 
 
Quality education is the future focus, ma'am. 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 must provide the tools for young, poor South Africans to break the cycle of poverty.
 
Education cannot continue to contribute to the high unemployment rate. Indeed, education must promote employment, in a very direct and progressive way.
 
Ultimately, Minister, it’s all about jobs.