VIEWS OF THE NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS’ ORGANISATION OF SOUTH AFRICA (NAPTOSA) ON THE EDUCATION BUDGET 2004/2005

 

1. INTRODUCTION

NAPTOSA appreciates and expresses its gratitude for the opportunity to participate in discussions and to comment on the education budget for 2004/2005.

Public spending on education remains, in our opinion, an important component of a nation’s investment in itself by ensuring a better life for all its citizens.

On behalf of my constituency I thank you for the invitation to be here today.

2. POINTS OF DEPARTURE

    1. As education at the level of NAPTOSA’s involvement is mainly a provincial responsibility, we wish once again to express our hope that teacher unions will also be granted the same opportunity in all the provinces to participate in discussions on the provincial budgets for education. When viewed against the provincial responsibility for education, Vote 15 represents a small percentage of the actual expenditure on education in South Africa.

    2. NAPTOSA, in its past presentations to the Minister and at the meeting of the Portfolio Committee for Education, campaigned for a number of matters and, in fact, expressed specific requests/comments. Many of these requests have been fully or partially met. This presentation focuses, not only on the figures reflected in Vote 15 of the National Budget, but also on other important issues which we consider to have an impact on education.

    3. It is not our intention to comment on the details, purpose and measurable objectives and the estimated amounts in the budget, as we believe that the Department has done its utmost to allocate the available funds fairly and prioritise expenditure as efficiently as possible.

3. APPRECIATION

    1. NAPTOSA expresses its appreciation to the Department for the revised National Curriculum Statement and the learning programmes distributed in 2003. These are examples of taxpayers’ money well spent.

    2. Reading the clearly formulated purpose and measurable objectives for each expenditure programme from No. 1 "Administration" to No. 7 "Auxiliary and Associated Services" in the current budget for education, makes one confident that our colleagues in the Department have reflected seriously on the needs in the education system and have planned carefully how to address them. NAPTOSA congratulates the Department on the intended outcomes proposed for the 2004 activities and expenditure. We sincerely hope that those involved in the execution, monitoring and evaluation of the planned activities and actions to obtain these results will constantly reflect on the formulated (praiseworthy) objectives in measuring the success and efficiency of these actions while utilising the allocated amounts responsibly.

    3. Medical expenses

      4. NAPTOSA also wishes to use this forum to thank the government and the Minister of Health for their efforts to alleviate the heavy burden caused by the extremely high inflation in medical expenses in South Africa. The annual inflation in this expenditure item in the households of our members and of pensioners is normally approximately four times higher than their hope for a inflation-related increase in their income. A government who notices this unacceptable trend and does something about it, deserves our gratitude.

    4. The growth in the amounts handled by and assistance given through the National Students Financial Aid Scheme is noted and greatly appreciated. This scheme is truly one of the most necessary innovations in the new education system in South Africa.

    5. The development assistance and the money channelled in this direction by sponsors are rapidly decreasing. The fact is that there is still money coming from overseas funders without which a great deal of necessary capacity-building and development work would remain undone. NAPTOSA wishes to thank all these donors and the officials who have worked untiringly to obtain these funds.

4. SPECIFIC COMMENTS

4.1 Expenditure trends in Vote 15

For comparisons in expenditure programmes within Vote 15 itself, NAPTOSA used the 2002 Budget *) With a total estimated expenditure of R8,803,639 million as basis year, as expenditure trends provide a clearer view over a two-year term. From this analysis the following conclusions were drawn:

    1. The total vote for education increased by 28,86% from the 2002 estimates to the current R11,344,957 million.

    2. Administration costs increased by 66% from the 2002 estimates to the current R97,072 million.

    3. Further Education expenses increased by 83% from the 2002 estimates to the current R179,814 million.

    4. Higher Education expenses increased by 24% from the 2002 estimates to the current R9,908,545 million.

    5. The budgeted amounts for the following programmes decreased substantially from the 2002 estimates to the 2004 budget:

      • Planning and monitoring - 42% to R35,790 million

      • General Education - 32% to R217,677 million

      • Auxiliary and Association Services – 88% to R32,8 million.

     

     

    *) Estimates of National Expenditure 2002, p. 319

    From these large fluctuations one can possibly conclude that the National Department of Education is still trying to stabilise its systems and is to some extent making the road by walking it.

    The explanations for some of these changes and for the decline in the expenditure on general education mentioned on page 358 of the 2004 Estimates of National Expenditure, are appreciated.

    The programme, No. 5, "Quality Promotion and Development" which did not exist in the 2002 Budget (p. 319 of the 2002 Estimates of National Expenditure) and more specifically the purpose and measurable objective of this programme and the expenditure of R872,458 million are supported, since

    * NAPTOSA constantly stressed the need for enhancing values in education and quality assurance actions; and

    * school nutrition programmes for which the Department assumed responsibility from 1 April 2004 are supported as they can best be monitored by the educators who observe daily the needs of the many hungry children in our education system.

    The growth of 39% in personnel expenditure from R143,098 million (2002) to R199,084 in 2004 was caused by increased spending on the payment to examiners (more students), new posts on the personnel establishment of the Department and the improvement in conditions of service of employees. This is a rather meagre (but nevertheless appreciated) contribution towards enhancing job creation and improved conditions of service in education.

      1. Expenditure in different state departments

    The percentage increase in expenditure in different departments from the 2003/2004 to the 2004/2005 budget.

    NAPTOSA listed 8 votes, ranked from the highest increase to the lowest, in order to demonstrate the priority currently awarded to the different state departments in South Africa.

     

    1 Welfare (including social security) 16,4%

    2 Justice 14,5%

    3 Housing 12,1%

    4 Community development 11,88%

    5 Prisons 11,83%

    6 Police 10,99%

    7 Education 8,6%

    8 Health 7,3%

    If these percentages are compared with the percentage increase in expenditure in the main budget of 9,9% and with the percentage increase in the estimated total income of 8,8%, no other observations are necessary except to note that at least education received its share of South Africa’s income increase from 2003/2004 to 2004/2005.

    It is not NAPTOSA’s intention to create or fuel competition between the various services for a larger slice of the financial cake. However, it remains a fact that many needs in education, as in other departments/ services, remain unaddressed, and opportunities are lost in priority areas such as Early Childhood Development, improved education for children with specialised educational needs and access to quality education for children from the poorest families which will have a negative impact on South Africa and society as a whole.

      1. Provincial Budgets

        2. Without entering into the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of centralisation or decentralisation, it must be emphasised that the vexing problem of the differences in education provision in the various provinces must remain on the agenda of education planners in South Africa. As provinces have the discretion regarding the allocation of funds to various functions, it implies that within the equitable share formula they prioritise each of their functions. However, it appears that political decision-makers in the different provinces do not award the same weight to education and therefore it is suggested that a mechanism be developed/considered to influence provincial budgets without tampering with the provinces’ constitutional rights.

         

        The education component of the equitable share formula must be dealt with in such a manner that a person’s opportunity for quality education does not depend on which province he/she was born in.

        The equitable shares (allocations) to provinces increased by 12,3% from the 2003/2004 budget to the current R159 971 million. This encouraging increase in the unconditional grant to provinces is appreciated. Provinces spend on average ± 35% of their equitable share on education which represents their highest expenditure on a specific function/ responsibility. Provinces will therefore be in a better position to improve their service delivery in education during the current budget year.

        Conditional grants to provinces for education comprise only the R129 million for HIV/AIDS and the R832 million for the primary school nutrition programmes.

        The need to address backlogs with a conditional grant should be noted again.

      2. NAPTOSA’s views on issues such as quality assurance, performance management, post provisioning, addressing backlogs and upgrading of teachers’ competencies have been raised many times in the relevant forums. The lack of progress in service delivery in these areas is often blamed on insufficient funding. What trade unions are not informed of, however, is whether any inputs have in fact been made in this respect and what, if any, the outcomes have been. Is it a matter of the Department not asking or not motivating their requests effectively, or has the Treasury Department refused their requests, intimating that there are higher priorities? NAPTOSA will therefore refrain from repeating these concerns, but still records its frustration that some issues which need to be addressed to improve the working environment of many of our colleagues who experience an insensitivity to their plight and needs, languish unattended on the state’s "to do" list.

      3. The issue of the high school fees and the school funding norms which somehow did not work as hoped, and the Department’s efforts to improve the current system and procedures needs to be tabled here. NAPTOSA would like to see in print exactly what amount parents contribute towards school education in South Africa as we are convinced that South African parents are world leaders in this regard.

    The Department is also requested to monitor the matter of exemptions to parents who cannot afford school fees; NAPTOSA is aware of many cases where children from poor households are discriminated against due to their parent’s inability to pay the fees required by the specific school.

    5. CONCERNS

      1. As our colleagues in higher education will certainly raise their concerns about the problems experienced in the restructuring and amalgamation process in higher education, NAPTOSA will not comment on this issue except to caution that managing the mergers requires special support and the envisaged/established merger unit has a huge task at hand to ensure that the outcome of the restructuring process is not another disappointing and to an idea which could not be managed towards a successful result.

    5.2 At the risk of abusing the privilege of making this presentation or using the wrong forum for campaigning for the improvement of conditions of service, it needs to be noted that the current high, and continuously increasing price of fuel makes life extremely difficult for educators who have to travel long distances to their places of work.

    6. SPECIFIC REQUESTS

      1. NAPTOSA and other teacher unions are involved in many participatory and consultative committees and can therefore jointly accept blame where planning in these areas is not what it should be. There is, however, still much thinking and planning done behind closed doors and to ensure better support by all the stakeholders, the planning, monitoring and evaluation for all programmes should involve the unions as far as possible.

     

     

    6.2 To publish a mission statement, a purpose and measurable objectives is a good starting point for service delivery. It seems, however, that planning of specific activities or actions to achieve these objectives or raising the necessary enthusiasm for performing these functions, does not meet expectations. NAPTOSA hopes/believes that the measurable objectives will be followed by clear directions indicating who should do what by when to ensure that delivery does not fall short and allocated monies unspent at the end of the budget term.

    7. CONCLUSION

    NAPTOSA concludes that the 2004-2005 Budget is a commendable one. Reading through the paragraphs

    and many others, one becomes aware of the commitment, competencies and quality of the personnel employed at the Department of Education.

    In wishing those involved well in performing the proposed activities and reaching the intended goals, NAPTOSA hopes that the Department will grow in strength and commitment and that it will enable all educators in this country unequivocally to support the slogan: "PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN".