SUBMISSION TO THE HEARINGS OF THE NCOP SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND RECREATION ON THE INTERGOVERMENTAL FISCAL REVIEW, BY MS JOYCE NDIMANDE, ON TUESDAY, THE 05™ OCTOBER 2004, M201, MARKS BUILDING - CAPE TOWN.

• Cde. Chairperson and

• Honourable Members of the select Committee on Education and Recreation.

May I kick off by extending Mrs. Happy Joyce Mashamba's [MEC for Education in the Limpopo Province] apology for not making it to these hearings. She would have loved to have been personally here this morning, unfortunately, due to other equally important and prearranged official engagements, she has not been able to honour your invitation. She has however requested me to express her unreserved appreciation, to you, for your keen interest and commitment to the transformation of education in Provinces, and express a view that this kind of cooperative governance makes the challenges in educational reconstruction and development easier.

Cde. Chairperson, in 2001 the Limpopo Department of Education, hosted a stakeholder conference, an Education Indaba, which has since then became an annual event. That Stakeholder Conference adopted the Motto: 'Finding Solutions to Educational Challenges Through Constructive Engagement and Participation Until the Doors of Learning are Open to All'. This motto has since become the guiding philosophy on the day to day activities of the Department. In line with this motto, the Department has carefully identified its Priorities so as to ensure the 'Opening of the Doors of Learning to All'.

The Provincial Education Priorities are:

• Improvement of Grade 12 Examination Results

• Provisioning and maintenance of educational infrastructure

• Provision of classrooms for learners who receive their tuition under trees

• Provision of Sanitation and Water to our schools

• Monitor the implementation of School Fees Exemption Policy

• Ensure implementation of the Human Resource Development [HRD] strategy

• Implementation and Management of the Primary School Nutrition Programme

• Implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System [IQMS]

The Limpopo Department of Education has initiated several programmes aimed at the realization of the priorities as listed above. These programmes are broadly speaking aimed at pushing back the frontiers of poverty as well as equipping people of our province, through quality life long education and training, with the values, skills and knowledge, that will enable them to fulfill a productive role in society.

• Infrastructure Provisioning Programme

In 1994, when the New dispensation was born, the total classroom backlog in the whole country stood at approximately 65 000. Of this national backlog, 35 000 was found in the Limpopo Province. Through the RDP fund, our yearly budget allocation, and contributions from private funders [Public Private Partnerships] the Department has managed to reduce the backlog to about 11 000 classrooms at a whooping cost of over R 84,7 billion over the last nine years. In this financial year we are busy constructing a further 1 850 new classrooms, renovating dilapidated structures, provide water supply and improve sanitation facilities at a cost of R 360, 579 million. Currently there are 55 080 learners who are still receiving their tuition under trees. We are making representations to both the Provincial and National treasuries for more funds so as to enable us to wipe out this ugly legacy of successive years of the National Party's mismanagement of our education system. We are further convinced that the surest and quicker way of addressing these backlogs is through Public Private Partnerships.

• Water, Electricity and Sanitation

Out of the 5000 schools in the Province, about 897 schools do not have access to running piped water. 624 schools have no access to any form of sanitation [including pit latrines]. 1073 schools are not connected on the Eskorn grid electricity.

During this financial year [2004/2005] the Department, jointly with the IEC, will be electrifying 269 schools and ablution facilities to 165 schools. These are schools identified as voting stations for the upcoming local government elections. The Department would be erecting 940 toilets at all schools where the new classrooms alluded to supra shall be built.

• Provision of Learner and Teacher Support Materials [LTSM]

Honourable Chairperson, we are pleased to report that there has been a marked improvement in the procurement and distribution of LTSM to schools in Limpopo. Whilst we acknowledge that there are still deficiencies that need to be remedied, we are encouraged by the departments enthusiasm in ensuring that learners and their educators receive their LTSM on the first day of each academic year.

An amount of R 443, 603 million has been set aside for LTSM in this financial year. Stationery will be provided in all grades as well as materials required to phase in outcomes based education in Grades 4,5 and 6. Top ups will be provided in the other grades.

The Department will once again procure text- and prescribed books directly from the publishers and award tenders to distributors.

• Improvement of Grade 12 Examination results

Honourable Chairperson, we as the leadership of the province have always declared education as the mother of all priorities. This commitment, not only in words but also in deeds, has borne fruits more sweeter than honey. The dramatic improvement of our Grade 12 examination pass rate from 37,5% in 1999 to 70% in 2004 bears testimony to this. We are equally elated by the fact that our province is contributing one third of all the learners in the whole country who pass Mathematics and science in Higher Grade despite the challenges of lack of resources such as laboratories.

These achievements, honourable Chairperson, have been made possible by the concerted effort of the Department and various stakeholders to embark on practical intervention strategies such as the Learner Performance Enhancement Strategy [Saturday Classes], with special focus on Mathematics, Science, Technology and Commercial subjects; the Winter Enrichment Classes; The Preparatory Examinations; Provincially set common examination for our Grade 10 and II classes etc. The Department spends sizable amounts of money in these programmes.

• Primary School Nutrition Programme [PSNP]

The programme has been transferred from the Department of Health and Welfare to the Department of Education with effect from I April 2004. An amount of R 158,125 million has been allocated to this programme. 2 700 schools are supplied with nutritional food and 1,1 million learners are benefiting from this programme. 144 service providers, mainly SMMEs, have been appointed to implement the PSNP.

• Orphans in schools

The Department has conducted an audit and identified 23 634 learners who can be classified as Orphans and Vulnerable Children [OVCs] or Children in Distress [CINDIs] to be politically correct.

These children are assisted by our principals and officials, in collaboration with social workers to obtain the necessary documentation that will enable them to access social grants.

We are also liaising with municipalities to provide these child headed families with RDP houses. We have also alerted all of our SGBs and Principals to exempt these children from paying school fees.

Currently, there is a pilot project managed by the National Children's Rights Committee [NCRC] and funded by the Nelson Mandela's Children Fund, in the Bohlabela District of our Province, to integrate these orphaned children into their extended families. On the basis of the lessons learnt

from the pilot project, the NCRC is now ready to roll out this programme to other districts of the province.

• Provision of ECD, ABET and FET Programmes

In this financial year, ECD services will be extended to 1008 sites at a cost of R 20 315 million. A corresponding number of 1008 ECD practitioners [mostly in deep rural areas] have been appointed.

Our merged FET institutions are up and running. We have allocated R 102 881 million to this sector. Our FET institutions are in the process of realigning their Curricula to ensure that they respond to the needs of the communities they serve and also contribute towards the growth and development of our province's economy, and yes also that of beautiful Motherland.

As Part of our contribution to the extended Public Works Programme, we have recruited and retrained a number of our unemployed qualified educators to man our ABET Centres. All in all we have appointed a total of 2010 ABET practitioners. This measure, we are convinced, will go a long way in alleviating poverty. We have put aside an amount of R 475 940 in this programme.

Honourable Chairperson, let me conclude by borrowing language fro Wu Chi' when he said: 'The ultimate aim of man's conscience is his willingness to sacrifice, today, for future generations, whose words of thanks will never be heard'

I thank you one and all.