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As we enter the last phase of the 1999-2004 era, we do so with confidence for having risen to the challenge of building an education system fit for meeting the needs of our country in the 21st century.

We have, in the past four years, also seen clear evidence that the quality of our education system is improving. This is contrary to what some prophets of doom have been saying in certain publications recently. I shall refer to some of the evidence in this media statement.

I want to begin by mentioning educational expenditure, which is a major indicator of our efforts to transform our education system. We have seen an improvement in infrastructure spending, especially in school education. The provincial education capital budget which was R2,01 billion in the 2002/2003 financial year increased to R2,5 billion in 2003/2004, with a projected increase to R3,02 billion in 2004/2005. In particular, emphasis on classroom provision has reduced classroom backlogs drastically. I am pleased to announce that 3750 classrooms were built in 2002/2003, while 4330 will be built by the end of the 2003/2004 financial year. This is remarkable progress given the legacy of deliberate under-spending in the education of black students during Apartheid.

However, we still face the challenge of increasing non-personnel, and non-capital expenditure in our schooling system. Currently, we spend R3 billion out of a total of R47 billion on such expenditure in school education.

Let me also point out that the capacity of many provinces to meet the needs of the poor is not always satisfactory. Many children still learn under unsuitable and unsafe conditions - 'under trees', as my Department calls such conditions. The President's directive to eliminate the situation of children learning under trees should be fulfilled by the end of 2004.

In order to address the challenge of non-personnel expenditure as it affects the poor, the Government has adopted a Plan of Action for Improving Access to free and Quality Basic Education for All. The Plan of Action represents a victory of pro-poor funding in our country. We will be targeting school allocations, in rand terms, to poor learners. We will use national instead of provincial poverty quintiles to drive funding so that equally poor learners across the country will be subject to the same pro-poor targeting. A Task Team has been appointed to look at the implementation of all aspects of the Plan of Action.

We have also seen sustained improvement in Senior Certificate results in the past four years. In 1999 the percentage pass rate was only 48.9%. In 2000, we achieved a national pass rate of 57.9%. In 2001 we recorded a dramatic improvement in our national pass rate of 61.7%. The improvement continued in 2002 to the overall pass percentage of 68.9%. This marks a drastic turn around in our education system from 48.9% in 1999 to 68.9% in 2002, an increase of 22.1%.

The Tirisano programme of action, which we adopted in 1999, has become institutionalised, both in terms of content and the manner in which role players in the education sector are working together. We now have tangible evidence of an education system fit for the 21st Century. The curriculum offered in our institutions, which is second to none, yields a world-class learner that can think creatively and can engage with the content of the learning area instead of traditional mode of learning that promoted rote memorisation. We therefore take pride in the holistic development stance that is evident in our curriculum where learners are encouraged to become responsible citizens of this country and uphold the principles of a non-sexist, non-racial, democratic South Africa. Basic education is proclaimed a right by the South African Constitution, and I a pleased to say the education system can now account for all children aged 7 to 15 in the population. With the development of the Reception Year, this will increase by one year.

I am happy to report that the higher education and the FET college landscapes are being transformed to cater for educational, cultural, social and economic needs of a democratic South Africa. The new FET colleges and higher education institutions we are creating are consistent with the vision, values and principles of a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society, and they are responsive to the human resource and knowledge needs of our country. The high levels of commitment that has been shown by communities of both FET colleges and higher education institutions in turning the education system around needs to be applauded.

Therefore we have sufficient reason to celebrate the successes that we have achieved so far. We also have reason to believe that the successes that we are envisaging, especially in further and higher education - judging from the commitment shown by all South Africans - will be realised during the next five-year period. However, we are also mindful of the challenges that lie ahead such as the threat that the HIV/AIDS pandemic poses on the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. We recognise the increasing number of learners that have to play the role of child-minders and caregivers to relatives that are either sick or orphaned. We are mindful of all vulnerable children, whose right to basic education could be compromised because they find themselves in situations that hinder their ability to learn. We are also mindful of the need to accelerate the impact of our Maths and Science Strategy if we are to have a cadre of scientists and researchers that was envisaged in the country's Human Resource Development Strategy. We take cognisance of the challenges of implementing Literacy and Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programmes and the need to accelerate our interventions in this regard.

It is in this spirit that we would like to reflect on our programme of working together, Tirisano, with the media and the public, on what we have done and what the road ahead entails. I would like to share with you our achievements, most of which should be attributed to collaboration between my Department, business, education communities and the public.

Higher Education

The level of interest generated by the restructuring of the higher education sector was invigorating for the Ministry of Education - it showed the extent to which South Africans take interest and pride in these institutions and it also strengthened the resolve of the Ministry to ensure that the sector lives up to the needs of democratic country of the 21st century. While the restructuring of the institutional landscape through mergers and incorporations has been the focus of attention, there are, however, many other elements of the transformation agenda which have been receiving attention.

The Merger Unit of the Department of Education has been providing technical support to institutions involved in mergers and incorporations to facilitate a smooth transition for affected institutions. A Ministerial Reference Group has also been established to monitor the mergers to ensure that the intended policy goals are being promoted. The four mergers scheduled for January 2004, as well as the incorporations, are all on track. All merging institutions have now made submissions to me, including their nominations to the interim councils as well as proposals for the names of the new institutions. My final decision on these will be gazetted by the end of September.

The new funding arrangements for higher education are in the final stages of discussion with the vice-chancellors of universities and technikons and the Council on Higher Education. It is hoped that the new formula will be phased into operation from the next financial year. The new funding formula will facilitate the steering of the system to enable national policy goals and objectives to be realised. In particular, it focuses on ensuring that the appropriate outputs in terms of graduates and research are met. In alignment with the new funding arrangements, the Ministry will soon be releasing revised policy for the measurement of research outputs in terms of academic publications. A new policy with respect to the subsidisation of foreign students is also due to be announced shortly. This policy, amongst others, ensures that students from the SADC region will continue to be treated the same as South African students with respect to government subsidy.

Regulations were gazetted only last week for new annual reporting requirements for higher education institutions, which cover key areas of finance, governance and management. These have been developed with considerable input from the sector itself and are designed to promote greater accountability in the governance and management of universities and technikons, in line with generally accepted accounting principles.

Recently, there was an imaginary controversy in the press relating to the proposed National Higher Education Information and Applications Service for South Africa, most of which were based on misinterpretation of the intention of the Service. Further information is available in my department on this issue for those who still require clarity. It must be stressed however, that the proposed Service is aimed at assisting prospective students who wish to enter higher education. The Ministry has received the report of the Task Team which was set up to investigate the feasibility of the Service. This report was released for public comment. The responses are being studied and will be followed up with further engagements with vice-chancellors before any final decisions are made.

The Higher Education Amendment Bill, which will be presented before the National Assembly during this month, makes legal provision for the establishment of National Institutes for Higher Education in the Northern Cape and in Mpumalanga. The national institutes are important mechanisms for the coordinated provision of higher education programmes in these two provinces, which do not have universities or technikons.

Appointment of an Independent Assessor at the University of Durban-Westville

Whilst we are making good overall progress with higher education restructuring there are nevertheless some isolated issues to be dealt with and in this context it is with regret that I am announcing the appointment of an Independent Assessor to investigate and report to me on the apparent governance and management problems at the University of Durban Westville (UDW).

I have not taken this decision lightly and believe that only an independent assessment can establish the truth regarding the situation at the university. This will enable me to assess the root causes of the apparent problems that have arisen at the University.

I am appointing Dr Bongani Khumalo, the Chairperson of Transnet, as Independent Assessor in terms of the Higher Education Act. Dr Khumalo will report to me within 30 days of commencing the investigation. He will be assisted by Mr Hugh Amoore, the Registrar of the University of Cape Town.

The Independent Assessor will make recommendations to me on what actions, if any, ought to be taken to address the apparent governance and management problems at UDW.

The Council of the University was consulted prior to my taking this decision, of which they have been informed this morning. I would like to urge all parties at the University to give their full cooperation to the Independent Assessor.

Language in Higher Education

Another significant achievement in the higher education sector is the approval by Cabinet of a policy framework for Language in Higher Education. The implementation of the framework is already under way.

Cabinet has approved a Task Team to advise me on the development of indigenous African languages as mediums of instruction in higher education institutions. The Task Team is headed by Professor Njabulo Ndebele and is expected to advise on, amongst other things, the criteria for selection of languages to be used as well as the number of languages that would be earmarked for development. We acknowledge that this is a major undertaking that can only be addressed in the medium to long term.

FET Colleges

The Further Education and Training (FET) Band has an enormous potential to contribute towards skills development, employment and economic development of our country. To this regard the approval of a new curriculum for senior secondary schools has been a major achievement. The new curriculum will produce students who are creative, reflective, lifelong learners, ready either to pursue their learning careers in higher education or to enter the labour market. The development of a new institutional landscape for FET in the form of 50 FET Colleges in the place of 152 Technical Colleges has also been a major achievement that has largely gone unnoticed and unreported. The new colleges will provide a suite of vocational programmes to learners of varied potential, interest, need and age grouping without unnecessary duplications and inefficiencies that characterised the old system.

The year 2003 was declared the 'Year of FET'. This initiative has positioned the sector for effective delivery of the skills needs and placed them on the cutting edge for skills development in the country. The recorded increase in student intake, the development of new programmes and increased participation in learnerships bear testimony to the potential for growth and further development in this sector. The commitment of the business community and other government departments in making this sector a vibrant one, has assisted in strengthening the recognition of the sector in developing mid-level skills that the economy requires.

The National Curriculum Statement

The system is in the final stages of preparation for the implementation of the revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 in the Foundation Phase (Grades R-3) next year. The documents containing the National Curriculum Statement have been received by every school in the country, in their language of choice, and teachers are enthusiastic about it. The revised statements are much simpler to work with, and provide much more guidance to teachers about the expectations and standards. In addition, a Teacher Guide has been prepared, which assists the teacher in developing appropriate learning programmes to achieve the specified outcomes.

In regard to teacher training, a National Core Team has provided training to officials from every province, including curriculum specialists, subject advisors, and other key staff. They in turn have been training school principals, who are expected to provide instructional leadership in their schools, and to teachers. Reports from provinces, confirmed by our monitoring team, have indicated that this training is proceeding, and that principals and teachers are feeling confident about their ability to make the transition to the new curriculum. We must also bear in mind that the Foundation Phase teachers have now been teaching "outcomes-based education" for the past five years, and they have developed many important capacities among themselves in this time.

I am also happy to report that the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 (General) was recently approved by the Council of Education Ministers and by Cabinet. This is an important milestone in the transformation of our school curriculum in line with outcomes-based education.

The new National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 will be accompanied by a new Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC) which will replace the current Senior Certificate. While the new curriculum will be introduced in Grade 10 in 2006, the new certificate will be introduced in Grade 12 in 2008.

Despite accusations of 'dumbing down' by some sections of our population, the new curriculum and the FETC represent a major advance in educational standards. The FETC will greatly enhance our ability to predict students' future performances by explicitly stating levels of student performance. The FETC will require higher levels of performance in each subject. The new certificate will not prejudge students' potentials by differentiating them into higher and standard grades. The revised subjects make greater cognitive demands on learners and have been modernised to meet the demands of the twenty-first century.

Teacher Education and Development

At the beginning of this year, I appointed three prominent academics from university education faculties to develop a National Framework for Teacher Education. This framework will cover both initial, pre-service training, as well as in-service continuing professional development, with a view to building greater synergies between the work of the Department of Education, higher education institutions, and other agencies such as the South African Council of Educators and the ETDP SETA.

One of the key areas of work will be to analyse the overall supply and demand of teachers in the country, on a scientific basis. We have had too many alarmist reports based on unsubstantiated information, which has led to various projections since 1996, none of which have materialised. The Ministerial Committee will be conducting research into the recruitment, retention and attrition of teachers, and the various factors which contribute to these. Actual data regarding recruitment and resignations will provide a factual basis for this analysis, which has been absent in previous studies.

A key component of the study will be to look at the impact of ill health such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and alcohol and drug abuse on teacher supply and utilisation, using a significant sample of teachers. The study will be jointly sponsored by the Department of Education and teacher unions. Based on these data, the department will also look at the need for special incentives for "hardship" posts in rural and township schools, and for subjects in demand.

Notwithstanding the absence of concrete data, there is an ongoing need to recruit more teachers into the system. The Ministerial Committee is therefore managing, together with the South African Council for Educators, a teacher recruitment campaign, to encourage more of our "brightest and best" pupils to consider teaching as a career of choice.

I am also pleased to announce that I met the British Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke. I raised the issue of second language teaching in our schools with him. Given the importance of understanding English as a language of learning and teaching, we reached an agreement on how the British Government can assist us on this matter. The British Government will send 150 teachers every four months from England and Wales to assist our teachers in the teaching of English as a second language. I shall table this matter at the next meeting of the Council of Education Ministers.

Religion in Education

After extensive public consultation, the National Policy on Religion and Education was launched on Tuesday this week, with the support of all the major religious groupings, as well as complimentary statements by various other sectors of the community, including those who are not religious. This policy makes explicit the directions given in the Constitution and the South African Schools Act regarding religious freedoms, and serves to strengthen the role and place of religion in our schools, which is an important aspect of our campaign for moral regeneration.

In line with the principle of equal recognition of all religions enshrined in our Constitution, there is nothing in the policy that is prescriptive. It merely restates the prohibition of practices which are discriminatory, and which lead to a loss of respect or the undermining of the dignity of a person. A public school must cater in an equitable fashion for all religions, in order to bring about the kind of mutual respect and appreciation that we should have for the diverse cultures and religions of our country.

The policy restates the need for children to be educated about religions, in an impartial and fair way, so that they can be better informed about these. Intolerance and prejudice are most often the result of misinformation and propaganda, and we must ensure our children are properly informed about the different religions of our country. We have developed age-appropriate outcomes for each of the Grades, and this will form part of the compulsory and examinable Life Orientation programme. We have invited religious groupings to assist us in the development of suitable teaching materials, and in the training of teachers, to ensure that the programme is supported. We also need to stress that as a core element of the National Curriculum Statement, no pupil may be exempt from this programme, and no teacher may refuse to teach it.

Preparations for the 10-year celebration of our freedom

The Department of Education is preparing a calendar of events that will be part of nationwide celebrations of 10 years of freedom. The day of 27 April 2004 not only completes the first decade of freedom, but also marks the beginning of the next 10-year period. So while it is a time for celebration and thanksgiving - it is also time for renewed commitment to the vision of a better life for all South Africans in a continent reborn and in a better world.

Our programme is structured into two phases. The first phase, "Build up Activities Towards Ten Years of Freedom" has already begun, and will continue until April 2004. Activities identified for this phase include the Listening Campaign, which will take place between October 2003 and February 2004. The Listening Campaign will focus on the effects of Bantu Education. The intention is to record the educational sacrifices and suffering of people under apartheid. People and communities will be invited to share their experiences and their aspirations.

Other activities will include a National Festival of Indigenous Music and Dance by schools planned for March 2004, Heritage Month Celebrations (September 2003), Girls Camp on Democracy (December 2003) and the programme on Democracy and Voter Education. In addition, and as part of celebrating our national symbols, my department is in the process of ensuring that all schools have national symbols, including Flags and Coat of Arms.

The second phase "Celebration of 10 Years of Freedom" spans April 2004 to April 2005 and the actual launch of the Ten Year Celebrations will be on Freedom Day in 2004. The Freedom Day celebrations will involve an international video link-up of South African learners with their counterparts from the continent and Haiti, with the latter celebrating two hundred years of freedom in 2004. Learners will share their experiences of freedom and the significance of democracy for them as learners. Discussions with SABC are underway on the live broadcast of the video link up.

A plan to celebrate the First Decade of Freedom will also include a publication on 10 Years of Freedom: Then and Now aimed at FET learners; a similar publication for learners in the General Education band; a publication of a series of booklets on perspectives of women in education; an inter-generational dialogue aimed at celebrating the diversity of South Africans and a number of provincial and school level activities. Some of these activities involve Know Your Province - Know your Country project. This project involves learners researching about the origins of their provinces and showcasing them.

Distance Education

Access to educational opportunities remains high on the transformation agenda of our education system. Distance Education plays a crucial role in reaching students, young and old that are unable to learn on a full-time contact basis, and will assist in creating a lifelong learning education and training system espoused in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. It is on that note that a policy statement on Criteria for Quality Distance Education in South Africa was developed in 1998, which focused on the delivery of quality education through distance education methods in South Africa. This policy statement formed the basis for extensive quality approaches in distance education for both public and private institutions, up to 2003.

In 2000, the Department of Education commissioned research into open learning in general and further education and training prompted, in part, by the scale of educational challenges in general and further education and training as well as by the growing awareness of a range of open school projects running in different parts of the world. This research highlighted the removal of barriers to open meaningful learning opportunities for learners. Special emphasis in the research focused on further education and training. The department is subsequently developing a national strategy for open learning and distance education in public FET Colleges.

We should be particularly proud as South Africans that our Department of Education plays a leading role in open learning and distance education internationally. Africa presents a context of active and topical transformation that can both benefit from, and contribute to, pan-African and global distance education and open learning development. More specific, in the context of NEPAD, education is one of the most potent weapons available to Africans to tackle the multiple scourges of social dislocation, poverty, conflict and marginalisation; and to achieve the continent's human development goals.

I am pleased to announce that the Department of Education will host the All-Africa Ministers' Conference on Open and Distance Learning in Cape Town in 2004. This follows on the successes in co-hosting, with the Commonwealth of Learning, the Second Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Durban in 2002.

Information and Communication Technology

Our quest to build an education system suitable to meet the needs of the 21st century cannot be realised without the use of information and communication technology (ICT). Our world is changing, and ICT is central to this change. Digital media has revolutionised the information society. These advances in ICT have dramatically changed the learning and teaching process, and have expanded new learning opportunities and access to educational resources beyond those traditionally available. The introduction of ICT to our schools could create new possibilities for learners and teachers to engage in new ways of information selection, gathering, sorting and analysis. In addition, ICT has the potential to enhance the management and administrative capacity of schools. What is even more encouraging is that technological advances are making it possible for schools that do not have landlines to get connected via alternative means and ICT will no longer remain the preserve of learners located in urban areas.

The Strategy for Information and Communication Technology in Education launched jointly by the Department of Education and the Department of Communications in November 2001, articulates strong support for educational ICT with the subsequent formation of the Ministerial ICT Task Team intended to provide direction to the Minster of Education on the implementation of ICT in Education.

e-Education White Paper

On 27 August 2003 Cabinet approved the Draft White Paper on e-Education. This White Paper sets out Government's response to a new information and communications technology environment in education. We want to ensure that every school has access to a wide choice of diverse, high-quality communication services. Our clarion call is "To every school, a computer, and to every teacher, a laptop".

Our goal is to equip every student in general and further education and training with knowledge and skills to use ICT confidently, creatively and responsibly by 2013.

I am very confident that we shall achieve this aim with the cooperation between my Department and the private sector. We have already made some inroads in this regard with agreements already signed between my Department and the private sector, including Microsoft, SENTEC, Telkom Foundation, and the Digital Partnership Programme.

The services provided by the initiative will enhance lifelong learning and provide unlimited opportunities for personal growth and development to all and also include ICT professional development of teachers and managers and the availability of high quality content resources.

Public vs Private Education

In recent weeks, we have witnessed some vigorous advocacy of private education in opposition to public education. Being the custodian of public education in South Africa by virtue of my position as Minister of Education, I feel obliged to comment on what has been said and written on public versus private education in the past few weeks.

I want to talk about public education as a public good, which we are duty bound to keep alive and to protect against rather unfair attacks from various interest groups and individuals.

The recent writings have raised the question of the extent to which public education vis-à-vis private education is efficient, and whether the former really serves the interests of our population. In the schooling system the argument that private schools are better, more efficient is often touted.

Some critiques of public education have been advocating the voucher system to fund students' attendance at private schools. This, we are told, will automatically lead to a qualitative improvement in our education system.

While the argument of full public funding of private education or the voucher system is at least worth a debate in some of the developed countries. It is not a debate that we can even begin in South Africa, given the inherited unevenness of our education system.

The proposed model, which advocates a radical withdrawal of state controls from schooling could divert attention from state instituted quality mechanisms with superficial promises of educational quality concocted by some of the more creative but unscrupulous entrepreneurs wanting to capture the voucher market.

Schooling is both a private and a public good. Parents, even when they are empowered and educated, generally focus on just the private returns of schooling, for instance the income that their children can earn as a result of being educated. Parents tend to be less concerned about how well their children will learn democratic values, the importance of non-racism and non-sexism, and so on. A strong public schooling system can ensure that the public benefits of schooling, which are crucial for the development of the country, are given adequate attention. This is especially relevant to us in South Africa who are trying to build a united, non-racial, and democratic society.

In rural areas, competition between schools is unlikely to be an engine of quality enhancement, simply because distances make it impossible for parents to 'shop around'. Learners are in effect forced to attend the local school. In such schools, a voucher system, in particular a voucher system of the extreme variety, is meaningless. Instead, it becomes especially important for the state to use administrative means to maintain acceptable levels of quality. It should be remembered that a significant proportion of our schools could be considered to be rural.

We are also told that we need to fund the poor equal to the value that the less poor are able to contribute from their funds to make township schools equal to those of the suburbs. Well let us, for argument sake, say that we supplement the funding of poor schools to the level of less poor schools. We will in effect have to drastically move funds from other government functions, especially social services to fund this equitable level of education resources. Alternatively, we will have to raise taxes substantially, with the resultant flight of investors and the rich to foreign shores. Alternatively, we borrow now and let future generations worry about repayment - a rather unethical option which would turn our country into a basket case at the mercy of international financial institutions.

For the record, I must correct some false perceptions about public education in our country:

- Public education is not about mimicking and yearning for the trappings of the wealthy private schools.
- Public education is about equality of quality.
- Public education is about access.
- Public education is about removing the shackles of hopelessness, about eradicating entitlement, about non-dependency.

The issue in South Africa is about building a credible public education system that allows the rich to contribute resources for the additional choices they make. It is about ensuring that we build a public school system that serves the majority of our people, rich and poor, black and white, male and female. The objective is not for us to try and provide the level of resourcing that private schools enjoy or to drive private resources underground, but for us to strive to make our public institutions work.

South Africa is the envy of many countries in that it has succeeded in MAINTAINING a credible public education system for rich and poor, black and white, in spite of its legacy of institutionalised racism. This is what we have to nurture and protect.

Conclusion

Given the magnitude of the task ahead, and in the true spirit of Tirisano, we will continue to call for all South Africans to join hands in building the type of education system that we all aspire to. We hope to strengthen public and private sector collaboration so that we can all share the glory of successes in the same way that we will share ideas on how to improve the system, and enhance the quality of learning and teaching for the benefit of all our people.

Issued by: Ministry of Education

11 September 2003

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