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17 May 2005

Madam Speaker
Honourable Members

Last year I undertook to pay close attention to the quality of education. This remains our most challenging aspiration. I shall report today on some progress in our efforts and on our intended programme to accelerate progress and secure transformation in education.

One of the early lessons for every minister of education in our still young democracy is the painful realisation that the terrible impact and imprint of apartheid education is as hard and as unyielding as a crocodile’s skin. This is not an excuse by any means; rather it is acknowledgement of the immense task that faces our entire nation.

Doors of learning and culture opened

Madam Speaker, today we have chosen to focus on the still relevant 50-year-old clarion call of the Freedom Charter, which stated: “the doors of learning and culture shall be opened”.

In the 11 years of freedom our government has done more than any other government to open the doors of learning and culture. Thousands of our teachers are now better qualified, pro-poor nutrition programmes ensure that young learners do not go hungry at school, our participation rates are comparable to those in developed countries, more girls than boys participate in secondary school, the backlogs in infrastructure have been aggressively reduced, and early childhood development and grade R programmes have been significantly expanded.

It is accurate to state that we have opened the doors of learning and culture, and expanded access to education.

Members would be aware that I initiated a review of whether schools were ready to introduce the new curriculum in the further education and training (FET) band in 2006.

The council of education ministers has agreed that we should proceed with the phased introduction of the new curriculum and provinces have committed to improved training and support activities.

The inadequate levels of preparedness that were identified in the readiness review have led us to develop detailed plans and actions that allow for a smooth transition to the new curriculum.

These plans will provide parents and learners with clarity on the requirements of the new curriculum and support to the further education and training level teachers.

In the next few weeks the following will be dealt with:

* Publication for comment of the draft requirements for the new certificate.

These internationally benchmarked requirements are:

* at least two languages, one of which must be the language of learning and teaching,
* mathematics or mathematical literacy,
* life orientation and three additional approved subjects.

The new framework provides the opportunity for learners to acquire the knowledge and skills to participate actively in and contribute to a democratic South African society and economy.

* We will also develop and communicate detailed assessment requirements for each subject in grades 10, 11 and 12.
* Provide intensive training of educators to ensure as full a development and preparation of teachers for the new curriculum. This will be followed by structured professional development courses over the next three years.
* Support for the selection of learner and teaching materials including textbooks.

On Sunday I read reports in the press that English was to be made optional in schools. The report suggested that children will no longer learn English. That is not the intention of the policy. It opens up the possibility of developing the other official languages into languages of learning and teaching. Clearly while we work to achieve this noble objective, the current choice of English and Afrikaans as the languages of learning and teaching will remain. In the past, before 1998, pupils were locked into a system that privileged Afrikaans and English for those in search of a matric endorsement. That is now no longer true and all languages will now be equally available as subject choices.

I turn now to the budget itself. Budget 2005 focuses on teachers’ remuneration, financial assistance to higher education students, and the development of the FET college sector. All these educational issues are strategically interlinked in a drive to provide quality education.

Teachers are at the heart of quality education. Budget 2005 allocates an additional R6.9 billion to improve the salaries of teachers: R2.7 billion is for the 2004/5 carry through costs of existing agreements; R4.2 billion will be used for expanding pay progression, for performance rewards, and for targeted incentives. Arrangements agreed at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) will be implemented (100 full-time shop stewards, clinical counsellors in schools and therapists). Attention will also be given to creating career paths for experienced educators and improved conditions for school principals.

In this year the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) will also focus on determining concrete strategies directed at ensuring we train more teachers in areas of critical need. The recent ELRC study into the determinants of educator supply and demand indicates a need for action.

We have also begun the challenging process of implementing the integrated quality management system, a tool that is an important addition to our efforts to ensure that every child in our schools enjoys a quality learning and teaching experience.

The Freedom Charter also states the following: “Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit”.

We have responded to the legacy of denial of opportunity for high-level skills training through the provision of financial assistance to poor but academically able entrants to higher education.

This is surely one of the major success stories of our time.

In recognition of the important role of student financial support in our higher education system, in the 2005 budget the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) received an additional R776 million above the original medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) estimates for the current period. (1) This sum means that there is a 50% increase in funding over 2004 alone. The additional amount confirms government’s commitment to supporting the access of students to higher education.

Opening doors to learning and culture

Since becoming Minister of Education exactly a year ago, I have met with many stakeholders and members of the public.

In my interaction with them and in the process of implementing the education programme, my attention has been drawn to six core issues – six doors of learning and culture that are difficult to open or that offer restricted access to what lies within.

Each of these features of learning and culture requires decisive, effective, and coherent responses from us as policy makers and implementers in the field of education.

Today I will be able give some insight into the ways in which we plan to address these core issues – the way in which we plan to open these doors. If we fail, we will not honour the principles and spirit of the Freedom Charter.

Door one: reaching untapped potential

At the first door of learning the door knob is beyond the reach of many of our pre-school children. Parents and early childhood development providers say this everyday.

Earlier this year we held a successful international conference on early childhood development (ECD). The importance of investment in pre-school learning was forcefully brought home to all. Studies show that the impact of such early education lasts forever. It is an idea whose time has come, an idea that was planted in early African National Congress (ANC) education policy and one that we are committed to in our search for quality education for all.

We will provide grade R places to all children by the year 2010. During the coming year I will be finalising funding norms and standards for grade R, in line with White Paper 5.

Beyond this we need to ensure that at the community level we reach children at an early age. A draft integrated plan has been developed by the education department, in collaboration with the office on the rights of the child, the department of social development and the department of health. It is going through governmental approval processes.

Our pre-primary children are not the only group of children who have difficulty making it to the first door of learning. The knob of the first door is beyond the reach of thousands of rural children.

We are currently studying three major reports on rural education - a ministerial committee report, the Nelson Mandela Foundation report on rural schooling, and related aspects of the ELRC study into the determinants of educator supply and demand.

As part of a range of interventions we are considering setting up a forum in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to support a continuing focus on rural education issues and to act on the key recommendations of the rural education ministerial committee.

The department has, with representatives of farmers and provincial departments, taken steps to set up a task team to investigate the status of farm schools. Consideration will also be given to whether the system of farm schools is the most appropriate for the provision of equitable education to rural children. The hostel-based schools in the Free State provide a useful example of a future direction.

Door two: school fees and no-fee schools

The second door of learning often closes in the face of parents who cannot pay school fees or the associated costs of schooling; their children are victimised in school principals’ offices, in classrooms, and during leisure time. Poor parents’ property is seized; school governing bodies refuse to assist parents who are entitled to a fee exemption.

The Freedom Charter states: “Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children”. In our Constitution we committed ourselves to a right to basic education, unqualified by the availability of resources or a progressive realisation of the right. It is clear that much more needs to be done to ensure that exercise of this right is available in all schools whatever their financial means or location.

The strategies we devise will have to ensure that previously under funded and marginalized schools have the means and opportunity to become quality centres of teaching and learning. In this regard, the time has come to re-look at the current post provisioning model and its efficacy in terms of the objectives I have outlined. Are we able to ensure that publicly funded posts provide schools with teachers that can offer a full curriculum? Are teachers not being asked to do too much when they have to teach more than one subject at FET level? These are all issues that are inextricably linked to the riddles we must resolve if we are to achieve quality access for all. In a nutshell, honourable members, I am asking whether our strategies have allowed us to bridge the gulf of apartheid education or trapped us in a whirlpool of inadequate progress?

There are hundreds of schools that have overcome the odds and struggled to deliver a quality education. They must become the rule rather than the exception.

The teachers and pupils from Zola High, who are with us today, represent one of these extraordinary schools. They won the most improved school award for 2004 – in recognition of the success of their “turnaround strategy”.

Quality goes beyond teaching. In our system it also still includes the ability to pay fees. We are committed to providing access to quality education for all. To ensure the erosion of fee-based exclusion we will be introducing no-fee schools from next year as well as improved funding support to learners. The marginalization of poor learners in schools because of their parents’ inability to pay school fees will come to an end.

The draft policy on funding norms was published in November; public comments have been absorbed into a new version that will soon become gazetted policy.

The new approach will promote several imperatives. It will set the value of the school allocation at realistic levels. The draft bill proposes improved allocations for a range of cost items that pose a barrier to schooling. It will help to address the current inadequate implementation of the fee exemption system. Fee exemptions will continue to be provided in fee-based public schools.

Door three: school governing bodies and language

The third door is one to which the powerful people on school governing bodies (SGBs) keep the keys. These bodies tend to be very selective in opening the door to some and keeping it closed to others.

There are some 200 000 individuals on SGBs. They have the power to set admissions policy, to determine what language or languages will be used in school and to assist parents set fees. To the majority of them, I say thank you for your dedicated service and commitment to the children of our country. Sadly others ruin the good work. Instead of supporting the school sector in promoting access, democratisation, and quality, they have made public schools their personal property.

We need to determine a fresh positive mandate for structures of governance so that SGBs support our core objective of opening up and creating schools that are for all South Africans. In this regard I shall initiate a review of the South African Schools Act to identify ways in which it may be amended to respond to our challenge of access and transformation and to establish whether all its current provisions are relevant to our needs after eleven years of democracy.

Language can and has been used as a tool of exclusion in our schools. As I have stated before, language in education cannot be seen solely as being about English or Afrikaans. The previously marginalized languages of our country require attention and affirmation. In this regard it is my view that we need to develop a language policy that vigorously and effectively promotes South African indigenous languages in all our schools.

This must not be read as an intention to neglect the relevance of acquiring competence in English; that would be a foolhardy objective on any minister’s part. Our endeavour must be to ensure that the future history of indigenous languages, those spoken by the majority of black people in South Africa, those previously neglected and under-developed, move from the margins into centre stage in education.

I hope all members will agree that the time has come to make the learning of an African indigenous language compulsory in all our schools.

This approach confirms that the government is not against any language in our country. All languages must be promoted and allowed to thrive. There is no campaign against single-medium Afrikaans schools. There is no anti-Afrikaans campaign. There is a campaign to ensure that all our children have school places.

Door four: higher education enrolment planning

The fourth door is a revolving door. Many students and academics in higher education tell me the doors in their institutions are revolving doors that trap people in a never-ending cycle of poor performance and inadequate intellectual challenge.

Recently there have been suggestions that this is the result of state under-funding. I do not disagree entirely. However, funding is not the sole underlying reason. There are several contributory elements and each of them must be attended to.

We accept that the appropriate level of government funding is essential if the higher education system is to meet national development goals, and if the quality and outputs of the system are to improve.

In October last year, I announced a Treasury/Education joint study of higher education funding. It will assist us in identifying the critical areas for action. One of these is improved efficiency. The current institutional restructuring processes plus the proposal on institutional student enrolment targets are part of this attempt at devising solutions.

Widening access to the higher education system has to be determined in the context of the available resources. The national plan makes this clear; unregulated growth is a threat to quality and sustainability.

However, despite the caveats in the national plan, in the recent past the higher education system has grown more rapidly than the available resources. The resultant short-fall in funding has put severe pressure on infrastructure and personnel, thus compromising the ability of higher education institutions to discharge their teaching and research mandate. This cannot continue if the higher education system is to contribute to the national development agenda.

What has emerged from our research and our detailed consultations with higher education institutions is that universities and universities of technology are producing fewer graduates than they should, and that one of the main causes of this under-production is the high level of student drop-out. A cohort study undertaken of the 120 000 students entering higher education in 2000 suggests this. Apparently that cohort may not achieve an overall graduation rate of even 40%.

We have sent our proposals on student enrolments to institutions of higher education and await the response of vice-chancellors.

It is worth noting that most countries set limits on the number of students they are able to fund.

Our proposal on enrolment planning does not depart in any way from our commitment to examine the overall level of higher education funding. Our success in the sector will be assured through planned enrolment, planned growth and improved sectoral co-operation. An efficient, adequate, well-resourced and responsive system of higher education is an attribute for any society.

2004 and 2005 have witnessed significant developments in higher education. The first set of mergers and incorporations have been concluded and over R500 million of restructuring (including recapitalisation) funding has been allocated over the last financial year - UWC and UFH are among the beneficiaries. We have also seen the first signs of the important contribution to quality promotion that will be provided by the HEQC quality assurance work. The HEC published a cogent and well-researched report on higher education in our first ten years of democracy; and South Africa hosted the AAU.

The sterling leadership role that of the Interim Councils and several of our vice chancellors deserves public acknowledgement and recognition. The process of change has been a welcome indication of the resolute skill and ingenuity that exists in higher education. I believe this talent in leadership is able to assist us in the ongoing work of fully transforming higher education in South Africa. In this regard each of us will have to ensure that our discussion and debates on the sector are not crudely conducted in the public domain. The sector is too important to be dealt with in that way.

I have noted with some concern the views that planning for success in human resource development is unnecessary. No system or government can accept the present consequences of unplanned growth. We must determine our path of growth in access and ensure that the revolving door becomes a door of increased opportunities and skills.

Our congratulations too to Professor Pityana and his HESA executive. The creation of a unified higher education leadership body is another sign of positive progress.

Door five: further education and skills for a modern economy

The fifth door is currently a trapdoor. Further education students fall through a trapdoor into a shaft of limited skills and training opportunity. We need to have a door that opens into many rooms, many more skills development opportunities, and greater responsiveness to the economic trajectory of a modern developmental South Africa.

R1 billion will be invested in the re-capitalisation of FET public colleges in the financial years 2006/7 and 2007/8. In the 2005/6 financial year R50 million will be used to develop a detailed situation analysis and work plans that will direct use of the R1 billion over the 2006/7 to 2007/8 period.

Re-capitalisation of FET colleges will:

* Increase the number of students enrolled in high-quality vocational programmes.
* Develop high quality modern and responsive FET programme offerings.
* Focus on the development and employment needs and opportunities related to the major capital development projects over the next ten years.

The provincial education departments are the key agents in assisting the colleges to develop their re-capitalisation plans. They will ensure that there is no unnecessary duplication in programme offerings and that key gaps in relation to skill shortages are plugged. Provincial departments of education will link college recapitalisation plans to the provincial growth and development strategies.

This year will also see the development of a colleges Act as well as changes to the FET Act of 1998.

The FET colleges are a significant part of our national human resource development strategy. Government has made significant commitments to the sector due to our recognition that it is a vital lever in the promotion of economic growth, in skills development, and in strengthening partnerships between government, the private sector and higher education institutions.

Door six: opening the hidden access to adult education

The sixth door, one that should not be the last door of learning, is one that remains hidden for millions of adult learners.

The Freedom Charter states, “Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan”.

While we have developed a mass plan, an act, a national literacy initiative, a linking with sector education and training authorities (SETAs), and a quality assurance system, it is clear that we need to do more. It is clear that we have not met our targets for improving literacy among adults.

In this regard, I will establish a ministerial committee to investigate models of mass literacy provision. During my recent visit to Cuba, I signed a letter of intent with my Cuban counterpart, Dr Luis Gomez, which included an intention to investigate South Africa’s adoption and adaptation of a Cuban-inspired mass literacy model currently in use in Venezuela and New Zealand. I will direct the ministerial committee to consider the Cuban programme carefully.

I will also be finalising funding norms and standards for funding adult learning centres, as I am convinced that clearer mechanisms outlining the distribution of public funds will make public provisioning of adult basic education and training (ABET) more responsive.

Closing

In closing, I have outlined our three spending priorities for the coming year and the six doors that will be forcefully pushed open in the coming years. I trust that hon. Members will join me in finally making the Freedom Charter a living document for millions in South Africa.

I would like to conclude by thanking the Portfolio Committee for Education and provincial MECs for education, and teachers for their hard work in ensuring that South Africa becomes a learning nation. Without all your efforts there would be no meaningful educational transformation in this country.

I would like to record my thanks and appreciation to Deputy Minister Surty, to the previous Director-General, Mr Thami Mseleku, and the new Director-General, Mr Duncan Hindle, and all his staff who work so hard in managing the work of the Ministry and the Department of Education.

I would also like to thank my family, my husband Sharif and the children for their endless love, support and patience. Thanks too to the various people who assisted with today’s budget vote preparations.

Footnote: (1) The Department transfers to NSFAS the following sums: R864,1 million in 2005/6, R926,4 million in 2006/7, and R1,1 billion in 2007/8. Other revenue comprises donor funds and loan repayments (Treasury, Estimates of National Expenditure 2005, p. 328).

Budget Vote 15: Education for 2005/06: Summary

ALLOCATION FOR 2005/06 VS 2004/05
(Contact the Department of Education for the details, the notes are included below.)

1. The increase of R548,987 million in 2005/06 is due, mainly to an inflation related adjustment. The new funding framework will be phased in from the 2005/06 financial year. It is a goal-oriented and performance-related distributive mechanism that explicitly links the allocation of funds to academic activity and output, and, in particular, to the delivery of teaching and research-related services that contribute to the social and economic development of the country.

2. The total cost for the restructuring of the higher education system is estimated at R1,9 billion for the period 2001/02 to 2006/07.

3. This represents an increase of R285,572 million for NSFAS awards. R60 million of the R849,572 million will be utilised for teacher training in 2005/06. The scheme so far has awarded R4 billion in loans to 360,000 students. An amount of R299,6 million has been recovered from loans, and will be re-injected into the NSFAS in the 2005/06 financial year. The recovered loan amount represents an increase of 34% from 2004/05 to 2005/06 financial years.

4. NSFAS is responsible for allocation of loans and bursaries to eligible students, and for the administration thereof. Their duties also include the raising of funds, recovering of loans, maintaining and analysing a database and advising the Minister on matters relating to student financial aid.

5. An increase of R16 million in the subsidy to the CHE. An amount of R16 million was top sliced from the higher education institutions allocation to cater for the higher education quality assurance function.

6. An increase in transfer payments to SAQA of R10,421 million, which represents an increase of 48%. Based on the NQF review funds could be shifted to Umalusi and CHE.

7. An increase of 13% in the transfer payments to Umalusi. This is brought about by the additional responsibility allocated to this public entity.

8. The increase of 6% in the transfer payments to Fulbright Commission is due mainly to an inflation related adjustment. The funds of the Commission consist of money appropriated by Parliament and the government of the United States of America, and donations and contributions.

9. The decrease in the provision made for the payment of South Africa’s annual membership fee to UNESCO, which is the responsibility of the Department of Education is due to the favourable Rand/Dollar exchange rate and a decrease in the membership fees because of the USA joining UNESCO as a new member country and therefore, contributing substantially. The amount is payable in Dollars and Euros and is directly influenced by the exchange rate.

10. The decrease of R65 000 to SETA due to the fact that the original budget for transfers to SETA in 2004/05 was calculated as 30% of 1% of the salary bill and it changed to 10% of 1% of the salary bill.

11. The transfer payment of R10 000 to the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). This is a new transfer that was introduced in the 2004/05 Adjustments Estimate. It is an annual contribution to ADEA by African Ministries of Education, as a way of expressing their commitments to ADEA and reinforcing the spirit of partnership between Ministries of Education and agencies.

12. Contribution to the Commonwealth of Learning remains the same at R1 million.

13. An increase of R79,951 million to the National School Nutrition Programme conditional grant to provincial education departments. The purpose of this conditional grant is to serve meals at about 15,000 schools to more than 5 million learners by 10:00 daily. The Department will ensure that all schools in the nodal areas that have been identified benefit from the nutrition programme, and that the programme progressively extends to rural and township schools by not later than 2006. The function of the National School Nutrition Programme was shifted from the Department of Health to Education with effect from 1 April 2004. An amount of R1 098 million has been recommended for 2006/07, and R1 153 million for 2007/08 financial years.

14. An increase of R7,714 million to the HIV and Aids conditional grant to provincial education departments. The purpose of this conditional grant is to improve and consolidate HIV and Aids prevention and mitigation responses at all levels of the education system and to reach all public schools and FET Colleges in nodal areas and informal settlements by the end of the 2005 school year.

15. An increase of R6,767 million on compensation of employees’ expenditure is due to the increase in the Department’s staff establishment as a result of the restructuring of the Department and general salary increases due to the annual improvements in the conditions of service. An amount of R24,895 million is for the payment to examiners and moderators.

16. The 5% increase in the Department’s operations is due mainly to an inflation related adjustment.

17. The allocation of R10,0 million towards education management information system will be utilised to improve the learner information reporting functionality through the acquisition of a Business Intelligence Reporting System.

18. An amount of R27,17 million has been allocated for the Department’s new building in the 2005/06 financial year.

19. A 50% decrease in the implementation of the revised national curriculum statements (GET) is due mainly to less printing done by the Department as provincial departments will do their own printing. With the successful implementation of the revised national curriculum statements (GET) in the foundation phase in 2004, the Department will concentrate on the implementation of the new curriculum in the intermediate phase in 2005 and the senior phase in 2006 and 2007. Although the delivery of the curriculum is a provincial responsibility, the introduction of a new curriculum policy, which imposes significant extra demands on the system in terms of materials production and teacher training, is the co-responsibility of the national Education Department.

20. The allocation of R7 million towards curriculum writing and implementation will be utilised to embarked on a comprehensive advocacy campaign to ensure that all stakeholders are sufficiently knowledgeable about the phased implementation of the national curriculum statement in grades 10 to 12. The communication plan will incorporate the implementation period 2005 to 2008.

21. The allocation of R50 million towards the recapitalisation of FET Colleges will be utilised to develop an FET Sector plan, to finalise national, provincial and college recapitalisation plans, to collect data/information on skills shortages and labour market trends and to ensure that tenders and contracts are developed and awarded by the beginning of the 2006/07 financial year.

Furthermore, the national strategy is divided into two phases that will take place over a four-year period. Phase one will take place in year one (2005/06) followed by phase two taking place in years two, three and four.

Phase One: Building systems and capacity (R50 million)

During this phase, the Department will use the resources to plan for the implementation of the programme. In this regard, a National Technical Support Team (NTST) will be set up at the Department to assist with this process. This will be an expertise driven task team responsible for providing strategic support and to assist in the day to day running of the project. This team will have two major roles. Firstly, it would perform a strategic role intended to support and assist the Department in the finalisation of the FET Sector Plan.

Secondly, the team will provide project management support for the implementation of recapitalisation. It will consist of specialists in labour market analysts, project management, policy, planning, finance, governance, programmes, qualifications and human resource development. They will be operationally linked to the Chief Directorate responsible for colleges.

The NTST will have two task teams; viz. the Strategic Support Task Team and the College Recapitalisation Task Team.

Phase Two: Promoting innovation (R1,5 billion over three years)

The funds for the next three years will be used to implement the recapitalisation programme in all colleges in order to level the playing field. The funds will be used for infrastructure, equipment programme development and institutional development to promote curriculum responsiveness to national skills needs, support niche specialisations and reward best practice.

Issued by: Department of Education
17 May 2005