Budget vote address for Free State Department of Education by the Honourable MEC for Education MR P H I Makgoe Free State Provincial Legislature

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Mr Magashule
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Free State Legislature
Executive Mayor, Mayors and Councillors
Superintendent General for Education, Mr Malope and other Head of Department
Members of the management team of the Free State Department of Education
Members of teacher organisations
Representatives of the private and business sector
Our spiritual leadership
Departmental officials
Principals and educators
Parents and learners
Esteemed guests
Media representatives
Comrades and friends

“It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education. Those who do not believe this have small imaginations.” These are the words of former President Nelson Mandela in a letter which appears on the website of the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development.

In the 2009 African National Congress (ANC) 8 January statement, the President of South Africa, the Honourable Mr Jacob Zuma said, “We need to invest in the education of the population to be able to grow our economy and improve the socioeconomic status of our people. In his State of the Province Address, our Honourable Premier Mr Ace Magashule reiterated what the President said in his State of the Nation Address that education will remain a key priority for the next five years.

Let us all take heed of these wise words, lest we be condemned by posterity for having failed this country.

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to be with you here today, as we once again gather to recommit ourselves to the common objective of improving the quality of life of the people of our province and country.

Honourable Speaker, we have to go back to the basics because we know what works to produce quality education. I therefore wish to reiterate our non-negotiable as contained in our manifesto and spelt out by the President in his State of the Nation Address; that teachers should be at school, in class, on time, teaching, with no neglect of duty and no abuse of pupils. The children should also be in class, on time, learning, be respectful of their teachers and each other and do their homework. The Premier in his State of the Province Address supported the assertion when he said, “We are going to convene a meeting with all teachers to reiterate once more our non-negotiable on education as contained in our manifesto. We realise that in order to achieve effective learning and teaching, we need particularly the commitment of our teachers and the support of all role-players especially our teachers.”

Our primary responsibility is to make every public school a quality environment that enhances teaching and learning. Improving the performances of our schools is hard work but it remains the responsibility of each and every one of us in this hall. If we do not make an effort, we would be sending a wrong message to the children of this country about our commitment to their rights and well being and to the nation's future in general. To succeed, we need the commitment, imagination and passion of all those working in our schools; if we are to set aside the doubts of the cynics and the negativity of the perpetual sceptics. We must replace the culture of complacency with commitment to success. This is an indication of a movement towards a policy of zero tolerance of under performance in our schools.

Clearly, we will have to work hard at improving schools' discipline and ensure that both learners and teachers behave, at all times, in an exemplary manner, with the teachers giving the necessary leadership to learners and the community at large.

In addition, the more the teachers and the learners work together and are engaged in consistent and constructive education programmes, the better the prospects of improved and quality education results. Together with our partners and all education stakeholders and role-players we need to raise quality standards, promote accountability and improve learner achievement levels. Teachers, learners and parents are all accountable for the performance of their schools. They are also accountable to one another and to the public at large. This is what the public wants to see at our schools from both teachers and learners.

The ANC-led government has worked tirelessly over the years for the transformation of education. We place such high value on education because it is through education that the vast potential of our youth can be realised. The well-being of every person and the prosperity of our nation depend on investment in people, central to which is education.

The Free State Department of Education (FSDoE) means business. We are taking decisive steps to deal with our problems, in partnership with the academic community, an increasing number of corporate partners and the community educators. We know where the problems are. The solution to our problems resides nowhere else but in ourselves. And addressing the problems facing this department is not the end, but is a small beginning towards the ultimate goal of developing and placing our province and country among the winning nations.
We must draw the necessary lessons from our experience in this effort to meet the basic needs of the people. One of these is that the department has very limited resources to address the multiple and urgent needs of our people. It is therefore critical that we determine a proper set of priorities on which we should focus to effect a visible and sustainable improvement in the lives of the people.

We in the ANC must be very proud that our education transformation agenda is on track, thanks to the concerted efforts of all who have done their utmost to transform both the policy and the practice of the system. Through the values in education programme our schools will be trained on Values embodied in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa as a strategy to build an integrated patriotic society.

It is from this background, that I present the 2009/10 Free State Department of Education Budget Vote with the unflinching conviction that it will be able to address the many inadequacies and deficiencies in the department to bring about the much cherished relief and hope to our learners. Our theme for this financial year is getting back to the basics to deliver quality education for all.

Honourable speaker, I am humbled and honoured to present the budget vote speech for the financial year 2009/10. The following sub-programmes will be accordingly prioritised in line with the Premier’s State of the Province Address and operation Hlasela.

1. Expansion of Grade R

In the ANC’s 8 January statement President Zuma promised, “We will introduce a sustainable early childhood development system that spans both public and private sectors and give our children a head start in numeracy and literacy.” He reiterated this in his State of the Nation Address, when he further stated, “The Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme will be stepped up with the aim of ensuring universal access to Grade R and doubling the number of zero to four year old children by 2014. The Premier in his State of the Province Address also emphasised the matter when he said, “We will also intensify our programme for the universal introduction of Grade R in all our schools as a necessary foundation for meaningful education.”

The number of Grade R classes at public schools has increased from 839 to 1 023. This was an increase of 184 classes during the last financial year. A total number of 1 380 classes are now receiving a subsidy at both public and independent schools. Currently 58% (32 031 learners) of eligible learners are attending Grade R in publicly funded classes.

The Free State Department of Education intends to select and fund an additional 50 classes at public schools in the current financial year. Schools already offering Grade R without financial assistance from the department will be targeted first.

The training of 200 pre-grade R practitioners to acquire a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 5 qualifications started on 1 April 2009 and will continue until 31 March 2010. The programme caters for the cost of the training as well as stipends of R1 000.00 per month. This will enlarge the pool of qualified grade R teachers to fill vacant post.

2. Maths, science and technology initiative

The initiative to improve mathematics, science and technology will continue to receive high priority in line with the objectives of the national strategy for mathematics, science and technology education. With dedicated support to mathematics and science, we have witnessed an increase in the level of participation and improvement in the performance of learners in mathematics and science. As you would know, 3 612 learners achieved 50% and above in mathematics in the 2008 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. This number is 612 more than the target of 3000 that we had set ourselves in 2005.

It is important to recognise the contribution of the Dinaledi Schools to this achievement. While the Dinaledi schools make up 11 percent of schools taking the National Senior Certificate examinations, they have contributed 25,5% (922) to the pass rate of learners who achieved 50% and above in mathematics. I would like to commend our teachers and learners for this important achievement. May I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the support of private companies that have adopted 23 Dinaledi schools following a national call for collaboration between the government and the private sector to advance the cause of mathematics and science education.

In this regard I would like to pay tribute to Standard Bank, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Group Five, the Optima Trust, Old Mutual, Transnet, MTN and Kagiso Trust, Metropolitan Life, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Stewart Scott International and Rally to Read (McCarthy) for having demonstrated commitment to the cause of mathematics and science education. I would like to invite other partners to join this platform of collaboration for the common good of our learners.

CUT will also expand Saturday classes for grade 11 and 12 learners for mathematics and science at Thabong Vista Campus, Thaba Nchu, Botshabelo and Mangaung. Other partnerships include Voorspoed Mine to run Saturday classes on mathematics and science around Moqhaka Municipality and Sasol’s sponsor of Saturday classes at Boitjhorisong Resource Centre

We also wish to commend the University of the Free State through their centre for education development for the recent launch of a project which sets to enable and encourage learners to enter science related studies and careers. Standard Bank as the department’s partner is currently sponsoring winter school facilitated by the CUT for 2 500 grade 12 learners. The venture is funded to the tune of R1,4 million. They also intend rolling out Saturday classes for grade 11 and 12. The department would like to further thank all other partners who have continuously contributed directly or indirectly to the upliftment of education in the province.

I have set up a departmental task team to develop an expanded mathematics and science strategy to consolidate on the gains made thus far. This will assist the department to respond more holistically to areas that would still need dedicated support in improving learner attainment in mathematics and science.

We are prioritising the teaching of mathematics and science in our schools. The department will pursue the matter further in response to the call by the Premier in his State of the Province Address when he said that “working together with the national department, we will do all in our power to re-open teacher training colleges, which will focus on the retraining of teachers especially in the areas of mathematics and science.”

We also prioritise effective development of our human capital at all levels ranging from district officials, school clerical staff handling human resource matters for public servants and educators and so on. The department commissioned fifteen mathematics learning facilitators and one hundred and thirty five teachers to attend the National Congress of the Association for Mathematics Education in South Africa (AMESA) from 28 June 2009 to 3 July 2009 at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

3. Collaboration and partnership with higher education institutions

The department has embarked on a process of establishing partnership with higher education institutions within and outside the province. This initiative is intended to contribute towards total quality improvement of the education system in the province. The final outcome of all this process will culminate in conclusion of formal agreements or Memoranda of Understanding with the particular institutions.

The collaboration will be based on curriculum development and delivery, building capacity in terms of human resource management and development accredited training and development of educators in mathematics, science and technology. We will also work together on policy and research, sharing expertise on educational matters and collectively contributing towards an effective and comprehensive education human resource development strategy in the province.

The partnership with the Central University of Technology (CUT), University of the Free State and University of South Africa will help transform the education landscape by empowering our educators across all the disciplines to deliver quality education in the classroom and create African scholarship that is unique and meaningful not just to our academic community but to our broader South African society.

4. Rural education

Our resolve to improve the quality of education in our rural areas cannot be shaken we must not waive from that commitment as the Free State is largely a rural province. We are going to review and finalise our rural education strategy. The strategy will be comprehensive and deal with practical educational challenges facing our communities.

Educators, rural education agencies such as the Free State agriculture, National African Farmers Union, individual farmers, non-governmental organisations and other government departments at provincial and municipal level will also be involved. In this case I must notably mention Departments of Agriculture, Public Works and Rural Development and the Department of Water Affairs. The department will convene a provincial summit to comprehensively deal with rural education in the province. The department will furthermore establish internal capacity to deal with the process of effective implementation of the strategy.

5. Skills development

Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges

In his 8 January statement, President Jacob Zuma indicates that the ANC will place FET Colleges at the centre of a popular drive to transfer skills to our people. In this State of the Nation Address these sentiments were reiterated, “We have to ensure that training and skills development initiatives in the country respond to the requirements of the economy. The Further Education and Training Sector with its fifty colleges and 160 campuses nationally will be the primary site for skills development training.”

In an attempt to respond to the skills shortage in the country, FET Colleges in the Free State province are offering learnerships and skills programmes to enable learners to apply for trade tests to become artisans.

A decision has been taken by EXCO and the Provincial Legislature for Glen Agricultural College to move to education to support the rural development strategy and empowerment initiatives for emerging farmers.

The department will work hand in glove with the Department of Basic Education as well as the Department of Higher Education and Training regarding the expected smooth migration of FET Colleges to the higher education sector.

Technical high schools

Technical schools have the advantage of providing both academic and vocational experience. I am therefore pleased to inform the house that during this financial year we will collaborate with the national Department of Education on the recapitalisation of technical high schools to modernise their infrastructure and workshop machinery. Preparations are currently underway to determine the needs of these schools with a view to provide modern machinery and tools over three years to support teaching and learning in the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement. This will also assist in accelerating the increase of the number of artisans and to reach the objectives of Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).

6. School sport–sport, arts, culture and recreation

To pursue the course of working together to entrench education for social cohesion, sport is one vehicle that has proved its ability in this regard. The Premier’s call for 32 schools to participate in the 2010 soccer competition resonate with what the Department of Education called my 2010 school adventure project.

In collaboration with the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation all secondary schools in the province having soccer teams will participate in this tournament. The legacy of this project is not only for 32 schools from all Districts to represent countries which will be taking part in the 2010 World Cup, but to expose talent in the visual arts, invest in development of schools soccer coaches. The project will also involve learners with disabilities.
The department calls upon schools to ensure that learners are exposed to various sporting codes to be active on daily basis as strategy to improve discipline.
In collaboration with the private sector and other sister departments of government, schools without some sport equipments in quintile 1 will be clustered in order to share such equipments. This project will first be piloted in Xhariep District.

7. Human resource management and development

The department will address the temporary status of a large number of temporary educators in certain categories by converting them to permanent positions in terms of applicable legislation. The department will also finalise the redeployment of excess educators in suitable alternative posts in the Department.

We will also meet with students at higher education institutions with a view of attracting them for employment at schools when they finish their studies.
In line with the State of the Province Address, the department will be offering internships, learnerships and bursaries in the specified scarce and critical skills in the fields such as engineering, actuarial sciences, statistics, chartered accountancy, economics, environmental sciences and information technology.

The department is further ready to take on the centralised function of handling all the bursaries for the province. We are also going to forge closer working relations with the Sector Education and Training Authorities.

8. Education infrastructure

In line with the Premier’s State of the Province Address the infrastructure development programme for the current financial year focuses on the elimination of platoon schools through the completion of the building of 11 new schools and refurbishment and building of additional facilities at four schools. This project is on track and will be completed at the end of November 2009. Schools will therefore be ready for use in January 2010. The department is still facing overcrowding at some schools, but will ensure that where possible all under-utilised spaces will be used to reduce the pressure on existing spaces.

The provisioning of basic services where needed at schools (water and sanitation) will be implemented in partnership with the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). An anticipated amount of R24 million will be made available through this partnership. An amount of R9,78 million is available for day-to-day emergency maintenance at schools.

9. Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) and Kha Ri Gude

During 2008/09, more than 18 000 illiterate adults entered the Kha Ri Gude campaign and after achieving the required level of reading and numeracy skills, it is expected that these graduates will be joining ABET centres to continue at ABET level two.

The first focus in ABET will be on implementing the revised curriculum content and assessment practices that have come about as a result of the registration of the revised ABET General Education and Training (GET) qualification in January 2009. The revised qualification will give adult learners a wider choice of vocationally orientated learning areas and provide a wonderful opportunity for ABET learners to increase their employment generating skills, whilst attaining a formal qualification which is more relevant to adult needs.

The second focus for 2009 is supporting the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign which aims to reach 1,74 million illiterate adults nationally by 2015. The campaign is implemented in provinces by the national Department of Education through volunteers who receive a stipend. It is expected that the newly literate adults will continue with life-long learning opportunities, in for example ABET centres.

10. Broadening access to education and alleviating poverty

National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

In line with the Premier’s announcement in his State of the Province Address, the School Nutrition Program will be reviewed this year, to ensure that the procurement of nutritional foods and the feeding of our needy children are done by local business and local women groups, who are better placed to run an effective and empowering programme.

The other policy matter linked to this new approach is about creating jobs for local businesses especially women. Working with the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Trade and Industry, local women groups will be established as cooperatives which are an important aspect of economic empowerment for local economies.

The department is going to extend the NSNP to 90 secondary schools, mainly in Quintile 1 and 2. The period from now till then will be utilised for buying equipment and utensils for training of food handlers. The programme will be started in September 2009. This is in line with the aspirations of the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF).

Hostel project for farm schools

The department will expand the hostel project for farm school learners to reduce dependency on the learner transport and to improve the quality of education provisioning to farm school learners. This is also another project of Operation Hlasela as announced by the Honourable Premier in his State of the Province Address.

An additional five hostels will be prepared for opening in January 2010. Two of these hostels will be in Thaba Mofutsanyana, two in Fezile Dabi and one in Xhariep. These hostels will accommodate a further 500 farm school learners where they will be accommodated with subsidisation.

Due to the impact of this programme, the department identified a total of 24 hostels that could potentially be opened over the next two years. The planning will commence with immediate effect.

11. Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM)

Honourable speaker, we consider learning and teaching support material as one of the most important instruments for promoting equity, redress and quality teaching and learning for all in the public education system. The department, therefore, has the responsibility to ensure that all public schools have learning and teaching support material on or before the first day of school in any school year. It is therefore imperative that we do our best to ensure timeous delivery of learning and teaching support material.

Provision of LTSM will be reviewed so as to be cost effective and to allow delivery on a bigger scale and on time. With the entire available budget learners will become beneficiaries in the process.

12. Safety in schools

The FSDoE has provided schools in the interim with a school safety policy whilst the provincial school safety policy has just been approved by the education labour relations council. 525 school safety officers and 76 school management developers received training on school safety and are currently training other schools in their clusters.

The FSDoE will train school principals on drug testing in line with the legislation during this financial year. School safety and the protection of school property must have the involvement of School Governing Bodies (SGB) and the whole school community. We will also intensify our efforts to combat carrying and possession of dangerous weapons in all our schools.

13. Winter classes

To improve the National Senior Certificate results in underperforming schools, the department targeted schools that obtained less than 40% in grade 12 examinations of the previous year to attend extra classes during the Easter and winter school holidays. Successful extra classes were held during the Easter holidays.

The department encouraged schools to initiate extra classes on their own. Schools identified the subjects that need extra support, grouped themselves in clusters and identified educators to facilitate. Other schools continued on their own. We commend and congratulate all such schools for their concerted efforts and their commitment to improve the quality of their results. Individual educators will receive letter of acknowledgement for their dedication in sacrificing their time without any demand for stipends.

14. School governance

Scholl Governing Bodies (SGBs) are the key partners of the department in the delivery of quality education. Our special plea to them is that they prioritise the interest of education as they take decisions on behalf of schools. The FSDoE successfully held school governing body elections from 1 June 2009 to 30 June 2009. The elections were preceded by numerous advocacy campaigns and the training of electoral officers. The department worked in collaboration with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in local municipalities. The monitoring of the elections was done by district and head office officials. The FSDoE has received accolades from the national Department of Education for the manner in which the elections were conducted. The elected SGBs will receive initial training during this financial year stretching from September to December 2009 in accordance with legislation; the newly elected SGBs will take up their positions on 1 August 2009.

15. Conclusion

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the priorities that I have outlined will be the foundation of our work for the 2009/10 financial year. Allow me, therefore, to express my sincere appreciation to all our partners in the public and private sectors, the donor community, non-governmental organisations, community and faith-based organisations, unions, higher education institutions and all other stakeholders for their continued support in helping us realize our vision and mission of improving the lives of our citizens by providing them with quality education and training. Without your individual and collective efforts there would be no meaningful education transformation in our province and country. The government, despite its good intentions and commitment, will not be able to surmount these obstacles on its own.

Comrades, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, I fully believe that we can turn all our schools into centres of excellence. We have that power in our hands. Let us declare war on ignorance, mediocrity and pessimism and enhance the functionality of our schools and the education system. Parents, too, have a responsibility to ensure that education succeeds in this country. They should do this for the sake of their children, their country and their own sake.

Oscar Wilde had this to say about their responsibility, "Children start by loving their parents. After a time they judge them on their actions. If they find fault with how they brought them up, they rarely forgive them."

We wish to call on members of this house and every member of the department, parents, teachers and learners and other partners in education, to join hands in making sure that we indeed succeed in our efforts of creating a better life for all our people. Our vision is a shared vision; our task must therefore be a shared task.

And please remember ladies and gentlemen that ‘success is a journey, not a destination. All we need is a plan to get started on our journey.’ We have that plan. I would like to record my gratitude and appreciation to all the teachers and principals, school governing bodies and learner organisations. A special word of appreciation is extended to the superintendent-general, senior management and all employees of the FSDoe for their sterling work, often under difficult conditions. With your commitment and support, it becomes possible to realise our goals.

May I offer my heartfelt thanks to the Premier, the Executive Council, Portfolio Committees and the Provincial Legislature for their personal and professional support that sustains me always. I also wish to offer a word of thanks to my party, the African National Congress. I wish to extend my thanks to the support staff in my office.

Finally I wish to record a very special thanks to my wife and children for all the support and assistance they have always given me. It is important that all of us see ourselves and act as partners in the struggle to reaffirm the inalienable right of our children to quality education.

Allow me therefore, Honourable Speaker, to quote one of the ANC political activist and former Deputy Minister of Education, Father Simangaliso Mkhatshwa when he had this to say about quality education, "Quality education is non-negotiable. It is the cornerstone of our democratic process and a pillar of our growth and development strategy. Quality education is central to our country's objective to improve our capacity. If we renounce our right to quality education, then we have abdicated our role as co-architects of a democratic society. If we cannot face this challenge and provide a solution to the many challenges facing our education, we shall be flushing our country's future down the drain."

We fully concur with this assertion.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Education, Free Sate Provincial Government
27 July 2009


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