MPL, for the 2007/08 financial year
19 June 2007
"Prioritising Quality Education and Skills Development for a Better
Life"
Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Distinguished guests
Colleagues, friends, comrades
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
The Doors of Learning and Culture shall be opened!
The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the
enhancement of our cultural life.
All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all by free exchange
of books, ideas and contact with other lands. The aim of education shall be to
teach the youth to love their people and their culture to honour human
brotherhood, liberty and peace. Education shall be free, compulsory, universal
and equal for all children. Higher education and technical training shall be
opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the
basis of merit.
Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass State education plan. Teachers
shall have all the rights of other citizens. The colour bar in cultural life,
in sport and in education shall be abolished.
Speaker , the Freedom Charter which is now more than 50 years old continues
to be our guiding document looking at the masses of our people coming from
different classes, genders, ages, racial groups and different parts of the
country, we can pride ourselves and say yes as Gauteng Department of Education
we are doing very well. A lot has been covered and there is no doubt we are
getting there! As the Premier would always say, "A better Gauteng is in the
making!"
Speaker, imagine young and old, father and daughter, mother and son, poet
and dancer, musician and sculptor, artists and writer, future practitioners of
different professions, across race and class all being prepared for life under
one roof all bustling, mingling, learning, sharing and creating. Speaker, this
is the business of the Gauteng Department of Education. A microcosm of
community life connected by a common purpose, building a better life for all as
the ruling party demands from all its public representatives for the people of
South Africa and Gauteng province.
I, Angelina Motshekga, the MEC for Education in this province presents the
2007/08 education Budget Vote driven by the vision articulated in the Freedom
Charter. Knowing very well that my party, the African National Congress (ANC),
is serious about making sure that there is a better life for all and comrade
Speaker, without doubt of contradiction we are fully convinced that education,
yes education, is one of the key levers that our people the poor in particular
have as a weapon at their disposal to fight poverty, joblessness, disease and
economic exclusion.
The success of the Gauteng global city region, our Growth and Development
Strategy (GDS), our Social Development Strategy, our Human Resources
Development Strategy (HRDS) or be it the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative for South Africa (Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South
Africa) � Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) are all
dependent on education as they all stand to rise on the effectiveness of the
education system and we in the Education Department are fully aware of this
important task facing us. This is why, Speaker, every year we remain very
appreciative to this government's commitment to education as is evidenced by
annual increases in the education budget in the face of other equally pressing
needs that the state has.
Education continues to be a key tool at our disposal to enable us to reshape
and reconstitute the values, ideology and culture of our society in a manner
that will continue to break down the colonial relations that still haunt South
Africa's political, social and economic landscape. Whilst we are confident that
we are making progress, there is no denying that the ghosts of our past are not
yet completely behind us.
The provincial strategic thrust "developing healthy, skilled and productive
people" makes a clear and direct demand on education. The demand is that
education must become relevant to the people of Gauteng so that they are not
only literate and numerate but they are the best skilled people who are
employable within the economy, who are productive within society, who are
entrepreneurial, who are self employable and who are committed to lifelong
learning.
We have inherited some of the best schools from the old education system.
Good infrastructure and fortunately left in the hands of very responsible,
highly professional and capable principals and educators, true South African
professionals who undoubtedly have embraced the new vision and mission of our
country. These managers run these schools extremely efficient and with changing
demographic patterns, easier mobility and efficient admission policies,
children of different races benefit from these schools. Last year when the
Minister of Education launched her club of 100 top schools in the country,
using very high standards for qualifying, the majority of the schools to
qualify came from Gauteng.
During one of the visits organised by Member Boers, we discovered that these
schools out of their own initiatives were partnering with some of our poorly
performing schools in disadvantaged communities sharing with them resources,
expertise and enabling their children opportunities to socialise.
Unfortunately, these schools are beginning to be under pressure from more and
more learners demanding spaces in these schools because of new developments and
settlements in the inner cities.
On the other hand, Speaker, the terrible carcass of apartheid education in
predominantly black areas continues to haunt us. The 16 June 1976 and the
rejection of apartheid were events in a huge educational problem plagued by
inadequate access, poor performance and inadequate or no learning spaces to
meet education demand of the time. A problem and a battle that had been ongoing
even before the apartheid regime, problems from missionary education with its
colonial agenda to apartheid education that was forthright, brutal and vicious.
At least Dr Hendrik Verwoerd was forthright, when in 1953 the apartheid
government enacted the Bantu Education Act, which established a Black Education
Department under the Department of Native Affairs he said, "The role of this
Department was to compile a curriculum that suited the nature and requirements
of the black people." He further stated, "Natives (blacks) must be taught from
an early age that equality with Europeans (whites) is not for them." Black
people were not to receive an education that would lead them to aspire to
positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society. Instead they are to
receive education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own
people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites.
Under Bantu Education there was a severe lack of facilities and the learner
educator ratios increased from 46:1 in 1955 to 58:1 in 1967. Overcrowded
classrooms were used on a rotation basis and plattoning was rife. (Mr Quil,
Manyofonyofo ruri)
There was also a lack of teachers and many of those who did teach were under
qualified. In 1961, only 10 percent of black teachers held a matriculation
certificate.
Because of the government's homelands policy, no new high schools were built
in Soweto between 1962 and 1971; students were meant to move to their relevant
homeland to attend schools in the newly built schools there. It was only after
1972 the government gave in to pressure from business to improve the Bantu
Education system to meet business's need for a better trained black workforce.
Forty new schools were built in Soweto. Between 1972 and 1976 the number of
pupils at secondary schools increased from 12 656 to 34 656. One in five Soweto
children was attending secondary school. Now in 1976, the Department of Bantu
Education announced that it was removing the standard six year from primary
schools. Over 257 505 qualified for form 1, but there was space for only 38
000. Many of the students therefore remained at primary school and there was
also huge chaos, even at primary level.
In 1975 the South African government spent R644 a year on a white child's
education but only R42 on a black child. Simply unthinkable! Coming from a
political party whose ethos is on putting people first, informed by humanist
values of respect for self, others, peace, environment and just generally all
the people of its country. The Department of Education and Training (DET)
issued its decree that Afrikaans was to become a language of instruction at
school; it was into an already volatile situation. Students objected to being
taught in the language of people they regarded as oppressors. Many teachers
themselves could not speak Afrikaans, but were now required to teach their
subjects in it.
Speaker, this history is still here with us. Beginning of this year, I
visited all my alma mater, where I did my sub A more than 40 years back, the
school that the apartheid government built for the African child, still looks
the same only the principal has an office, the infrastructure which was not
designed to be permanent is definitely giving-in except our peoples' strong
will to do the best they can against odds is keeping those schools running as
best as possible. Hence, Speaker, under the able leadership of the Premier with
the 20 priority township programme a conscious effort to address this legacy
has started and with our turn around strategy will also be giving these areas
special attention in areas of curricula, teacher and management support.
Speaker, I also want to put on record that today in Gauteng, we have
achieved a learner educator ratio of 36:1 in Gauteng there is hardly any person
teaching that is unqualified. Today, we have over 1,8 million learners in
schools boasting a gross enrolment ratio of over 100% in primary and secondary
schooling and that today in Gauteng we spend over R7,000 per learner across
ordinary schools.
A necessary and critical condition for advancing the objective of the social
transformation agenda is building the capacity of the African people in
particular and blacks in general to advance the emancipation of the working
class. This capacity must be multi faceted and must include the development of
social consciousness, the intellectual capacity to apply and sharpen the
theoretical underpinnings of the transformation, the skills necessary to
mediate technology for economic growth and development.
As a result of the strategic location of the Department of Education in
economic growth and development in the Gauteng province and the realisation of
the strategic goals of the province, we will respond to all these challenges
through the way in which we fund the various education programmes.
The education system sits at a peculiar and correctly so position because it
is affected by all the challenges that emanates from the communities it is
servicing, societal problems immediately present themselves in the schooling
system and we are called upon to respond.
Members, take the topical issue of learner pregnancy in reality that is not
an educational problem, it is a general societal problem but we are called upon
as education to respond to it without saying it is a health or social
development problem. As we spend most of the time with these young people and
we are rightfully called upon to respond. We will ensure that the education
system is responsive to the needs of broader society.
Drug peddling in schools is instigated and controlled by drug lords, who are
also members of the immediate community and who consciously spills this trade
into our schools. Is society allowing the turning its own children into drug
moles, the same with youth criminality and violence in and around schools? All
these challenges come from outside the school into the school and become a
reality of school life, again Speaker, enjoying a special relationship with
these flowers of our nation as is evidenced by our programmes and budgets, we
are saying, yes the nation has made us their keepers we will not fail the
nation we will always do what it takes to protect support and educate them on
the values of peace and create safe environments for them in our schools.
It is important to say that as our attention is distracted to address the
impact of these social ills in our schools, teaching and learning time gets
affected negatively as we have to first deal with these social issues before
effective learning can take place. We are saying this, well aware, that at the
end we must respond to these challenges because our children cannot be thrown
to the streets as a result of them being victims of these societal problems.
The solution to these problems is multi disciplinary and multi faceted and that
is why we are raising in this house so that while we are not abdication of
responsibility to address these social problems, we want members to be aware
that the societal challenges impact on the schooling system badly and requires
everyone to deal with it.
Always, when called upon, we shall never say we are not their keepers
because as long as they are under our care we are their keepers and with the
support from society we are sure that we will not fail.
In this regard, with also the great support we get from our advisory bodies
such as your Letu's, Detu's and the General Education and Training Certificate
(GETC) which provide us with an invaluable resource, not only are we kept
informed about the needs of our stakeholders but we benefit immensely from
their input into education.
The province is responsible for pre tertiary education and provides
schooling to all learners from the compulsory schooling band both in ordinary
and special schools including independent schooling and grade R. In addition,
it is also responsible for pre tertiary technical and vocational education as
part of further education including the establishment of learnership programmes
as well as formal Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programmes to
adults and youth that are geared to formal and technical and vocational
education.
These programmes are geared to respond to the Growth and Development
Strategy (GPG) strategies, such as the GDS and the Global City Region (GCR)
Strategy and are aimed at meeting these objectives and overcoming the
socio-economic challenges in the province. A key lever identified across all
these strategies is Human Resource Development (HRD) and in particular
providing a quality supply of skills for key economic and social sectors,
promoting shared growth through building social capital and expanding the
opportunities available to the poor, moving the economy up the productive value
chain through expanding national and regional systems of innovation and
leveraging human capital as a source of competitive advantage. The provincial
HRD strategy responds to the challenges identified and thereby maximising Human
Capital for Shared Growth (HCSG).
Whilst Gauteng is classified as the fourth largest economy on the African
continent, the province still has a number of socio-economic challenges
especially relating to the imperative of shared growth. HRD has a central role
to play in overcoming some of these challenges and the Department of Education
in providing a quality pipeline of skills for key economic and social
sectors.
The achievement of all these targets relies on collaboration efforts of the
private sector, the government and its agencies, organised labour as well as
the people of Gauteng themselves to play an active monitoring and oversight
role of whether their democratically elected government is delivering on its
promises, does it consult them when faced with challenges for reprioritisation
of programmes and approaches.
The eradication of poverty and unemployment is a spectre that no one can
take a passing interest in business and government, in particular have to
collaborate in an attempt to improve the depth and range of skills programmes
offered for the under employed and unemployed youth and adults.
In order to unlock barriers to skills development, we continue to accelerate
improvements in the education foundation focussing on regulating and expanding
Early Childhood development (ECD) services through both public and private
provisioning at both pre grade R and grade R levels.
On the other hand, we not only have to create a sizable pool of skilled
workers but need to ensure that learners who graduate from our institutions are
employable thus making a determined effort to improve the market value and
relevance of the programmes offered by Further Education and Training (FET)
colleges and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The active involvement of
the private business sector is decisive in this regard particularly in the face
of the twin complementary initiatives of positioning Gauteng as a GCR and GDS.
Again Speaker, it is important to note the wise council and the support we
receive from another advisory body we have the FET Advisory Council. Because of
time, Speaker, I'm unable to share with the House the details of a very
important international study they made but would wish the chair to invite us
to share it with the Education Standing Committee.
The bedrock of illiteracy will be broken through our effective ABET system
which will be rolled out will focus on mass literacy supported by formal ABET
programmes that are vocationally driven to support the thrust for increased
employability of all Gauteng citizens.
Our system of basic education already offers on average much more than 12
years of general education coverage and the gross enrolment ratio is above 100%
across all phases, both primary and secondary schools. Even amongst the most
disadvantaged groups, average years spent in school is already more than 12
years. However, this does not translate into an average of 12 grades completed
because levels of learning attainment are low. This is reflective of problems
of poor quality and low efficiency in the system. It also suggests that the
social distribution of quality education is still unequal.
This trajectory, members, means the journey to the future is on in education
in Gauteng as we need to break new grounds to make a meaningful difference to
our people. Employing some of the key tools such as the National Qualifications
Framework (NQF), Outcomes Based Education (OBE) and the Skills Development
Strategy we will deliver a healthy and skilled people.
It is also important to note that we have successfully incorporated the
institutions from North West and Mpumalanga provinces and are providing those
schools the full services offered to all Gauteng schools. We are also auditing
the infrastructure in these schools and in line with our prioritisation process
will incorporate those schools.
Over the last few years we have made tremendous strides in realising the
targets that we have set ourselves. The 2007/08 medium term expenditure
framework (MTEF) period sees the intensification of our efforts to fully
realise the targets set out in our five year plan and those targets contained
in the GDS and GCR. Positioning Gauteng at the cutting edge of education
delivery is critical to ensuring that we have productive, skilled and healthy
people who are needed for growing economies and stable community life and
remains the core thrust of the work of the Department.
The challenge posed by the GDS of promoting a knowledge economy includes for
us the management of knowledge to deliver better services but more importantly
for us, the development of knowledge, skills and attitude to support knowledge
based economy. "Knowledge workers" require new insights into the use of
"knowledge" as a commodity that is often provided as a service, supported by
the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and dependant on
the development of partnerships. Education will therefore develop learners that
are able to think about thinking integrate formal and informal learning are
able to access, select and evaluate information and knowledge, learn
effectively in a team, create, transpose and transfer knowledge and solve
ambiguous and unpredictable problems. This will ensure that Gauteng becomes
even more globally competitive.
One of the most pressing challenges facing the Gauteng province is the
existence of the vicious cycle of unacceptably high levels of poverty and
unemployment in the context of a fiercely competitive international
environment. We need to interrupt this cycle if we wish to extend the benefits
of our democracy to the masses of our people. In an economy where only 20% of
the workforce can be considered skilled workers, skills development programmes
can play a crucial life altering role.
Notwithstanding the challenges that have been confronted to date,
essentially the 2007 academic year marks the turning point for vocational
education and training in the form of the national certificate (vocational) for
levels two to four. The new curriculum replaces the old outdated vocational
education and training approach and the qualifications that were offered in FET
colleges. The new approach speaks to and acknowledges the significance of
integrating theory and practice. While colleges have the capacity to provide
theoretical training, private sector collaboration will be required to ensure
that learners are afforded the opportunity to acquire the requisite practical
skills and that placement opportunities are created. Private sector input in
curriculum development would also be critical to guarantee that learning
remains relevant at all times to the needs of commerce and industry.
As education is key to realising the strategic goals of the province and is
responsive to the needs of the economy, in September 2006, we launched of the
Gauteng HRD strategy that is designed to systematically counteract the
education and training challenges that constrain the socio-economic development
of the province. To ensure education is responsive to the labour market its
programmes will have to be aligned to the growth and development strategy of
the province, labour markets demands, the individual needs of our citizens and
the education sector.
Youths and adults that are in-institutions, i.e. schools, FET colleges and
ABET centres and out of institutions and who have potential to succeed in
prioritised career pathways would be supported in two ways namely additional
learning and teaching support and workplace exposure through mentorship,
submersion, internships and learner ships. In addition, financial aid and
support through partnerships with private sector and Skills Development Fund
including allocations from the relevant Sector Education Trainings (SETAs). To
date, we have signed agreements with 19 SETAs focusing on sect oral involvement
in curriculum delivery to ensure that FET college programmes deliver learners
that can be easily integrated into the workplace because they have the
requisite industry standard competence. Over 4 000 learners are participating
in 86 programmes with the SETAs focusing on skills programmes, learner ships
and apprenticeships.
As a response to the national and provincial short medium term skills
development priorities, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has
established the Pipeline Talent Search and Development (PTSD) strategy. The
PTSD strategy is designed to optimize impact on:
* corporate sector support for teaching and learning in gateway subjects
* business sector participation in learner support initiatives
* sector specific education and training programmes
* private and public sector bursary schemes.
The programme is aimed at identifying and supporting some 30 000 talented
learners from our schools in the province to procure critical competencies
which are in short supply and eventually secure gainful employment. Initially,
the programme will start off with a pilot in 2007 involving 1 000 learners.
Learners who meet certain criteria will be placed on a series of programmes
which incorporate specialised tutorials, job shadowing, monitoring and support
as well as opportunities for further education and training.
This commitment of the Department of Education will contribute to the
halving unemployment and fighting poverty.
Key achievements
Some of our achievements in the last three years in education in this
province include:
* Tremendous expansion of services to cover more learners than anytime before
and a tremendous improvement in quality and efficiency.
* Increased access to primary and secondary education. The province has
attained a gross enrolment level of over 100% in basic education annually over
the last few years indicating greater access to primary schooling. There are
also greater enrolments annually in grade 1 as a result of rapid urbanisation,
mostly from outside the province. In secondary education, the province has
achieved a phenomenal increase in the gross enrolment levels increasing from
65% to over 94%. This reflects an increase in the number of learners remaining
in schools rather than dropping out.
* Reduced dropout and repetition rates resulting in improved retention rates
across the schooling system.
* Put into place services and resourcing strategy that skewed to advantaged
these historically marginalised communities to address their needs in a
comprehensive package from government covering education, health and social
services including the access to grants where needed.
* The Department has made tremendous moves to realising the target of ensuring
universal access to ECD services. We have increased the enrolment in grade R to
approximately 30% of the age appropriate cohort of children. This we have
achieved through efficiency gains in the sector and through additional funding
from the province.
* Qualitatively, the province is achieving higher levels of learner performance
in the senior certificate examinations. The province has increased the pass
rate by over 22% over the last four years. There has been a significant
improvement in matriculation pass rates to 78% last year with the number of
schools that had very poor pass rates has also been reduced considerably.
* Good progress has been made on addressing inherited backlogs as indicated by
improved learner to classroom ratios (41:1 in 1999 to 38:1 in 2007) and learner
to educator ratios has dropped over the last four years and in 2007 we have
achieved a learner educator ratio of 36:1 against the target of 40:1 (as per
the Post Provisioning Model).
* The Department of Education over the last four years have received
unqualified audit reports.
* There has been improved spending in most areas especially in respect of
capital and conditional grants.
* We have also seen accelerated delivery in school infrastructure after the
reprioritisation and alternative delivery vehicles being introduced.
The gains made in the sphere of education and training must be leveraged to
increase numbers in higher levels of learning, especially in fields aligned to
the required skills sets of growing economic sectors. A significant amount of
attention has been put into the development of the curriculum on life skills
and gender issues and on prioritizing maths, science and technology
education.
Hopefully the above successes and other initiatives will result in a changed
skill profile of our population. We would like to work with HEIs in Gauteng to
bridge the gap between schooling and higher education. Skills development
outcomes must be increasingly aligned to job opportunities forecasted from
growing sectors.
The key challenges include:
* increasing access to ECD to meet our target of universal access to grade
R
* increasing the quality of learning in all schools especially the
participation and performance of African learners in all schools and in
learning areas that provide a gateway to the further education and the
economy
* increasing the access to and quality of relevant adult basic education and
training including functional literacy and in doing so ensuring the more adults
and out of school youth complete adult basic education programmes with better
performance in the ABET level four examinations
* increasing the relevance and quality of learning in FET colleges and ensuring
alignment to the provincial human resource (HR) strategy and local economic
development plans
* enabling environment that ensure a safe and conducive environment for
teaching and learning, ensuring that programmes at schools address the
"lifestyle" choices of our youth and to channel their energies towards
successful learning with appropriate life skills to meet the demands of a
modern and changing society.
Increasing access to and quality of ECD
A Fast Track Initiative is planned to address a more holistic view of child
development informed by links between health and nutrition, on the one hand and
education and care on the other by the ECD institute.
In January 2008, the ECD institute will be implementing a three tier model
of operation comprising provincial, (regional/district/local) and ECD site
level to manage the holistic programming of ECD. The ECD institute will provide
strategic leadership whereas all operational activities will take place at
local government/regional/district. The operating model will allow for staffing
and resource allocation at provincial level to suit redress needs at local
level. All this will be complemented by an ICT based system to improve
efficiency in communication internally and with outside stakeholders.
Increasing the quality of learning in all schools
In support of the Minister's budget speech, the need to focus on quality
education cannot be overemphasised. It is a known fact that results of a number
of national and international studies to measure the quality of learning and
the level of learner attainment have shown that nationally we are performing
poorly in comparison to other countries including neighbouring countries like
Mozambique and Mauritius despite higher or similar expenditure in
education.
Also following the Premier's directives to the Department after his State of
the Province address (SOPA) in February 2007, the Department held a series of
education summits across the province to focus the broader community on the
quest for quality and the need for poorly performing schools to begin a change
management process to realise an improved quality of learning across all
grades. The summit acknowledged the gains that we have made and also confirmed
the challenges facing the education in Gauteng.
An identification of some of the factors affecting performance included the
non-utilisation of mother tongue language, class size, teacher competence,
quality of learning and teaching support materials and the quality of the
learning infrastructure, monitoring and support of schools, parental
involvement, discipline in schools, management and utilisation of learning
resources, management of schools, teacher morale, dedication, motivation and
commitments and general intrapersonal relationships in schools. Fundamental is
also a simple problem of ensuring effective teaching and learning
environment.
To address the quality of learning, a number of thrusts have been identified
and will be intensified over the next three years.
Firstly, we will implement a province wide literacy and numeracy programme
focusing on the improvement of basic writing, reading and arithmetic and focus
support to schools found in impoverished communities. To achieve this objective
we will continue with the wide scale implementation of the Accelerated
Programme for Literacy, Language and Communication (APLLC) in partnership with
our strategic partners, READ and JET. A pilot programme is continuing very well
in the 24 identified schools and the base line study to establish where
learners are in reading levels is well underway. Full rollout to foundation
phase schools particularly those in quintiles one, two and three will commence
in the next term.
Secondly, we will address the quality of learning in all the other grades
including in languages, maths, science, technology and the economic and
management sciences. We have developed a multi pronged strategy to turn around
the quality of learning in all other grades and learning areas subjects. We
will also focus on sports and the performing arts.
In 2007, the Department will increase its efforts of ensuring a fair
distribution of curriculum offerings by promoting learning areas that are
aligned to the demands of the labour market. This will include the review of
subject choices in schools in line with the proposed national senior
certificate to be introduced in 2008, the recommendation of new subjects to
schools and support learners' choice of subjects focusing on developing a
talent pipeline to meet labour market demands. We will be undertaking a review
of the quality improvement intervention programmes focusing on grade 12 and to
expand the programme to incorporate grade 10 and grade 11 learners at risk.
This is with a view to increasing the increasing the performance learners in
the FET phase of schools with hopefully leading to an increase in the number of
learners leaving the schools with a school certificate that may be immediately
employable or be able to move into further and higher education.
In respect of languages, special attention will be on improving the teaching
and learning of English first additional language where it is a language of
learning and teaching and not the home language of both learners and teachers
in both primary and secondary sectors. Particular emphasis will be placed on
the enhancing of language competencies of educators particularly in the
language of teaching and learning. This will include the promotion of the use
of home language in foundation phase as it is the single largest contributor of
poor learners' performance throughout the entire school sector. The Department
will also ensure intensive support and resourcing of schools and learners
taking English as a second language. The English Second Language Strategy will
ensure increased learner performance in the school leaving certificate.
The national maths, science and technology strategy, the Dinaledi programme,
is being intensified and 31 additional schools have been included this year in
the programme brining the total to 101 schools. We will ensure that ultimately
all schools are fully resourced and have competent maths and science teachers
to effective participation and success of learners in maths, science and
technology. With regards to the economic and management sciences particular
focus will be placed on financial literacy and entrepreneurship. In this
regard, we would like the acknowledge our private sector partners namely
Piermont Global through the Thutuka Project lead by South African Institute of
Charted Accounts (SAICA), Trans Union ICT, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
and Standard bank. We are also committed to complete SciBono Discovery Centre
as the provincial flagship of the drive to improve maths, science and
technology education in the province.
We will also place emphasis on the role of curriculum support staff in the
province with view to strengthening the provincial capacity to support schools.
The roles and responsibilities of support staff will be clarified and
strengthened. The development programs for the curriculum support staff will be
enhanced. Clearly defined processes will be established and developed to ensure
the quality of support to educators and school management will be developed.
The emphasis will be on school based support particularly where poor
performance is visible. The system that will be implemented will focus on
developmental support. The emphasis will also be on ensuring increased
accountability across all levels in the system. We have already begun reviewing
the teacher development programme and are concluding the identification of the
specific training needs for each subject across all schools.
We have completed the design of a programme for training of school
management teams in curriculum management and managing strategies for learner's
improvement. This programme includes strategies to establish organisation ethos
and culture in schools. This will be implemented over the next three years.
In so far as the grade 11 repeaters are concerned, the Department together
with stakeholders will ensure that no grade 11 repeater is left behind. A clear
strategy and management plan is being implemented to ensure that all grade 11
successfully complete grade 11 and grade 12 IRO of Report 550 or the national
Curriculum Statement (NCS) as decided by learners and parents.
Learners today need to first develop ICT literacy and therefore make use of
digital assets to develop insights into a post modern world view where the
simple access to information allows multiple perspectives to be easily
investigated. The national curriculum statements for most subjects have a
practical component related to computer and software competency, for example
learners studying accounting should be able to implement their theory on an
electronic accounting package as part of the subject requirement. This is
supported by the e-Education White Paper. While our e-learning strategy aims to
provide learners with the skills in the use of ICT tools and digital resources,
our strategy also aims to support the development of expertise in the use of
digital tools that map of the learning processes, provide searching and
retrieval of information, support collaboration, allow information to be
re-sampled, or reused to create different views of information and support
collaborative problem solving using sophisticated software and networks.
We, together with the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture will be
intensifying and expanding in-school sport, arts and culture and promote
greater competitive sport and arts activities over the 2007/08 MTEF period. We
will be expanding our leadership programmes to cover more Representative
Council of Learners (RCL) members and to introduce school based programmes as
part of the extra-curricular programmes
Focusing on adult education and out of school youth
Speaker, we are the first to admit that despite an increase of the number of
learners enrolled in ABET centres to over 60 000, we are experiencing a number
of challenges. The current ABET programme focuses on formal ABET programme for
levels one to four which is equivalent to grade 9. The performance of adult
learners at level four exams have been poor, there is a high dropout rate of
adult learners. Currently there is no basic literacy programme and due to
national policy, failed matriculants are not allowed to repeat in schools and
as a result we have found a growing number of repeating matriculants being
accommodated in ABET centres.
To address these challenges, we have developed an implementation strategy to
transform the ABET sector in the province to become more efficient and more
effective.
Towards the latter half of 2007, we will introduce a province wide literacy
programme in line with the plan tabled by the national Department of Education.
We will target the 8,7% of illiterate youth and adults in the province to
become literate and numerate at a day to day functionality level.
The main thrust for the next three years is to develop a seamless system
between basic literacy and post literacy education for adults. This will
involve re-landscaping the current ABET centre focusing on geographic access,
local economic skills demand and to create a virtual 24 hour ABET programme to
ensure both employed and un-employed adults can access continuing education
programmes. This will is in line with ANC's vision of a life long system of
education.
We will also implement a revised curriculum framework for ABET focusing on
technical and vocational skills in support of the skills demand from the
economy and productive citizenship. There will be a national system of
standards and certificates for adult basic education and adult education in
general to enable individuals to participate in and move between the formal and
non-formal education and training system.
The challenge of focusing on failed matriculants and out of school youth in
ABET centres is currently being investigated. This support programme requires
funding and is creating pressure in respect of shifting ABET funds to address
failed matriculants. This is preventing us from expanding the ABET programme
from existing budgets. We will therefore develop an intensive programme to
address the needs of the failed matriculants and to explore funding sources for
such a programme to eliminate the problem in a period of two to three years.
Speaker there exist very successful matric re-write programme such as the St
Anthony's Matric re-write programme in Reiger Park. I have instructed officials
in my Department to look at that model and see if we can expand it into other
areas.
Making FET colleges responsive to the labour market demands
In the ongoing process of gearing our FET colleges to support the economic
thrust of the province, we will over the next three years focus on the
curriculum offered at FET colleges in respect of high level vocational skills
that are required especially in the areas that are critical for our province
and country's economic development. In this recapitalisation of the FET sector
we will engage the private sector to come on board of this process and also
forge links with the local government authorities in our province. We are
currently reviewing the curriculum offering in the colleges in line with the
provincial HRD strategy and will ensure that the sector be comes responses to
the economic and labour market demands.
In the context of the new FET Certificate (FETC) Act no, 16 of 2006 and its
implications for building greater capacity for self governance at public FET
colleges, the Gauteng Department of Education is planning a structured approach
to achieve institutional autonomy and excellence. This will include: the
establishment of FET colleges councils as new employers and the transfer of
staff from the department to public FET colleges.
FET colleges in the province have earnestly begun to respond to the 2014 GDS
by translating business and community initiatives into accredited, quality
programmes that meet the needs of employers, individuals, communities and HEIs
for further study. It should be recognised that these needs vary from one
region of Gauteng to the other and that they will be subject to the effects of
relentless environmental changes, such as technological advancements and
competitiveness. This kind of environment requires capacity to respond swiftly.
In consequence, it is crucial that colleges should be endowed with
institutional authority to respond timorously and effectively.
Improving governance and management capacity
We will continue work to develop School Governing Bodies (SGBs) by
increasing training and development opportunities to ensure greater involvement
in promoting quality learning at schools. We also increase leadership training
and development programmes for RCL to ensure greater involvement in SGBs i.e.
quality learning. We also support schools in increasing parental involvement by
getting schools to educate parents on the curriculum and its requirements. This
will also lead to increased oversight of learning at home.
We will increase training and development programmes for School Management
Team (SMT) especially into curriculum maintenance and educational leadership.
We are also reviewing delegations to principals and procedures to be followed
to address matters related to teacher discipline and productivity at school
level to ensure timeous response to matters affecting quality in a school.
We are already automating the school environment. We will be rolling out a
school administration package (SA-SAMS) to all schools that do not have one
during 2007. Later in 2007 will be introducing a national Learner Tracking
System to ensure that we can track the progress of learners nationally even if
they relocate from another province. These applications will also provide
curricular and learner assessment data more frequently so that we can detect
high risk learning areas and high risk schools.
Roles and responsibilities of Institutional Development and Support Officers
(IDSOs) and school improvement
Taking cognisance of the of the central role that IDSOs play in the process
of transforming schools the Department will be focusing on building their
competences through both internal training on the processes of school
improvement and who school evaluation and external training aimed at enabling
them to acquire a full range of skills and knowledge to fulfil the tasks
allocated to them. More specifically through the envisaged external training it
is hoped that they will be able to:
* support school development and planning by providing accurate information
with regard to the regulatory and legal framework within which schools operate
and work as well as the financial and resource implications of these
* facilitate the diagnosis of problems, the development of choices and
appropriate planning for implementing change
* diagnose organisational and professional problems in and with schools
* monitor and evaluate programmes and processes in schools
* manage conflict, participative meetings, team development, communication and
other processes such as mentoring, disciplinary hearings, staff development and
selection.
A budget for the IDSO training and capacity building has been set aside to
address this aspect. The external training that has been designed in
conjunction with the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and governance and the
University of the Witwatersrand School of public administration. One hundred
IDSOs will be enrolled on this two year certificate course.
Provide for teacher development and human resource management systems
The Department will also intensify its programme to boost teacher morale and
ensure that teaching becomes an enjoyable profession. The Department has
successfully completed the training of all educators to support the rollout of
the Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) which is an educator
development and performance management system. The Department will implement
teacher development programme that will support the realisation of individual
educator's growth needs as established in the baseline evaluations completed
during 2006 and the evaluations in 2006.
The Department will also undertake initiatives to promote increased
enrolment in pre-service education programmes in line with the Department's
teacher supply, utilisation and development projections. The Department will
also intensify its programme to enhance competence by ensuring that effective
needs-driven accredited and non-accredited programmes are implemented to
support the implementation of the preset and inset programmes to support the
growth needs of teachers. It will also be increasing activities in the
Department's educator development centres and teachers' centres. Provide for
teacher development and human resource management systems
We hope this will go a long way to address many concerns we have and also
have been raised with us in terms of our teacher's skills and teacher support
programmes.
Enabling environment that ensure a safe and conducive environment for
teaching and learning
As indicated earlier, Speaker, schools are a microcosm of our society. With
the high levels of violence, alcohol and substance abuse the consequences these
depressing tendencies are also experienced by our schools. As you may recall,
Speaker, last year was quite difficult with a number of our young people dying
in our schools mainly as a result of violence by young men against other young
men.
As if that was not enough, in most schools that I visited during the past
year and months most principals raised concerns with our young people both boys
and girls experimenting with liquor and drugs. Students themselves admitted
this when I spoke to them. This raises a very disturbing phenomenon amongst our
youth and as a nation we have to be very concerned. I was very happy when the
President during his national address on the 16th of June also raised concerns
about the problem of drinking and substance abuse amongst young people.
Speaker, the value of education lies in what remains in a person when all
facts have been forgotten. What remains after we have forgotten that:
* or that the formula for measuring force in science is F = mass x
acceleration
* or who the great Greek Gods like Zeus, Jupiter are
* or what Isis and Osaris are known for
* or even more where who Princess Magogo is
* or let alone who Metathesis is
* including what Nangqawuse's claim to fame is?
When all those learned facts are now forgotten, what has been internalised
and is left matters even most. Real education is what the learning remains
after all and teaching has stopped.
So, Speaker, it is imperative that we look at the character development of
our children. If our boys are to be real men, they have to be socialised
appropriately that real men don't abuse women. When they become adults they
have to be adults who know that it is the responsibility of every self
respecting adult to respect and look after the more vulnerable ones, children,
the elderly, people with disabilities and not forgetting their duty to defend,
protect at all times pay homage to their country this beautiful South Africa to
which we all belong, young and old, rich and poor and from the different races
in this country.
Speaker, the values contained both in our Constitution and national anthem
that member bloom so correctly pointed out that need to be inculcated in our
youth, are equally key as end products of our work and through our valued
citizens' programme will continue to educate our children on them. Member
Mulder, in the process of working together as a nation in healing the past and
building a new South African nation wherein as we both agree cannot allow a
situation that our children with Afrikaans heritage should grow up with a
stigma of being descendents of oppressors.
Member Msane, noZwe lethu ba ke ba mise ngalokujiver nokucula. Abanye bantu
bayathuthuka bona baya jayiva uma beqeda badakwe noma bazithwale. Ayikho lento.
I recently learnt that most young people have ambitions to form musical groups
as their career plans. Lematlaila abatla bokamoso bantho eo basa e abelwang. So
our social plan will only succeed as soon as parents and guardians take their
responsibilities even more seriously. Abanye abazali baze bahlulwa
nangabantwana abazihlalela bodwa. Speaker, parenting has become a mojor
challenge in some of our communities.
To strength our gender education and training programme which also includes
the empowerment of girl children and our educators, we are currently
strengthening our gender unit. We have since placed it under a new directorate
and have committed ourselves to enabling it influence our work in all the
different areas. It is very important for us to use the different tools at our
disposal to socialise our children differently so that they come out of the
system with the correct gender consciousness.
We have developed a safety and security strategy for schools aimed at
promoting an integrated approach to securing schools and making them safe
environment that supports learning and teaching. It will be launched soon and
implemented during 2007/08 financial year. The plan will also focus on
substance abuse. This programme will also be undertaken jointly with the
Department of Community Safety.
We will also focus on dealing with discipline in schools and focus on the
right to learn. We will become tough on teachers and learners who wilfully
break the rule and affect the quality of teaching and learning. We will also
put into place measures that will ensure that outsiders do not enter the
schools and disrupt the teaching and learning programmes.
Through our HIV and AIDS programmes for learners and our gender based
programmes we will focus on the boy and girl learners, to promote better life
skills in dealing with their sexual rights and the need to prevent boys and
girls from becoming teenage parents. Our aim is to ensure that learners in
schools in high risk areas understand the need to become responsible citizens
and the need for them to realise their full potential rather then fall prey to
behavioural patterns that will rob them of meaningful future.
Fortunately for the Department, Speaker, we have been enjoying tremendous
support from different members of the community on this. It is at this point
that I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge two beautiful young men in
particular who have just been outstanding and great in supporting the
Department in its work on social and cultural moulding of our people. Gayton
Mackenzie the author of a very successful book called choice and voted best
public speaker in 2006. At his cost and time has been taking time to join us in
road shows in supporting our programmes on sexuality, anti crime and drug abuse
and Ashton Willemse, a successful black rugby player for the national team.
Speakers they have been great and will not be exaggerating when I say
completely effective.
I want to also take this opportunity to thank Mrs Browdie, a retired medical
specialist who has put a lot of energy into developing a programme that has
been demonstrated to work on behavioural change in dealing with HIV and AIDS.
It is a well researched piloted programme with effective learning aids such as
monopoly games and she too, is undertook all of these work free and as her
humble contribution in the fight against AIDS.
We need more hands on board, parents in particular. Member Nkomo is right
about the important role that homes play in socialising our children but
society in general should remember the common saying; it takes a village to
bring up a child, so it takes every adult to bring up a child.
Improving resourcing levels in key quality levers
Underpinning all of this is the improvement of the resourcing levels of
schools in the province.
The budget of the Department is R14,543 billion and has increased by over
18% over the 2006/07 budget. This increase also makes provision for the 247
institutions and over 4 000 personnel as a result of the cross border
municipalities.
Trends in personnel
The department will spend R11,006 billion on personnel in the 2007/08
financial year. This is an increase of 13,5% over 2006/07. The additional
funding is for policy adjustments for the recruitment and retention of
educators and inflationary increases. The increased allocation is also to make
provision for the incorporation of educators into the province from the North
West and Mpumalanga due to the re-demarcation of provinces process. We are
addressing the growing class sizes in schools and will effectively reduce the
class sizes by employing an additional 3000 educators as of 2007. The learner
educator ratio has reduced dramatically from over 38:1 to 36:1. We will also
address the need for additional support personnel in schools.
Trends in Goods and Services and Transfers
The department will spend R1,609 billion on goods and services which is a 38%
increase over the previous financial year and is as a result of increased
allocation for schools due to no-fee school policy, additional funding for
cross border schools and quality interventions in support of national
priorities. \
An amount of R1,302 billion will be transferred to schools and third party
agencies. The increase in transfers is mainly as a result increased subsidies
to institutions due to the implementation of the no-fee school policy and the
incorporation of schools from cross boundary municipalities.
We will spend R1,612 billion on subsidies to schools. Year 2007 will also
see the implementation of no fee schools in national quintile 1 and 2 schools.
In consolidating and strengthening the public school education system so that
all children in our province, especially the poor have access to quality
education a total of 415 schools will be declared no-fee schools with 372 558
learners. This translates to 21,9% of the projected learner population in
public schools. We have also introduced new norms for exemptions from fees to
alleviate the burden on the poor.
We will spend R791 million on quality interventions. Twelve new priority
areas have been resourced this year.
Trends in Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)
In respect of CAPEX, we will spend R625 million. There is minimal decline as
a result of the small decrease in the budget allocation for schools buildings.
The decrease machinery and equipment is as a result of the movement of the
Gauteng Online Project to the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC). We will be
taking delivery of 54 new schools in December 2007 for opening in 2008 and we
will begin during the 2007/08 MTEF period planning a detailed recurrent
maintenance plan for schools and also introduce a preventative maintenance plan
for all schools. This will initially focus on the 20 priority townships.
Programme trends
The increase in Programme 1: Administration is 16% over the last financial
year and is as a result of adjustments made for administrative services to
support schools incorporated from the North West and Mpumalanga provinces. In
addition and in line with national priorities, there are increases in the
Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIS) allocation and for systemic
evaluation. The workplace HIV and AIDS budget has also been incorporated into
the appropriation budget for the first time.
The increase in Programme 2: Public ordinary schools is 19% over the last
financial year and is mainly as a result of increased allocations for no fee
schools in the form of subsidies to schools, increased allocation for scholar
transport, teacher development and quality enlistment programmes to improve the
level of learner attainment.
The increase in Programme 3: Subsidies to independent schools is 22% over
the last financial year and is for increased subsidies to independent school
and is directly linked to increased expenditure in programme 2 as the policy is
hard normed. The importance of education for this country means that we have to
enable different systems to work and succeed because all of them contribute
towards this objective, investing in our young and thus investing into the
future of South Africa. Hence, Mr Speaker, I'm keen on the St Anthony's model
so that the private and the public sector can complement each other. The
problems of young people who have not completed schooling or could not be
admitted back into our schools need to be addressed as a matter of great
importance.
The increase in Programme 4: Special schools is 8% over the last financial
year and is to make provision for subsidies for cross border schools
incorporated and to increased allocation to support curriculum and policy
interventions in special schools.
The increase in Programme 5: FET colleges is 23% over the last financial
year and is to make provision for subsidies for cross border FET college
campuses incorporated, increase recapitalisation grant and to increased
allocation to support curriculum and policy interventions in FET colleges.
The increase in Programme 6: ABET is 19% over the last financial year and is
to make provision for subsidies for cross border ABET centre, increased
investment in resources for ABET centres and increase allocation to support
curriculum and policy interventions in ABET centres.
The increase in Programme 7: ECD is 93% over the last financial year and is
to make provision for subsidies for cross border ECD centres and grade R and
the expansion of the number of grade R sites in the province.
The overall decline in Programme 8: Auxiliary services is as a result of the
Gauteng Online Project being shifted to GSSC. A notable increase in the other
sub-programme is to provide examination services to cross boundary schools.
Concluding remarks
Speaker yesterday we had a meeting with the minister of education Mrs Naledi
Pandor to assess the impact of the ongoing strike on education and our plans
for 2007. We all expressed our anxiety to see the ongoing negotiations yielding
results and enabling schooling to normalise. We noted with regret the time lost
and are already looking at corrective measures. Its important for both parents
and children to note that our matriculants 116 days left to sit their final
exams with others having 159 days left. We want to also urge our learners to
put every thing aside to focus on their studies and do independent reading as
much as possible.
It is clear from our plans that it is not going to be business as usual,
thus we commit ourselves to break new grounds. In doing so we will respond to
the educational challenges facing poor communities energetically, to crush the
shackles of poverty and unemployment as we move towards a quality public
education.
I want to place on record my continued gratitude and appreciation for the
sterling leadership provided by most of our principals and to ask them to
effectively utilise the resources afforded by this budget to ensure effective
education and quality learning.
I commit myself to continue to support teachers who have committed
themselves to ensure quality learning in a safe and secure environment and to
provide the care necessary for all developing children.
The role of the private schools personnel in schools cannot be understated.
They provide meaningful support to teachers and learners regarding both
administrative matters and school facility maintenance. For this I am deeply
grateful.
I want to thank members of all political parties for their support and to
reiterate my commitment to resolve all the matters they refer to me, especially
the ANC which has done a lot of work in support of grassroots communities.
To Mr Amon Msane and members of the standing committee, thanks again for the
guidance and support at all times. Know that we always look forward to an
opportunity to interact with your self. Thanks for your report on the budget
and oversight and point by point we will act on your recommendations.
To our advisory committees, Gauteng Education and Training Council under the
leadership of Johan Marnitz, the FET Council under Professor John Makhene, the
Maths and Science and Technology Council under Dudu Mkhize, the Examination
Advisory Body under Professor Coert Loock; the District Education and Training
Councils and the Local Education and Training Units, my most sincere
appreciation for all your commitment, dedication and wise and able stewardship.
You are real sons and daughters of this lovely and great country of ours,
without asking for anything for yourself you give out so much of your time,
skills and simply love and passion for your different areas of work. Thank you,
we will continue to look forward to your ongoing guidance and support.
My sincere gratitude to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Mallele Petje
and all managers and staff, the staff in my office, all parents, SGBs,
non-government organisations (NGOs), business and other stakeholders who
continue to contribute without failure to our education system.
Issued by: Department of Education, Gauteng Provincial Government
19 June 2007
