N Pandor: Education Dept Budget Vote 2006/07

19 May 2006

A challenge to excellence in hounouring the youth of 1976

This year we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto pupil and
student uprising.

On the 16 June 1976, Soweto exploded. The protests soon spread to all parts
of the country. Young learners were the key actors. The tinder box was the
imposition of a policy that millions rejected. However, the overwhelming
support for and take up of the protests signalled that something far more
fundamental was at the heart of the popular uprising. We do not have to look
far for an answer.

Those courageous young people were saying 23 years of legislated education
inequality was more than any people could tolerate. We want education that
liberates, that educates, and that creates real opportunity. Education of
quality was they said, fundamentally tied to democracy and freedom. Thus they
as the youth of our country in many towns, cities and villages stood up and
demanded that education and schooling have to mean something have to make a
difference.

Education for bondage and subservience would never be an education
acceptable to the oppressed majority.

We now have the right to education for all. We are promoting
multi-lingualism in education and supporting young people to access higher
education.

Nevertheless if young Hector Peterson and others were to confront us today
how would we react to the legitimate questions on educational progress that
they would put to us?

We honour those youth by taking action to meet the demands they put before
us in 1976, we owe it to their courage to assure them things are different in
education and they will get better. The education action that each of us takes
as teacher, as learner, as MEC, as head of education, as parent, as school
principal etc. etc. serves as our response, each of us, to those heroes and
heroines.

Have we acted on their mandate? Have we responded to their dreams, their
aspirations?

In answer to the young people of 1976 and beyond I shall today set out key
actions that will be pursued in the medium term and beyond to ensure
accelerated achievement of the goals of quality for all and meaningful
opportunity for young people.

I am going to outline four key targets. Vote 15 which we are debating today
concerns only the R14 billion allocations to the national Department of
Education.

As is traditional the debate will include reflections on the consolidated
investment of R93 billion for 2006/07 in the education sector, an increase of
12.8 percent over 2005/06.

Addressing the challenge of underdevelopment, poverty and equity in
education

The first question the students of 1976 would ask is: have you decisively
attended to addressing the enduring legacy of apartheid education? What more
are you going to do to address the challenge of poverty and equity in
education?

All honourable members are fully aware of public concerns about the quality
of public education. The concerns range from infrastructure to bus transport,
from textbooks delivery to quality of teaching, to quality of passes, to drop
outs to catch up opportunities for youths, to skills training, to higher
education success rates. We in education have to answer the nation’s question
to us; Are you ready to excel? Do your responses realistically respond to
current challenges?

It is very important for us to be honest with those who have gone before us.
So we must acknowledge that up to this point we have not yet dealt a blow of
death to all the legacies of apartheid education. We do intend to deal
decisively with the problem of thousands of poorly performing schools. These
schools are located in the poorest sections of our society and sadly their
inadequacies perpetuate the legacy of disadvantage.

Madam Speaker, the challenge is to make what we have work toward
excellence.

What more should be done to give all children and schools a real chance at
success? How should we support schools to excel?

First we must deal with the legacies of apartheid. Government has agreed
that over the next five years there should be a significant resource input to
provinces to support a well crafted, targeted, Quality Improvement and
Development Strategy (QIDS UP); a strategy that puts learners’ education
success first. The estimated cost of the programme over the five year period is
R12.5 billion. Initial funding for this strategy has been made available in
this year’s budget. It will be a focussed response to the disadvantage caused
by apartheid education.

The strategy will begin with the identification of 5 000 low performing
schools in the least able districts. We will use past senior certificate
performance as an indicator. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the high schools
with the worst results are surrounded by primary schools that do not have the
resources to teach effectively. It is important to stress resource does not
refer to money; it may refer to teacher competence, to an inadequate or no
library, to lack of teaching material or poorly specified curricula and
teaching standards.

Schools will be provided with education support in the form of libraries,
laboratories and teaching materials. Teachers in these schools will be
supported through high quality school based education development programmes
and by strengthened district development teams.

Teaching and learning will be skills focussed and will address key content
and academic skills. All learners will be supported with well conceived
literacy and numeracy support interventions. Annual school based assessment
will be conducted and learner records on key skills will be compiled regularly.
Districts will be required to formally submit reports on learning assessments
to the provincial and national departments. The national Department will
develop capacity in monitoring standards and in supporting this and existing
education development programmes.

The implementation of this intervention will also pay attention to the
retention of positive outcomes in schools that currently produce good
results.

QIDS UP includes continuation of initiatives directed at enhancing our
performance in science, mathematics and technology. We now have Mathematics
Literacy in all our high schools, but we need to move to a situation where we
have mathematics and science taught by qualified competent teachers in every
high school in South Africa. The maths choice must not be made through denying
schools maths teachers; it must be made by learners and parents. So, for
excellence in these subjects every school should have maths and science
teachers very quickly if Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition
(JIPSA) is to succeed. We have agreed to identify schools that do not have
mathematics teachers and to take steps to create posts and appoint
teachers.

Furthermore given the distinct disadvantage these schools have always faced,
we have agreed that we need to look afresh at the post provisioning model to
ensure that it supports our objectives. For example, we may need to re-look at
the teacher pupil ratio in schools that were victims of apartheid. We must give
serious consideration to creating positive teaching conditions in these schools
so that we can demand and expect positive learning outcomes.

Poverty is another aspect we have to act on. The successful introduction of
no-fee schools is our partial answer. As I indicated last year no-fee schools
must not become ghettoised into no-quality schools, our district support teams
will be directed to specifically address the needs of these most neglected
schools. I am certain the children of 1976 welcome our progress with addressing
school fees.

Despite high enrolment, we know that school fees discourage school
attendance at both primary and secondary schools. Surveys confirm that school
attendance rates are consistently lowest within poorer quintiles.

The 2005 Education Amendment Bill became law in January this year but it
takes legal effect, in regard to no-fee schools in 2007. However, funds have
been provided for increased allocations to schools this year. We set a target
of 20 percent of learners for 2006 and 40 percent for 2007.

We have already exceeded our 2006 target. Out of a total of 9.5 million
pupils in seven provinces, three million pupils at 9 215 primary and secondary
schools are in newly declared no fee schools this year.

In order for district offices to support our attack on the legacies of
apartheid education their structure role and function will have to be
considerably improved. Support and services at the district level will be
enhanced so that districts become professional centres of quality support to
teachers and principals, appointees to district offices will be required to be
curriculum experts, excellent planners, strategic thinkers and facilitators of
success. In terms of the offices themselves they will be properly equipped to
display this new education professional character.

We clearly signalled our expectations by releasing senior certificate
results according to districts. We know today that we have six high performing
districts, 60 that are average and 13 that need serious recovery
interventions.

A lot of capacity and confidence building is needed. The starting point will
need to be provincial education departments acknowledging and supporting the
critical role that districts can play and not seeing them as a source of
oppositional power or as redundant.

Learner attainment or achieving equality of quality through curriculum
reform and improved teaching and learning

The second question that the ‘76 class may ask is; ‘are young people today
achieving the necessary learning outcomes and skills development that education
should offer?’ Sadly we must confess the majority of our children leave the
schooling system with very poor or inadequate skills.

Many young children are not learning to read and write, university students
obtain degrees that are a dead end, our institutions are not delivering the
skills the country needs. What are the causes of these inadequacies?

We have much to be proud of, increased investment in education for the poor,
better classrooms in many areas, computer facilities, superb learning materials
in many schools, an exciting liberating new curriculum and our schools are now
open to all, but do our learners have the teachers necessary to act decisively
on the post apartheid mandate? Can they teach the new curriculum? Are they able
to spend the hours necessary to fight the demon of unequal education? It takes
a special kind of teacher to do that. There are thousands who are indeed
special in that positive way. However, there are thousands more who are still
struggling to make real sense of their presence in the classroom. We ask them
also; ‘Are you ready to excel? Are you the kind of teacher who will relieve the
burden of oppression?’

Recent research evidence shows that teachers themselves are part of the
problem. Even among schools of a similar economic status we find huge
variations in performance, which we must address urgently if we are to
excel.

We want teachers like the science teacher in Umlazi who teaches till four
every day and runs Saturday school for learners from his own and surrounding
schools; a teacher who promotes excellence who strives for learner achievement.
I have said there are thousands of such compatriots and thousands who severely
lack commitment to education.

In the next few weeks we hope to publish an agreed framework for the
professional development of teachers. A framework that will support us in
creating a truly professional cadre of teachers who will be recognised members
of a once again noble profession. We intend as the departments to take active
steps to restore the dignity of teaching as the most important profession in
our society. We will consult teacher unions to establish what should be done
beyond remuneration and training to regain lost and waning dignity and status.
Beyond these actions we will also intensify our efforts at increasing the
supply of new teachers through the introduction of teacher bursary/loans that
are tied to service contracts. We will begin with scarce skills areas such as
mathematics, the sciences, technology, and the neglected African languages of
South Africa and foundation level teachers for excellence in primary school
teaching.

Implementation of our plans once they are agreed will require significant
revitalisation of education faculties and teacher development
practitioners.

We have acted to address the improved remuneration of teachers. The recent
Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) agreement confirms this.

In this year the Department of Education hopes to finalise the introduction
of a system for the awarding of performance rewards in the education sector.
The system will make provision for cash awards to educators who perform at an
exceptional level. In addition, comprehensive research has been undertaken with
regard to the implementation of incentives to cater for the teaching of scarce
skills subjects and for teaching in remote areas where qualified teachers are
hard to find.

The framework will be released for public comment in September 2006. It is
envisaged that the document will be finalised in December for piloting in
2007.

With have with us today a teacher who holds the record for the longest
service in a primary school. Mavis Strachan (please rise) started teaching in
1950 at the age of 21 and retired last year. An extra-ordinary commitment, an
extra-ordinary career. We also have Mrs Mavis Ndlotyeni who taught from 1967 to
2000 - extraordinary indeed. These teachers confirm that it is possible to
respond to the call to excel. Are you ready to take up the challenge?

Staying on in education past the age of 15 or skills development and
improving the relevance of education for employment and job creation.

So, do we have more opportunities for the formerly marginalised? Would be
the next question? Our third initiative is directed at increasing opportunities
at Further Education and Training (FET) level in schools and improving
retention beyond the compulsory phase.

Two important policy improvements respond

The first is the introduction of a new curriculum in grades seven and 10
this year. The new curriculum will once fully implemented, address some of the
skills needs in our country. For the first time, mathematics is a compulsory
subject (either in the form of maths literacy or maths itself). By 2008, the
first pupils will sit for the National Senior Certificate examination, offering
seven subjects from a choice of 29 and writing nationally set and
internationally benchmarked papers.

In terms of the new curriculum we can now develop focus schools and create
new skills opportunities for learners. Provinces are working on their
strategies for converting schools to focus schools. In response to the urgent
demand for new and responsive skills we are discussing setting up state of the
art focus schools of technology one per province as a start.

We intend to popularise and affirm the profile and prospects of further or
vocational training. We now have a well designed plan and funding for FET
colleges; they will become leading edge skills training centres focused on key
economic growth sectors.

The government has committed R2 billion for the systematic modernising and
development of the FET college sector. Central to modernisation is the offering
of high level vocational skills. Our response in support of JIPSA has been to
develop 13 new programmes, in skills areas that are critical for our country’s
economic development. The skills include engineering, construction and other
scarce skills areas. The re-capitalisation funds are all dedicated to ensuring
that colleges have the workshops, infrastructure, equipment, teaching
materials, administrative systems, teaching staff and ICT to successfully
deliver skills in the 13 programmes.

Today we will launch a 30 days advocacy campaign to encourage young people
to consider FET first. The campaign will run from 16 May to 16 June. We will
distribute brochures and information on each of the 13 programmes to schools so
that young people and their parents are aware of the wonderful opportunities
for learning and skills development available at the FET colleges. The colleges
will be the platform from which we will launch a long overdue skills revolution
in South Africa.

We intend to create a further education and training system ready to equip
youth and adults to meet the social and economic needs of the 21st century. The
evidence shows that the foundations have been laid for a new kind of college
that meets the needs of industry and communities and focuses on job creation
and the skills agenda, key tasks for South Africa’s future success.

Future work to be done concerns investigating the possibility of
establishing adult training colleges along the lines of community colleges in
order to address the gap in facilities for training adults who want flexible
access work related opportunity and practical or theoretical training.

We would like to see the numbers of students at FET colleges doubled. Such
growth will mean we should consider new institutions or designated utilisation
of existing campus sites. We must respond to the life long learning needs of
adults and out of school youths.

Higher education transformation or improving high level skills and capacity
for research and development

The next question would probably be: ‘Are you limiting our choices, what
about the ivory tower institutions?’

Our fourth intervention is one that is critical to knowledge creation
research and skills acquisition in South Africa. We have an ongoing
transformation project in higher education. It requires vigorous and sustained
attention. We have opened up educational opportunities to disadvantaged
students. More needs to be done to ensure that access means quality and
success.

Higher education has come a long way since the divided campuses of 1976. We
have moved into a new phase, with the recently merged and reconfigured
institutions finding their new identities and roles. The process of the mergers
has been difficult and it has challenged the creative imagination of several
councils and university leaders.

Several institutions have begun final work on their IOPs and many have
submitted their plans on time. I would like to express my appreciation to vice
chancellors and several university councils for the sterling leadership they
have shown in the merger processes.

Our transformation job is not done yet. Some institutions still have to
overcome the label of mediocrity. We have found institutions offering
programmes which are not supported by relevant equipment, appropriate academics
or well designed teaching programmes.

It is very clear that several universities require focussed support to
become centres of tertiary education and knowledge creation. The higher
education programme is allocated R11.8 billion this year, which is a 9.2
percent increase on last year. The actual sum transferred to universities and
technikons is R10.8 billion (9.4 percent increase over last year) and R954
million to National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) (a 7.1 percent
increase over last year).

Key support must be given to strategic areas of development. Several merged
institutions have begun to construct and implement responsive programmes that
address key challenges in our society and beyond. Recapitalisation and merger
support funding of more than R1 billion has been provided to universities. This
will support financial recovery, renewal of infrastructure, refurbishment of
residences and support for crucial academic re-equipping.

In order to give our nation value for this investment universities must
attend to the low throughput rates at first year level, must develop effective
academic development programmes (not pass one pass all) and must promote
enrolment in key disciplines of science, engineering, technology, and
commerce.

New resources provided to universities must focus on expansion in these
areas. South Africa needs more engineers, thus our support must go to expanding
growth of engineering faculties, renewal of their infrastructure and support to
academics working in these fields. We are in line with the goals of Accelerated
and Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) in engaging universities to
secure their participation in critical skills expansion. Modest investment in
the faculty of engineering at Wits will deliver greater numbers of engineers.
We will act on this. Furthermore we will be launching a partnership with the
Council on International Education Exchange to fast track skills development
for new graduates in scarce skills areas.

Beyond this, universities will also be encouraged to develop innovative
responses to the challenge of access, greater use of effective technology and
the provision of expanded access to quality distance education programmes.
University of South Africa (UNISA) properly supported has the potential to help
us close the skills and tertiary qualification gap in our country.

We intend to encourage universities to become key economic innovators by
focussing on new economic sectors. Along with the leadership of the University
of Johannesburg we are exploring the creation of a centre for manufacturing
excellence in a key economic zone on one of the campuses inherited in the
merger. This initiative will introduce new equipment, new skills, new
entrepreneurs, new research and economic potential.

There are also exciting developments at the University of Fort Hare, a
university that celebrates 90 years of existence this year.

Our universities are also doing exciting research work on protection of the
environment and modern agricultural processes. These are future skill and
economic areas for South Africa and universities can lead growth in them.

Widening access to higher education has led to pressing cost challenges. We
have taken steps through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to
provide state support to students, using primarily a model of deferred payment
(“study now, pay later”) with the carrot of a loan transfer to a bursary for
early and successful completion.

However, there is a concern that tuition fees restrict access to
universities. Student-fee incomes have doubled over the last five years, from
R2.5 billion to R5 billion. Student tuition fee collections have become a
critical resource issue in the higher education sector. Institutions have
funded increases in their volumes of activity by raising student tuition fees
to “unreasonably” high levels. In turn this has put pressure on state funding
to NSFAS. While fees have doubled over the last five years, the increase in
funding to NSFAS has risen by 30 percent.

Given the increasing gap between NSFAS allocations and these fee totals, the
financial strain on students and their families and in particular those who are
economically disadvantaged, has increased to levels where our higher education
equity policies are under threat.

Consequently, I am considering the introduction of a new policy on tuition
fees. It would give government the power to place upper limits on the total
tuition fee collections of the public higher education system. This would
probably mean that the government block grant funds and tuition fees will be
considered as a joint income stream.

We face hard choices on funding, quality and management. We know that
universities are struggling to employ the best academics, because of the loss
of academics to other systems and to the science councils. We know that
academic salaries must be improved. It is also very obvious that there is an
investment backlog in teaching and research facilities.

2006 will see the conclusion of our study into the funding of higher
education. Initial results point to the need to address inadequate funding
levels and also suggest that more must be done to develop frameworks of
accountability and transparency in higher education financing.

Closing

Have we met the mandate of the youth of ‘76? Have we fulfilled their dreams
and aspirations? I would answer yes, in many parts. We still have a large task
in achieving equality of access to quality education. We also have a great deal
more to do in addressing the legacies of racism, sexism and exclusion that were
part of the education system for many decades. Sadly there has been a
distressing decline in discipline and a loss of respect for authority at
school, but we have the right systems in place to rebuild what we have
lost.

2006 will see us grappling to address critical gaps, monitoring of the
system, effective teacher evaluation by external bodies in partnership with
existing processes. Increased attention to developing literacy and numeracy and
support to the system to ensure we can answer yes when the class of ‘76 asks
all of us learners, teachers, administrators, politicians; ‘Are you ready to
excel?’

The youth of ‘76 will definitely approve of the international role we have
begun to play. Many of those who survived benefited from international
solidarity.

We will be hosting the 16th bi-annual Conference of Commonwealth Education
Ministers (CCEM 16) during December 2006, which will hopefully be attended by
all 53 member states. The theme of the conference is “Access to Quality
Education for the good of all” and will serve to share the educational lessons
and experiences of countries like ours with large public education systems.
There will be parallel events for youth, for teachers and for civil society,
making the event a large and important gathering for our country.

I would like to conclude by thanking the Portfolio Committee for Education,
my MEC for education colleagues, hard working dedicated teachers who support
South Africa as she becomes a learning nation.

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

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

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Education
19 May 2006