Reply by Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, on questions posed in the National Assembly for written reply

Question 2646

Dr A Lotriet (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education

Whether she will revise the national priorities as stipulated in the Funza Lushaka Bursary programme to include Afrikaans; if not, why not; if so, when will it be revised?

Reply:

The Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme is conceptualised within the broad goal of meeting supply and demand needs for high quality teachers in South Africa, with a particular focus on poor and rural schools. It has the overall goal of supplying the education system with well-qualified, high performing teachers who are able to teach in nationally identified priority areas, and who, upon completion of their funded studies, will be available for targeted/directed placement in public school posts.

The list of priority areas is approved by the Minister based on provincial indication of need, supported by vacancy data. The list can be revised on an annual basis depending on need.

Current priority areas are:

Current priority areas funded by Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme

A request was forwarded to provinces in 2009, inviting provinces to indicate areas of specialisation that were noted as in high need for the minister to consider for inclusion in the list of priorities. The provinces’ responses indicated that they need Accounting to be considered for inclusion in the list of priority areas.

Even though Afrikaans is not listed as a priority area, there are student teachers who specialise in Afrikaans who are funded through the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme. This is possible because an applicant should specialise in at least one priority area to be considered for award of the Funza Lushaka bursary. Teacher education qualifications provide space for a student to specialise in more than one area; hence it is possible for a student to major in Afrikaans coupled with a priority area to be funded through the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme. One of the 1 754 bursars who completed their studies at the end of 2009, a total of 216 bursars were qualified to teach in Afrikaans and to teach the language Afrikaans. This accounts for 12.3 percent of Funza Lushaka graduates. The table below provides details in respect of the 216 graduates broken down per phase as well as numbers placed.

Source: Funza Lushaka graduate bursar database, 2009

Source: Department of Education