Budget and Policy Speech by MEC for Education and Training Hon. Mandla Makuphula in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature

Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Distinguished Colleagues in the Provincial Legislature
Leaders of the Opposition Parties
Organs of Civil Society
Our Partners present in this House 
Leaders of the Religious Organisations and Churches
Accounting Officer and Staff
Leaders of Chapter nine and ten institutions
Youth, Women, Business and Community leaders in our midst
Representatives of the media
Distinguished guests
Comrades
The people of Eastern Cape

Introduction

A warm and heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to table the 2011 Education Policy and Budget Speech during this momentous occasion.  Today marks another important date in the calendar of this House. Today I stand before this house on behalf of the children of this province to request an appropriation of funds for one the single most important activities in society: The provision of education services to our children.

This is a day when I am required to put the case of our children and their aspirations for a better and improved education service. I hope that whilst  going through this task, I will also be setting the scene for the type of change needed to live up to our commitment that indeed education finds its rightful place amongst the many pressing demands of our  developmental state.

Let me start of by acknowledging the major contribution made by our communities, the private sector, students, parents, teachers, and community based organisations involved in education.

Let me also express our greatest appreciation particularly to our ground troops in the schools for their ongoing contribution to learning and teaching particularly in challenging times like these: teachers, learners, principals and school governing bodies for having contributed significantly to the improvement in the pass rate for 2010 national senior certificate (NCS). I urge all of you to continue with the good work.

The greatest heroes in the struggle to improve quality education remains the people, who continue to make tremendous sacrifices and an immense contribution. We must never fail them.

Today the focus is Education. Education is a process of transfer of ideas from generation to generation in order to improve their quality of life, ideas from the dead to the living. Education is, therefore, a heritage of society; it is the property of ordinary people. So Education must reflect experiences and the interest of the people. As the Freedom Charter states, “The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace.”  Therefore, education should not only be academic, but teach human values - ubuntu, respect, sacrifice, solidarity, patriotism, and selflessness.

The Department has a constitutional obligation to lead the process to realise these noble goals. This is a very serious obligation that calls for an unwavering commitment, collective effort and hard work.  Our children/youth need to be better prepared for their future. 

This budget and policy speech comes against a context of many challenges. Most significant of these challenges is the limitation of the available resources required to address a legacy of an unequal system of education.

As MEC for the biggest Department, taking almost half of the entire Provincial Budget, let me start by thanking my colleagues in the Executive and honourable members of the Legislature for continuing to prioritise the function of education in the allocation of the limited available resources.

This however in turn, requires that these limited resources be used ethically and optimally to ensure that as the government battles with distributing these resources and in certain instances having to cut on other critical budget requirements for other functions, we give value to this contribution.

I must also indicate my concern at the impact of the financial situation of the department on the Provincial Revenue Fund. The Accounting Officer and I remain fully committed to ensure that the situation does not result in the Provincial Revenue Fund being more adversely affected and will continue to work with our colleagues in the Provincial Treasury in this regard.

This budget also comes against the background of unpleasant audit outcomes of the 2009/2010 financial year and more or less similar outcomes of the previous financial years. I am alive to the reality that it is your justified and reasonable expectation that this situation changes and this change must be now.

Honourable Speaker, as this House is aware, the National Executive decided to place the Department under Section 100 (1) (b) of the Constitution.  The implication thereof is that, as I deliver this budget speech, this is done with the understanding that it may be necessary once all the details of the intervention are finalised, that certain changes be made to the budget and the Annual Performance Plan.

Similarly, it is going to be necessary and important for the Accounting Officer to consider further reprioritisation as a result of the current cost pressures on the Budget of the Department, in particular as a result of the re-instatement of temporary educators.

I am also very mindful of the implications of the various areas of inefficiency in the department which have in certain instances produced very unpleasant consequences.

These include the painful experience of our service providers who have had to wait for so long and are still waiting to receive their hard earned payments. Let me express my sincere and heartfelt apology for this unfortunate and unpleasant experience. I believe that this is the time for all us, in one voice, to say: “never and never again”.

In the financial year 2010/2011 and the first quarter of the 2011 academic year, we have had to take very painful decisions. These decisions had to be taken one way or the other.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members, I must emphasise that painful as these decisions may have been, they were taken in absolute good faith and in the best interests of ensuring that we sustain the provision of education services. Once more to those who may have endured pain as a result of the unintended consequences of these decisions, our profound apologies.

Honourable Speaker, on the 4th and 5th January 2011, we convened the biggest gathering of the management of the both Senior and Middle Management to develop a change path for the department in light of our major challenges. We took the extra-ordinary step to invite organised labour to participate and are indebted to them for their presence on the 4th January 2011. Amongst others, we adopted a Turnaround Strategy and subsequently followed this up with a detailed Turnaround Implementation Plan, to normalise our education system in our province. The strategy seeks to address the past, present and the future and deals with transversal issues critical to the turnaround of a state department.  This Turnaround Plan has been commended and adopted by the National Department of Basic Education as the basis for the operationalisation of Section 100 (1) (b) intervention.  This process has now culminated in the Annual Performance Plan which I will table simultaneously with the budget. 

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members Scholar Transport is one of the key areas that have challenged the Department and is intended to enhance access of learners to educational services and is an infrastructure support programme intended for learners who do not have a school within five kilometres of their homes. The provision of the service in the department has been poorly managed right from Provincial Head Office down to District level. There have been a number of inefficiencies related to learner transport, namely inaccurate learner data resulting in many learners who do not deserve to be transported being provided with regular transport, while deserving learners were overlooked. This in turn resulted in the budget for this programme being exhausted far before the end of the financial year and consequently major inconvenience to learners and genuine service providers alike.

This function will be transferred to the Department of Transport in the new financial year. However the department of education will remain involved at the level of determining requirements and partly managing the programme at school level to assist and ensure that the Department of Transport provides and manages the transportation process efficiently, effectively and economically. The two departments will sign a memorandum of agreement which will detail the respective roles of each one of them. The shift of the function is also meant to allow the department of education to focus on its core business.

Honourable Members, the School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) conceptualised as an educational intervention aimed at enhancing the educational experience of the most needy primary school learners through promoting punctual school attendance, alleviating short term hunger, improving concentration and contributing to the general health of learners.

Subsequent to numerous challenges that have been experienced regarding this programme, ranging from inefficiencies of the management of the programme at Head Office and District levels to poor management of contracts resulting in contracts being extended without any formal tenders, and meal servers not being paid, we have considered a new approach to the delivery of SNP. The model seeks to strengthen the role and involvement of school governing bodies and the communities in which the schools are situated. We also seek to ensure the creation of decent jobs in the localities of the schools and thereby contribute to local economic development of the areas of the locality of schools. Let me indicate that, as we set up the systems in the schools for this programme, we also have in mind as a key objective the participation of unemployed women, whom we intend should be the main beneficiaries of the decentralised programme.  The inter-departmental collaboration with the Departments of Agriculture and Social Development in the implementation of the programme will add value to the programme.

We are very mindful that even this new approach is vulnerable to abuse particularly by our own officials. Let me issue a stern warning to whomever to desist from any conduct in any form that seeks to undermine our key objectives in devolving this function to schools. Our patience and flexibility must not be tested to the extreme.

The aim of the Department is to ensure a credible outcomes-focused planning and accountability system in order to improve institutional efficiency.  This will entail further enhancing our management systems and integrated service delivery at all levels.  To achieve this the 2011/12 financial year we will focus on improving the audit outcomes, stabilising the financial systems, human resources and supply chain management.  Furthermore the organisational structure will need to be reviewed and district development strengthened.  The Department has set aside the amount of R1, 813 billion to deliver on the above-mentioned priorities.

Honourable Speaker, I do not want any one of us to under-estimate the magnitude of the challenges facing this department. Indeed change must come and the better if it comes now, but the real outcomes of these change may be only felt in times to come. Our challenges are deep-rooted and in certain instances historical. As we move forward, we need to share this understanding. It is in this context that I call upon all those who are committed to change to demonstrate revolutionary discipline and perseverance.  As the sun rises and sets every day, we must remain focused to the core objective which is learning and teaching. We must therefore appreciate that as we address both the systemic and structural challenges of the department, we must do so without compromising our core objective. Let us differ, let us engage and let us vigorously pursue our engagements without compromising learning and teaching.

Core business

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members the introduction of the Action Plan to 2014: Towards the realisation of Schooling 2025 has been met with hope and excitement as it reasserts this administration’s commitment to the value of long term planning and rigorous examination of all the factors that underpin continued underperformance at all levels of our education system.

We remain committed to the Non Negotiable in Education: Teachers must be in school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day, provision of textbooks and all materials on the first day of school and provide the necessary support and improve the infrastructure in support of quality learning and teaching.

Honourable Members, the broad framework for Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy (LAIS) is devolved from national to provinces but allows provinces to adapt it to suit its own local conditions and demands.

Schooling 2025 and the Delivery Agreement signed with the President, Premier, Minister and MEC, requires a radical approach to crafting the LAIS for the 2011 academic year, up to the 2014 academic year. Working with our Social Partners in Education we have aligned the National Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy (LAIS) to address our conditions as a province and this will be the guide to quality learning and teaching in schools. We have incorporated this in our Departmental Turnaround Implementation Plan as a strategic intervention area to improve learner performance.

On analysis of learner enrolment figures, a clear trend emerges when one compares enrolment per grade from Grade 1 to 12 which indicates that there are challenges that learners face as they proceed through the education system. Drop-out and grade repetition due to socio-economic factors and poor quality of schooling are factors that are associated with this trend.

The province has recorded a significant improvement in Grade 12 performance from 51% in 2009 to 58.3% in 2010 which represents a 7.3% increase. Despite this improvement, the province is still performing below the national average which suggests that there is still room for improvement.

The number of candidates qualifying for admission to a Bachelor Degree increased from 13.9% in 2009 to 15.9% in 2010, Diploma courses increased from 20.4% to 23.8% and for Higher Certificate increased from 16.5% to 18.4% in 2010. The improvement in both quantity and quality of our results is testimony to the impact of our focused LAIS interventions. While this positive trend is commendable more could be done to ensure equity in educational achievement in the province. Continued implementation of the Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy (LAIS) will be key in addressing learner performance in our schools in 2011.  The following interventions are worth mentioning:

Teacher development

"You can buy a book to teach, but you cannot buy a teacher!"  This statement emphasises the importance of investing in teacher capacity building and development.  A primary focus in 2011 will be the training of all Foundation Phase and Grade 10 teachers to be able to implement the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in 2012.  This project has targeted 21 000 Foundation Phase and 12 335 further education and training (FET) teachers.  Content gap training in general education and training (GET) learning areas and FET subjects remains an important strategy to improve the quality of teaching and learning.  In the GET band, the focus is on training in numeracy, literacy, mathematics and languages.  In the FET band, content gap training concentrates on mathematics, physical sciences, life sciences, agricultural sciences, accounting and geography.  There is a targeted programme involving the 351 schools that have been identified as under-performing.  There is also a specialised training for all English First Additional Language (FAL) teachers that focus on literature, as well as specialised technical subject training focusing on civil technology, electrical technology, mechanical technology and engineering graphics & design.  A partnership has been formed with the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) to fund training of teachers on a mathematics short course, provided by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and training of selected principals in an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) in School Leadership and Management.

Overall the amount set aside for all Teacher Development Programmes is R107,682 million provided for under the Skills Levy.

Laptop initiative for educators

As part of the measures to improve school administration, on the one hand, and to improve learning and teaching preparation processes, on the other hand, the Minister of Basic Education declared the teacher laptop initiative policy in 2009. The initiative seeks to assist educators in public schools with their curriculum delivery endeavours as well as improving efficiency in respect of record keeping and improving the working conditions of our educators.

2011/12 will see a rollout of this initiative in the province’s public schools. An amount of R97million will be provided for this purpose under Programme 2.

Funding for public ordinary schools

Section 34 (1) of SASA and the Amended National Norms and Standards for the funding of Public Ordinary provide parameters for the equitable and preferential funding of public ordinary schools, and the principles derive from the constitutional guarantee of equality and recognition of the right of access and redress.

For the financial year 2011/12 a budget of R1, 371,796 billion has been set aside for distribution to schools for the funding of schools.  Unfortunately, due to the current personnel cost pressures, the province is not funding at the requisite 2011 funding national levels. The budget is R78 194 m less than what would be needed if the province were to fund at national target. 

Items funded under this item includes LTSM, maintenance for schools, municipal services, consumables (educational and non-educational) and No-Fee cash allowance.

Learning and teaching support material (LTSM)

On learning and teaching support material (LTSM), the Ministry of Basic Education has declared that from now all provinces must ensure that each learner must have a book in each subject or learning area.  As a result of that declaration, the Department of Basic Education is assisting the provinces by topping up on textbooks for Grades 10 – 12 in the current academic year. 

As the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape province we transfer funds to Section 21 Schools.  I am concerned that despite funds having been transferred not all those funds are used to purchase LTSM.  We need to address this phenomenon.  We will be strengthening the system of LTSM procurement for both Section 20 and Section 21 Schools to ensure that LTSM is timely delivered to schools.

Community involvement

The legacy of rural education and schooling in the Eastern Cape has been characterised by a lot of deprivation, inequalities and fragmented provisioning brought about by years of struggle and apartheid where schools became sites of struggle, strained relations within the school and with the communities in which the schools exist, thus creating environments that are not conducive and/or sometimes complete breakdown of effective teaching and learning – a culture where communities who are supposed to be served are in effect undermined and disrespected.

Behavioural irregularities like sexual harassment, drug/alcohol abuse, various forms of violence, general lack of caring and apathy, exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic are still an order of the day in some schools and SGBs find themselves helpless in terms of invoking their authority in terms of the Schools Act. The incidence of child-headed households leads to:

• rocketing in learner pregnancy,
• learners/youth who have lost the will to live and who have reached a state of hopelessness,
• learners who are HIV positive and mixing antiretrovirals (ARVs) with dagga,
• drug trafficking perpetuated by adult community members and taverns closer to schools

All these threaten and undermine every effort put in place by the department to provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners. This further undermines our efforts in laying a strong foundation for the development of all our people’s talents and capabilities and to advance the democratic transformation of our society.

On the other hand, the system is equally confronted with school governing bodies (SGBs) abusing authority and undermining the democratic values and constitutional rights of learners to unfair discrimination and equal access to education facilities.  The approach of the Department therefore is to empower the SGBs from the previously disadvantaged communities to be meaningfully involved in the education of their children whilst causing SGBs from previously advantaged communities to comply with statutory and legislative imperatives related to the transformation of education, thereby protecting and advancing our diverse cultures, languages and upholding the rights of all learners and parents.

The call by the President of the Republic to elevate education into being a societal issue is configured by the Department of Basic Education in a concept called Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC).  The QLTC was launched in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education in 2009 at Cofimvaba District.  Following this provincial launch, other districts followed suit and launched theirs, with only five Districts that have not yet launched.  The plan is for these districts to launch their QLTC on or before the end of April 2011.

The launch of QLTC has now started in schools.  Our aim in the province is to ensure that all schools launch QLTC before the end of 2011 to really make education a societal issue.

The department has set aside R4 256 m for the empowerment of SGBs.

District support and school management development

The school visits that are conducted at district level targeting schools by both the parliamentary oversight teams and departmental officials at both head office and district level, have reflected some few good practices in some corners and glaring weaknesses on how schools are managed and governed in others. The major problems identified which relate to management and  administration of schools have reflected poor attendance by both educators and learners, lack of proper supervision, poor implementation of Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) policy, inadequate utilisation of tuition time and absence of proper plans linked to the overall strategy of the department. The quality of school development plans and academic improvement plans, also point to the poor quality of support given to schools by district based support teams, characterised by silo effects and as a result failing to meet their intended objectives. Lack of accountability at district and school level for different reasons, ranging from ignorance, and sheer negligence is key to undermining continuous and incremental improvement in the performance of the system.

The department will continue with its empowerment programmes on mentoring and coaching of Education Department officials (EDOs) working in collaboration with local universities and other programmes related to curriculum management, implementation of integrated quality management system, financial management and leave management.  The department has launched a programme dedicated to women empowerment targeting women leaders at school level, (heads of departments, deputy principals and principals).  The programme has been launched in 13 of the 23 districts and is premised on:

• The realisation that heads of departments (HODs) are at the centre of curriculum engagement in schools and they can either make or break the school - and women are in the majority in terms of this category.
• The realisation that these women need to be empowered to be able to deal not only with the intellectual developmental needs of learners but be able to support them with their psycho-social developmental needs, etc.

The department has set aside a budget of R42,120 million for School Management Development Programmes.

Maritime School

There has been initial stakeholder engagement to formulate the concept of establishing the first Maritime School in the Eastern Cape.  This initiative remains an area of interest and there is an agreement that the Department of Education and Department of Transport shall work collaboratively with Provincial Treasury to take this process forward. My colleague in Transport will elaborate on this area.

Rural education and farm schools

We are still faced with the reality of schools with one to five educators. We currently have schools who according to the 2011 post establishment qualify for one to five educators. The high number of these schools must be a matter of grave concern and reflect the ongoing inequality of our education system. The impact of under-development particularly in rural and remote areas continues to have an adverse impact on education in this category. We need to engage with the communities which these schools serve to jointly find sustainable solutions. 

The number of schools who remain without access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation is worrying. This is the single most important factor that influences the decision of suitably qualified educators not to wish to serve in these areas, therefore depriving learners in these areas of an opportunity to benefit from experienced educators. These learners are also trapped in the poverty affecting these areas and most of them are in the care of aged grandparents, thus placing a further limitation on them to get assistance with learning at home. It is therefore critical that we find practical solutions to building capacity for this category.

It has thus become urgent that as we deal with the broader issues of the distribution of educators and we intensify teacher development, we also initiate the implementation of the Remote Areas and Scarce Skills policy. We must also encourage and create space for our young graduates particularly our Fundza Lushaka graduates to be deployed in these areas.

Agricultural high schools

As part of the provincial strategy for rural development, the MECs of Education and Agriculture joined hands in the previous year to ensure that agricultural science as a subject is promoted and introduced in as many schools as possible, and particularly in the rural communities.

To this end the Department of Education is participating in a provincial structure – the Provincial Agricultural Education and Training Forum whose intention is to promote agricultural development within the province.  The department has conducted the situational analysis and a decision was taken to expand the provisioning beyond the current three high schools in the western part of the province.

As a step toward the accomplishment of this goal the department has introduced fully fledged agricultural streams in two High Schools in Lusikisiki (Palmerton) and Maluti (Moshesh) and a budget of R4,600 m has been set aside to re-capitalise these institutions.  The intention of the department in the medium to long term is to have fully fledged agricultural high schools on the other side of the Kei River.

School for traditional leaders

We are continuing with our engagements to define and finalise preparations for the finalisation of this matter.  We will, in this year, continue with further engagements with the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs and the House of Traditional Leaders. A formal announcement will be made in due course in this regard.

School infrastructure

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members, in spite of the significant progress that has been made over the years, there are still major backlogs, particularly with regard to school infrastructure. School infrastructure continues to pose a challenge to the Department. There are schools that are still without water supply, sanitation and electricity and these are mostly concentrated in Clusters A and B. In Cluster C a similar trend also emerges in Districts situated in former homelands. Urban districts of Port Elizabeth, East London, King Williams Town and Uitenhage, all of which fall under Cluster C are better off compared to the other districts. On the other hand Qumbu, Mbizana, Mt Frere and Lusikisiki are the least resourced districts in terms of basic infrastructure amenities.

For the school infrastructure an amount of R193,527 m has been allocated from the equitable share, R724,244 m from the conditional grant and R93,104 m for maintenance and emergencies.

We are grateful to the national government for setting aside R6.2 billion over the medium term financial framework (MTEF) period to assist us with the eradication of mud structures and the elimination of inappropriate structures through the Accelerated Schools' Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI)programme. More importantly the approach to be adopted in the development of the infrastructure will be community based and contribute significantly to the creation of jobs and consequently contribute to our fight against unemployment and poverty whilst at the same time creating much needed integrated infrastructure for schooling.

Over the new MTEF, the infrastructure deliverables will, in addition to classrooms and toilets, also include laboratories, computer centres and early childhood development (ECD) centres. The increase in the budget is commensurate with the increase in the Infrastructure Grant, which specifically focuses on the backlogs in education and school infrastructure needs, including the replacing of unsafe and inappropriate school structures, maintenance and improving infrastructure delivery capacity.

Post provisioning

Honourable Speaker, the finalisation of the post provisioning process will be a key focal area to ensure that schools have adequate educators timeously in preparation for 2012 tuition year. Similarly, the Department has committed itself to ensure that all staff is optimally utilised. To this end all cases of excess educators hindering permanent placement of educators in vacant posts must be resolved by the first half of the financial year. We need the full co-operation of our stakeholders particularly organised labour to ensure that we address the issue of educators additional to post staff establishment of schools. We also need to address the tendency of the inflation of learner numbers which is having a major adverse impact on the allocation and distribution of resources. We are starting to treat the inflation of learners as an unforgivable sin and will take decisive action against those involved.

We acknowledge the fact that the staff establishment for 2011 was delayed. But we believe that we engaged in sufficient consultation with our social partners on this matter and should carry through with implementation. We are mindful of the impact of the movement of educators as a result of a new staff establishment being issued. It is in this context that we are on record and have issued two circulars clearly indicating the process to be followed as per Collective agreement 2 of 2003. We must now join the family of other provinces in implementing this collective agreement.

For the 2012 academic year, we have already given notice of our intention to initiate consultations in the month of April 2011 to avoid the challenges we are facing in this academic year. We are also willing to engage broader society in this process. To this end, we will be inviting submissions from interested parties which will be considered in this process. We hope that this will provide a proper opportunity for everyone to contribute towards a proper post provisioning for schools.

I am also very mindful of the fact that when we talk of post provisioning, our focus is only on educator posts. We need to initiate the process of addressing the needs of schools in respect of non-teaching posts. This however requires us to carefully manage the current challenges particularly the undesirable 87:13 personnel and non-personnel split. Our personnel budget is currently under tremendous pressure and is unable to accommodate the filling of non-teaching posts. We must also look into other creative ways of ensuring that schools receive tools to provide administrative support. Our information and communications technology (ICT) approach must therefore take into account the need to enable all support functions that do not need warm bodies to be performed. We will have to look into the process of providing appropriate school infrastructure including provisioning ICT for e-learning and e-administration.

Honourable Speaker, based on our declaration and distribution of posts for 2011, our educator-learner ratio on average is 1:30 against the national norm of 1:40 at primary schools and 1:35 for secondary schools. This ratio is based on 1,9 million unverified learner numbers and 64 252 declared posts. This indicates that our declaration of 64 252 is reasonable and well within the national norm.

Independent schools

The Department will through independent schools continue to improve learner achievement rate through enhancing policies, systems and monitoring structures for the registration of these schools. We will continuously monitor these schools to ensure that they meet education quality and performance standards required for registration and funding.

We will strive to attain the level of funding which is in line with national norms and standards for school funding. I am very mindful of the serious concerns raised by this category of schools particularly on the issue of norms and standards for funding of these schools. This matter will receive attention and through engagement with this category of schools, we will have to find sustainable solutions.  At the same time, I must express my concern at the practice of conducting unregistered schools in the province. Those who are the owners of these schools must remember that it is an offence to run an unregistered school.

I urge parents to confirm that they verify the registration of these schools prior to enrolling their children.

Inclusive  education

It is not a disgrace to be disabled. What is a disgrace is that people with disabilities continue to be marginalised. What is a disgrace is that we continue to hide children with disabilities and not allow them access to education. Those of us who continue to stigmatise disabled children are a disgrace to our society and lack a sense of human rights. As MEC for Education I am begging you South Africans to let these children free and to allow them to enjoy the fruits of the tree that is nourished by the blood of Solomon Mahlangu. I am begging you to allow these children to benefit from the dictates of Freedom by opening the doors of learning for them. Let us remember that none of them chose to be disabled, neither did they parents make such a choice. They remain a gift as with any other child. My special love to this category of children.

Honourable Speaker, in 2011 the Department, through inclusive education, focuses on eliminating all forms of barriers to learning so as to enable all learners to access education and receive support. The focus of this programme is to identify, screen, assess and appropriately place learners. District Based Support Teams (DBSTs) in all districts will be empowered to enable them to effectively discharge their function of enforcing the implementation of Inclusive Education policies by rendering appropriate support to educators. A number of priorities have been identified for these schools.  In support of these priorities we will establish reform school, Braille production centre and focus on conversion of ordinary public schools into full services schools as well as strengthening special schools to become resource centres in the planned financial year (2011/12).

The increase in public special schools' budget is mainly to improve learner performance through improving the quality of teaching and learning through implementation of White Paper 6; reducing out-of-school disabled learners in the province; strengthening curriculum delivery, management and governance. The rising number of learners experiencing barriers to learning has resulted in an increased number of learners who need to access special schools, particularly out-of-school youth with disabilities and children in conflict with the law who require high levels of support.

More non-teaching and professional staff (therapists) in both districts and special schools will be needed while assistive devices to support learners in need will be required. I have also noted with grave concern the violation of the rights of learners in some of the special schools. I intend to conduct a full investigation into the situation in all 43 of these schools.

We must condemn in the strongest terms the abuse of the learners in any form. We will also mobilise society as a whole to understand the need for these children to have access to education.

Honourable Speaker, as part of addressing these issues, the plan developed with the heads of these schools will now be costed and implemented. I am happy to report to this House that our project to address the challenges faced by our children at Vukuhambe has produced very good results with major changes to the environment at the school.

We however need similar interventions at other similar schools and to ensure that the available facilities are fully utilised. I must also take this opportunity to thank both volunteers, members of the community and business for their contribution in addressing the challenges faced at the school.

FET colleges

Honourable Speaker , further education and training (FET) colleges have a responsibility of ensuring that the youth of this province have access to Vocational Education so as to promote economic activity and self employment. In line with this purpose, the Department has committed itself to improving the quality of teaching and learning in all FET colleges through the development of a Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy and establishing the FET College Examination Board. To facilitate transformation of the sector as required by the new FET Act the Department will work with college councils in developing human resources particularly in areas of leadership, management and governance, financial management, monitoring and evaluation and risk management. The transformation agenda of FET colleges will seek to address challenges of unemployment rate affecting young people in the province as result of global recession and other macro structural economic factors. College lecturers will also be trained in scarce skills areas. The twinning agreement that the department has with Lower Saxony will be extensively exploited for this purpose.

Expenditure by the Programme experienced exponential growth from the 2007/08 to 2010/11 financial year. This growth is projected to continue over the 2011/12 MTEF period for the implementation of the FET Act, which has necessitated that the further education and training colleges introduce new programmes (New Certificate Vocational), while still continuing their responsibilities to the currently enrolled learners, until such time that these students complete their courses in terms of the NATED curriculum. The budget for the FET sector has been shifted from equitable share and has been ring-fenced as a conditional grant so as to prepare for the movement of the sector into Higher Education in the near future.

Adult basic education and training (ABET)

Adult Basic Education constitutes one of critical mechanisms to realise challenges of societal illiteracy, and the aim of government is to reduce it by 50% by 2014.In pursuit of the goal of ensuring that adults without basic education access learning opportunities the Programme is set to revitalise the ABET sector. This involves, establishing more ABET centres in under-utilised schools, implement norms and Standards for Funding for Adult Learning Centres, and improving the quality of ABET programmes so that they articulate to FET college programme. This Programme has almost doubled its budget allocation from 2007/08 to 2013/14 from R155 million and R341 million. The budget for ABET increased by 2.8% in 2011/12 from the 2010/11 revised estimates. The insignificant increase is mainly due to improvement of conditions of service for ABET tutors. However, the increase in budget allocation is insufficient due to the effects of the shortfall in the funding for occupational specific dispensation (OSD) for educators and the higher than anticipated 2009 wage agreement. The increase in the budget, which is channelled to public centres, is due to improvement in conditions of service of ABET tutors.

Early childhood development

Early childhood development (ECD) is currently defined as the provision of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual and moral development for children between zero and nine years.  The holistic and integrated nature of the South African model has resulted in a variety of delivery modes at multiple types of sites, across multiple sectors (Education, Social Development and Health), including links between broader community development and women’s development and empowerment, thereby creating high quality sustainable jobs for rural women.  Inter-sectoral collaboration in policy development and service provision are key features of the current developments amongst these sectors. The primary objective of ECD (Pre-Grade R) in the Expanded Public Works Programme is to expand ECD services, focusing in 0-4 year age cohort and the Department of Education has been assigned responsibility for the training of caregivers/practitioners on curriculum-related issues.  There is empirical evidence to the fact that economic returns to social investment in ECD far outweigh the returns to any other form of human capital investment.  The budget allocated for Pre-Grade R is R12,851 million.

In addition, ECD has been highlighted as project 11 of the APEX priorities and a focus of the Social Needs Cluster. There is concern about the low level of learner attainment in literacy and numeracy in South Africa as evidenced by systemic evaluation in grades 3 and 6, hence the Foundations for learning campaign. The policy imperative is to ensure universal access to quality Grade R programmes to all children by 2014. The gazetting of the Norms and Standards for Grade R is a major policy shift. In terms of the Implementation Plan, Grade R has been included in the Resource Targeting Table for the first time in 2011/12 and schools will receive allocations to purchase prioritised resources.  The total budget allocated for Grade R is R492,109 million.  Of that amount R110,345 million is for Grade R infrastructure facilities.

HIV/AIDS

Social support to educators and learners remains the critical departmental focus area in 2011 and this year will be the year of training. With regards to HIV and AIDS and Life Skills Programmes, the Department will continue with training of educators on Life Skills and reproductive health, including HIV and AIDS. School based health advisory committees will be established in schools, where these do not exist, while those already in existence will be revitalised to perform their functions. Peer education programmes will continue to be rolled out through the Peer Group Trainer Programme. Children’s clubs in 300 primary schools will be established to promote life skills and protection of children. In support of the goals of ensuring equal access to education, the department will implement a care and support programme for orphans and vulnerable children.  We will continue with our partnership with the Department of Social Development in this regard.

The Department will develop and distribute CAPS compliant life skills and sexual reproductive health curricula and educator materials to support the implementation of HIV counselling and testing (HCT) and other HIV and AIDS campaigns. Achieving an AIDS free generation requires a concerted effort to harness the efforts of all stakeholders. To this end the Department will continue with its advocacy programme involving other Departments, communities and organisations outside the public sector.

The budget allocated for this item is R34,346 million.

Examinations and assessment

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members despite certain systemic challenges, the department, has continuously succeeded in maintaining the integrity of examinations and this remains our key priority. The department will intensify its monitoring of the registration of examination centres, and learner candidates to ensure they meet policy requirements. Security of all district examination facilities will be heightened and staff will be trained on the Integrated Examination Computerised System (IECS) with the intention of improving the efficiency in this area. Specific emphasis will also be placed on the efficient and effective management of school promotion and progression schedules from Grades 1 to 11 and this will be an integral part of the strategy to monitor and support implementation of School-Based Assessment (SBA) in both GET and FET Schools. However, in respect of Grade 12 there is also provincial centralised moderation of Grade 12 SBA so as to ensure the credibility of assessment and examinations.

A major priority of the Department is to ensure the efficient management of the Grade 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, ABET Level 4 and NATED 550 examinations, which are monitored for compliance by the national and provincial structures. The Department commits itself to strengthening the analysis of results for all Grades from 1 to 12 on an annual basis to inform planning and the development of targeted approaches to improve learner performance.

Assessment is the key indicator of learner performance and therefore is pivotal to teaching and learning.  External national assessments such as the National Senior Certificate (NSC) for Grade 12 and the Annual National Assessments (ANA) for Grades 1 to 6 and Grade 9, have a huge impact on identifying learners' needs, areas of weakness and strategising on improving learner performance.  Provincially, assessment has been given priority status:  all Grade 11 learners are required to write externally set provincial papers.  In preparation for the national Grade 12 examinations, all learners are required to write a provincial trial examination in all 29 FET subjects.  Moreover, provincial common tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9 are set in June and November, focusing on literacy and numeracy. 

The budget allocated for this item is R251.789 million.

Honourable Members, public education as a societal matter must talk to the needs of communities and as the heritage of the people must improve quality of lives of the majority including those who are poor and most vulnerable. In 2011 the Department will collaborate with a number of societal structures, including institutions of traditional leadership, institutions of higher learning, and organs of civil society.  Efforts to heighten awareness on education as a societal issue will be conducted through a number of programmes which include the “adopt a school campaign” and the Quality Teaching and Learning Campaign (QTLC).

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members, our budget allocation for the 2011/12 financial year is R24.6 billion. Of this amount 87% will go to compensation of employees leaving us with 13% to address our cumulative over-expenditure of R1,2billion made of R800 million from the 2009/10 and R400 million for the 2010/11 financial years respectively. We will also have within this budget to address the accruals of R500 million. In addition we will have to cover the projected expenditure of R800 million over ten months to cover the cost of the reinstatement of the temporary educators reinstated as per the court order.

As I table this budget, I am alive to the reality of an over-expenditure on the personnel component of the budget from the beginning of the financial year as a result of the implementation of the court order. This will have major implications on the internal allocation of the budget and to the various programmes within the department.

I also need to highlight a number of issues requiring urgent attention.

• The need to develop more effective mechanisms to enforce the admission policy of government to address the challenges faced by parents.  It is now important that the policy on admissions is fully adhered to by all schools.

• We need to give more prominence to sign language and the practice thereof.  We also need to review our resource allocation to avail more resources to this area as part of our drive towards inclusive education.

• Our values in education must also support the development of a disciplined cohort of learners, educators, administrators and communities in education.  We must intensity our efforts to uproot ill-discipline and violence in our schools.  I must, however, reiterate that corporal punishment is outlawed.  Discipline requires that our learners must be taught both at school and at home to avoid teenage pregnancy and drugs and focus on their education.

• Our law requires parents to ensure that learners for whom they are responsible attend school from the first day of school from the age of seven and until the age of fifteen.  It is therefore compulsory for parents to ensure that all children of school-going age attend school. Communities must assist us in ensuring that the objective of the Freedom Charter is achieved in this regard.

• We need to strengthen our relationship with private property owners on which public schools are operating and to do everything in our power to improve the conditions of such schools.

• To strengthen the capacity of school governing bodies, I urge school governing bodies to co-opt, where necessary, members of communities to assist them in discharging the duties of the governing body.  This will assist to bring on board those members of the community who, although they do not qualify for election to the governing bodies, wish to assist to contribute.

• An age analysis of our educators is 45 years. This raises serious concern regarding our future ability to have educators in the next ten years. We need to address the issue of the establishment of a teacher training college. I have been engaged in discussions with the Minister of Higher Education on this issue and hope that as he considers the issues of the transformation of Higher Education, this matter will receive his favourable consideration. I will continue to pester and persuade him on this matter.

• Whilst the National Curriculum has been revised several times, the curriculum offerings in most FET schools remain historical and there is therefore a need to effect curriculum transformation.

2011/12 budget

Hon. Speaker and Hon. Members, I now table to this House the Departmental budget for Vote number six (6) for 2011/12 financial year.

In conclusion

Hon. Speaker and Hon. Members, despite challenges the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape is on course and we are in charge of policy implementation and adherence to National Norms and Standards for proper functioning schooling in this province, as far as possible.  In the remaining years of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, working with the national Government, we intend to work hard on stabilising our education system through effective quality learning and teaching in all our schools.  In addition, we remain committed to clean up administrative systems of corrupt and apathetic tendencies.

Working with all our stakeholders/partners and our educators and acknowledging the conditions they work under we are committed to shaping the future of our children in this province, for them to play a meaningful role towards the realisation/the attainment of the New Growth Path as determined by the national government.

Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members of the House, I wish to take this opportunity on behalf of the children of this province, to thank former President Nelson Mandela for his immense contribution to the school infrastructure in this province. As we all know we are privileged through his tireless efforts and hard-work to be the beneficiaries of some of the best and modern schools built in the province. We will forever be indebted to him. Thank you very much Madiba.

The assembly of 1955 which developed and adopted the Freedom Charter was of ordinary South Africans. The biggest struggles against Colonialism and apartheid was fought and won by ordinary people. The fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty is that of the ordinary people. The main sponsor of our constitutional democracy through a popular vote is that of ordinary people. The future and the stability of our education rest with the masses of our people. And the people shall govern. Let us therefore place our trust and hope in the collective wisdom of the masses of our people. 

I thank you!
Ndiyabulela!
Ek bedank u!
Ke a leboga!

Source: Eastern Cape Department of Education