Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Mr Magashule
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
The Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee for Education
Members of the Free State Legislature
Executive Mayor, Mayors and Councilors
Superintendent-General for Education, Mr Malope and other HOD’s
Members of the Management Team of the Free State Department of Education
Members of Teacher Organisations and Trade Unions
Representatives of the Private and Business Sector
Our spiritual leadership
Departmental Officials
Principals, former Principals and Educators, ABET Educators and ECD Practitioners
Parents and Learners
Media representatives
Comrades and friends
Approximately 55 years ago when the Freedom Charter was adopted in Kliptown, it stated amongst others that "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."
One of our key achievements of the past 15 years, of which we can be extremely proud as a government, is the extent to which we have managed to provide universal access to basic education to all. We are however not satisfied with the academic achievements of our learners and need to face the real challenge of providing quality basic education to all learners in our country.
Our investment in education, in line with the Quality Teaching and Learning Campaign (QLTC) launched by the National Department of Education in October 2008, and in the Free State in February 2010, should ensure that:
1. all schools receive the necessary resources in time for teaching to commence
2. ensure all schools have their full staff allocation, and that any vacancies are filled without delay
3. officials visit, give support and monitor schools
3. learner and teacher attendance is monitored and no child is out of school
4. schools are assisted to improve their performance through regular assessment of learners and the involvement of parents
5. we improve the ability of our children to read, write and count in the foundation phase years
6. teachers teach, to advance the education and the development of learners as individuals
7. teachers develop loyalty and respect for the profession
8. teachers are punctual, enthusiastic, well prepared for lessons, and of sober mind and body
9. teachers refrain from unprofessional behaviour such as teacher-pupil relationships, drunkenness, drug use, assault, sexual harassment and others
10. teachers are developed to improve their knowledge and skills base to be more effective
11. school management and governing bodies be supported and developed to ensure sound management and good governance at all schools.
The critical success factor in the delivery of the programmes of the Department of Education is the extent to which all parents and stakeholders in the education sector play their respective roles to ensure that Free State schools become centres of excellence. The achievement of quality education therefore depends on the contributions of departmental officials, school principals, teachers, students, parents and community members.
In the words of our honourable premier, in his recent State of the Province Address, these basic expectations are regarded as “non-negotiables” with regard to education.
Our theme for the new financial year is the provisioning of “Quality Basic Education” for all learners in the Free State.
Honourable Speaker, allow me now to present to this house the key programmes and priorities for education for the 2010/11 financial year in line with this government’s key strategic priorities as captured in the January 8th Statement of the ANC and the pronouncements made by the Honourable President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address on 11 February 2010 as well as the honourable premier’s State of the Province Address on 26 February 2010.
In order to improve the quality of teaching and learning at all levels within the system, the department will embark on a series of activities and interventions during the 2010/11 financial year. The total allocation to this department to deliver on its mandate is R8,539,463 billion.
Provincial Strategy on Learner Attainment (PSLA)
The PSLA is a strategic initiative that directs the focus of the education system in the Free State on continuous improvement with regard to learner attainment in the National Senior Certificate examinations (NSC). This focused approach on improvement of Grade 12 results does however not suggest that interventions and attention to the rest of the system would be neglected.
The strategy provides a holistic intervention to improve the quality of teaching and learning, the improvement of management, leadership and governance at schools in order to ultimately improve learner attainment or results. It makes provision for overall support to School Management Teams (MSTs), teachers and learners by all sections within the department. The focus will be on schools that achieved pass rates of below 60% in the 2009 Grade 12 Final examinations.
The activities range from analyzing the challenges at individual schools, the development of School Improvement Plans, the development of subject development plans, regular and structured monitoring and support visits to schools from both Head Office and District officials.
Structured programmes are in place to ensure that schools share expertise and best practices through twinning as well as mentoring and coaching by experts through classroom demonstrations and observations.
Further support to teachers and learners at these under-performing schools will be provided in the form of curriculum support sessions, supplementary tuition for Grade 12 learners in the form of Saturday and holiday classes, provision of DVDs to schools containing examination question papers and memoranda of all NSC subjects as well as a per question analysis of NSC 2009 examination results in order to allow educators to focus on problem areas observed.
English, Mathematics, Science, Technology and Accounting (EMSTA) Strategy
Honourable speaker, in order to ensure that our country produces university graduates in Science, Engineering and Technology fields, our educational system should produce quality outcomes particularly with regard to the rate of high school passes in English, Mathematics, Science, Technology and Accounting.
Consistent with the 2009/14 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) priorities, and the Operation Hlasela, as the defining Programme of Action for Free State government in the medium term, we identified performance improvement in Mathematics and Science as our key focus areas.
To this end, an English, Mathematics, Science, Technology and Accounting Strategy was developed that would seek to achieve the following three broad strategic goals:
1. Increasing the participation and performance rate in English, Mathematics, Science and Accounting with emphasis on learner attainment and increasing endorsements
2. Increasing the participation and performance of African learners, in particular, taking Mathematics and Science and following careers within Mathematics and Science fields
3. Strengthening and enhancing the capacity of educators to deliver quality English, Mathematics, Science and Accounting instruction in the classroom.
One of the key challenges confronting improved learner performance in these fields is the capacity of teachers to teach these subjects effectively. This strategy seeks to improve the competency and knowledge levels of teachers to offer effective and inspiring English, Mathematics, Science, Technology and Accounting teaching. This will be done through dedicated training programmes in collaboration with Higher Education
Institutions, providing bursaries to educators to improve their qualifications in these areas, interaction between educators to share best practices and exposing educators to relevant professional subject bodies. To further expose our teachers to best practices in the teaching of Mathematics, 120 teachers from the province will attend the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) Conference in 2010.
In order to increase the participation of learners in these subjects, a programme has been developed to assist them in their subject choices and to follow it up with a series of activities to supplement and complement teaching and learning at school. Some of these activities involve participation in the National Science Week, exposure to Mathematics and Science Olympiads, career role modeling sessions, competitions, holiday camps and additional classes.
The programme will also focus on a dedicated teacher recruitment drive, inclusive of retired and foreign nationals English, Mathematics, Science and Accounting teachers.
We will place an advertisement for retired teachers to submit their profiles before the end of March 2010. The programme will also provide for the provisioning of the requisite resources like textbooks, workbooks, science equipment, calculators, dictionaries and support from districts related to entrenching best practices. In this financial year, the department will be providing 150 schools in our rural areas (QwaQwa, Xhariep, Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo) with Natural Science Kits for Grade 4 to 7. This will afford learners from these rural areas the opportunity to see, touch, smell, manipulate and do experiments in order to immerse themselves in the world of science, and to achieve the goals of their formal study.
To prepare learners for the Grade 3, 6 and 9 external exams at the end of the year as pronounced by the President, Mr J Z Zuma, the department has introduced standardised common quarterly tests in Literacy, Numeracy, Mathematics, Science and English in these grades in all schools in the province, starting from March 2010.
The programme will also ensure that efforts are made to institutionalize these interventions through building the capacity of School Management Teams to manage English, Mathematics, Science and Accounting curricula. School Management Teams will also be capacitated to monitor and evaluate English, Mathematics, Science and Accounting instruction. In total, this programme will be funded to the tune of R24 million at all Secondary Schools.
A number of private sector partners and Higher Education Institutions are on board to assist some of these initiatives with expertise and resources. The PROMATHS initiative in partnership with Investec and Mr Fani Titi (R1 million), the Kagiso Trust and ABSA initiative (R4,8 million), the Heymaths Initiative (R12 million) ,the Voorspoed Mine
Saturday classes (R1 million), Steward Scott International (SSI) Saturday School Initiative as well as the involvement of the Central University of Technology and UNISA are but a few examples.
Resourcing and Funding of Schools
Honourable Speaker, we would like to reiterate our commitment to improved resourcing of schools through the funding of no-fee schools, the provisioning of basic resources like Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) as well as improved access of learners to electronic and multi-media resources materials. The department will continue to maintain the current number of no fee schools in the province. All schools in Quintiles 1, 2 and 3 will continue to be no fee schools. The no-fee policy will benefit 487 768 of the poorest learners in the province constituting 79,13 percent of the total learners in public ordinary schools.
The implementation of this policy ensures access to basic education and contributes towards the improvement of quality of life of the Free State citizens. The department will also close the gap between quintile 2 and 3 schools as part of the no-fee schools. R437 million will be allocated to public ordinary schools according to the norms and standards for school funding policy.
The department is proud to announce that in 2009, 1 069 temporary teachers were permanently appointed and we also advertised 540 senior posts at schools.
Furthermore, in line with our strategic objective to strengthen our support to schools, we have advertised 88 office-based educator posts.
Recapitalisation of Technical high schools
The department is aware of the fact that technical schools need to play a critical role towards contributing to the training of young people in technical subjects for improved skills development. The physical conditions and resourcing of technical schools are however not conducive to the realisation of this intention.
The National Department of Basic Education managed to secure a Conditional Grant towards the recapitalisation of Technical schools. The Free State Department of Education is of the intention to spend R7 477 million in the 2010/11 financial year to resource technical high schools over and above the normal funding allocation according to the funding norms.
This fund will assist in the re-designing of workshops, refurbishing of workshops, buying and installing of new machinery and equipment in line with the technical subjects offered at the technical schools. In addition, it will also provide for the training and up-skilling of teachers at technical schools to be exposed to new trends and practical skills in the respective subjects. This will effectively assist in improving overall conditions and modernizing these schools. Funds will be allocated over a three year cycle.
Agricultural schools
The honourable premier, in his State of the Province Address emphasised the strategic role that the agricultural sector needs to play in the economic development of the province. In this regard, this department is committed to developing and supporting Agricultural schools in a more focused manner
An audit of the conditions at Agricultural schools was conducted and in line with the outcome of this audit, the department will immediately intervene at Seotlong, Unicom, Weiveld, Nampo and Bovaal Agricultural schools in order to develop these schools to become fully-fledged Agricultural Institutions. The intervention will be driven in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and other stakeholders in this field.
In terms of the curriculum, these schools will offer Agricultural related technology content material from lower grades. These schools will be provided with adequate LTSM for this purpose. We need to ensure that the Agricultural field of study be a study of choice at FET level to enhance opportunities for learners to specialise in Agriculture at Tertiary institutions. In this way the learners will acquire skills that will prepare them to be owners of farms and not only farm workers.
The support to these schools will also focus on improving the infrastructure at these schools through intensive renovations and refurbishment of buildings which have deteriorated due to ageing and vandalism. These schools will also be assisted with acquisition of implements and machinery for practical lessons and assignments.
District and Head Office officials will be required to provide intensive focused support to improve teacher and learner performance at these schools.
Early Childhood Development
The Department is making significant strides towards the universalisation of Grade R in the system. The department supported 1 380 Grade R classes at the beginning of the 2009/10 financial year and managed to increase them to 1 446 by the end of the financial year.
The universalisation of Grade R is currently at 62% and will further increase as more spaces are created at schools for Grade R through a dedicated ECD classroom building initiative over the next three years. In 2010/11 an amount of R8,4 million will be used to build ECD classrooms at 17 schools. A further R33,6 million is earmarked for this initiative in 2011/12 financial year.
Honourable Speaker, the budget for ECD in the 2010/11 financial year has been increased to R69,7 million. This will allow the department to expand with 100 additional Grade R classes as well as to allow us to increase Grade R teachers’ salaries by 8%.
An additional amount of R5 million will also be made available towards the procurement of resources for Grade R classes. The department plans to train, in collaboration with ETDP SETA an additional 170 Grade R practitioners to improve their qualification to an NQF level5.
In 2009 the department supported pre-grade R Community-based centres with the establishment of Toy Libraries. To this end, educational toys to the value of R4,9 million were purchased and distributed to six Toy Libraries across the province as part of the overall Operation Hlasela Campaign. The Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation will continue with this initiative and will further establish 5 more Toy Libraries at Public Libraries. The Department of Social Development will also provide a mobile Toy Library to provide this service in Xhariep. This will be expanded to all districts in future financial years. The Free State Department of Education will however continue to train an additional 110 pre-grade R practitioners to further support community-based centres.
Special Schools and Inclusive Education
The strengthening of special and full service schools remains key for the upcoming financial year. This will be done by providing additional personnel including full service district based teams, training of officials on inclusive practices to promote access to education by all learners and procurement of specialised LTSM for these schools. The department identified three public ordinary schools to be converted into full service schools in the coming financial year. The allocations for special schools and Inclusive Education for the 2010/11 financial year are R51,15 million and R2,63 million respectively.
ICT connectivity and Multi-media resources
In order to enhance and improve teaching and learning and strengthen school administration, the department will continue to provide ICT infrastructure to schools.
R3,35 million will be made available to roll out new computer centres to 10 schools in the 5 districts. An additional R3 million will be made available to replace outdated and obsolete computers in schools. An additional 30 schools will be provided with Internet connectivity as part of our effort to enhance e-learning towards the delivery of quality education. The department provided ICT training to 926 officials through the Education Resource Centres (ERCs) in 2009 and plans to train another 210 teachers in the 2010/11 financial year.
To further enhance the access of learners to resource materials, the department will distribute multi-media resources to the value of R3,2 million to 10 schools. Neighbouring schools will also have access to these resources.
Bursaries, Internships and Skills
The honourable president made it clear that he wants a measureable improvement in the literacy and numeracy skills of our learners. This improvement is not attainable by only providing books and other physical resources to schools, but also to develop the skills of our teachers and managers.
A key success factor in realising this objective is to provide skills development programmes to our teachers and managers at school level. As part of the skills levy an amount of R58,5 million will be used towards skills development of employees. A substantial portion will be used to further train and capacitate educators and school managers on the revised National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and school management and leadership.
The provincial government awarded 2 300 bursaries at the beginning of 2010 to young people across the province to enroll and study at Tertiary Institutions in certain identified scarce skills like Engineering, Accounting and Medicine. An amount of R128 million will be available for Department of Education to administer existing bursaries and award new bursaries at the end of 2010 for enrolment in 2011.
To accommodate those provincial bursary holders who have successfully completed their studies, the department appointed 15 teachers at schools in the province. The department is proud to announce that 144 Funza Lushaka bursary holders were appointed as teachers in this province. Fifty other successful bursary holders were inducted as interns in February 2010.
Effective infrastructure development and basic services
In the words of the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, “Poor infrastructure continues to affect quality learning and teaching”. The Free State Department of Education has made great strides in infrastructure development, especially with the eradication of platooning schools in the province. The focus will now shift to further eradicate overcrowding in schools and to ensure that all schools have the basic functional infrastructure and basic services.
An amount of R369, 2 million will be spent on education infrastructure in the 2010/11 financial year. The department will commence with the building of three new schools - One in the Grassland Area, one in Bothaville (Letlotlo Naledi P.S) and one in Parys (Bopa Setjhaba P.S).
The upgrading and renovation of special schools will also receive more attention and an amount of R13,7 million and R62,2 million will be spent at these schools in 2010/11 and 2011/12 respectively. Thirteen special schools will benefit from this programme in 2010/11.
R46,6 million of this budget will be used toward renovations of schools and hostels and R58,6 million will be used for upgrading of schools and new fencing through the EPWP mode of delivery in collaboration with SGBs.
School Safety and supporting environments for all learners
One of the critical provincial outcomes for quality basic education is to ensure that all schools have safe and supporting environments for all children. We strongly believe that a frightened learner cannot learn and it therefore follows that the school environment should be clear of dangerous weapons, drugs, violence and abuse of learners at school or at home.
Clearly the Department of Education cannot achieve this ideal without the support of the wider community and other government departments as key role-players. To this end we are pleased to enjoy the high level of cooperation and support from the Departments of Health, Police, Roads and Transport and Social Development.
Scholar patrols are already in place at 400 schools in the province and within the next few months another 24 patrols will be established at schools in Fezile Dabi and 19 more in Botshabelo which is a high risk area. The Department of Police, Roads and Transport will take responsibility for the equipment, uniforms, training and monitoring in
collaboration with the respective traffic departments. Volunteers and road safety forums play a major role in the protection of our learners as they make their way to school.
The Department of Police, Roads and Transport conducted an audit in schools in the Fezile Dabi and Lejweleputswa Districts and identified 21 schools where gangsterism, violence, substance abuse and other unacceptable behaviour were prevalent. Ten of these schools are included in a dedicated programme executed by the Department of Police, Roads and Transport where seminars and other rehabilitation programmes will be implemented to turn around these schools. All schools are required to have School Safety Committees and this Department will also be involved in these committees.
In order to assist schools in dealing effectively with teenage pregnancies, this department will issue Provincial Guidelines on Teenage Pregnancy by the end of June 2010. In addition, we will further strengthen doll parenting projects to reduce teenage pregnancy.
We are however, Mr Speaker also concerned about the behaviour and conduct of some of our educators. The department is in the process of strengthening its Labour Relations Unit as well as increasing its monitoring of schools to deal more effectively and speedily with cases of misconduct. A dedicated person with legal expertise has now been appointed to focus on rape and other serious cases at schools.
Learner Support
The department is serious about providing learning and teaching environment that would provide for the holistic development of learners. The general well being of learners is critical to enhancing their scholastic performance.
It is in this spirit that we are continuing to expand the National School Nutrition Programme in the province. At present we are feeding 405 966 learners in Primary Schools in quintiles 1, 2 and 3 as well as secondary school learners in quintile 1. From 1 April 2010 the feeding of learners will be extended to quintile 2 secondary school learners bringing the total to 468,063 learners. An amount of R195,9 million is available for the National School Nutrition Programme.
In line with the national strategy to provide quality basic education to the rural population, the department is obliged to ensure that access to education for rural learners remain high on the agenda. To this end we have provided 5 additional hostels for farm learners to be opened in April 2010. A further 6 hostels have been identified for opening and expansion by the end of the 2010 calendar year. R51 million is made available to support this programme.
Once again, honourable Speaker, allow me to mention the collaboration with our colleagues in the Department of Police, Roads and Transport in assisting us to provide rural learners with bicycles to get to schools. A total of 2 900 learners were provided with bicycles in 2009/10 and a further 1 850 will be provided with bicycles in 2010/11.
Learners will also be provided with basic road safety training. These initiatives will assist in reducing dependency on Learner Transport. In order to further support learners in a holistic manner, we will be collaborating with the Departments of Police, Roads and Transport, Social Development and Health to pilot a support programme at three schools in Thabo Mofutsanyana district. These schools will have a permanent nurse and social worker attached to them to support learners on a continuous basis. The local police will also be involved in the Safety Committees of the three schools. School Health Services delivered by the Department of Health will however continue at other schools in the province.
School Sports
As contribution to the FIFA World Cup excitement, government initiated ‘My 2010 school Adventure Programme’ for all schools in the country to register and take part in both the participation category and education category. We successfully launched this project on the 12 Feb 2010 in all the Districts and the Provincial finals will be held on 23 to 24
May 2010. The department is already finalising consultation on a new school football league which will serve as 2010 legacy project.
To expand farm schools participation in school sport, the department bought sport equipment for cluster of schools around Jagersfontein in Xhariep District as a pilot project. Private sector and Sport Federations have contributed technical support to this cluster. In the new financial year another cluster will be established in Thabo Mofutsanyana District to also benefit farm school learners with sport equipment. We call upon the private sector and individuals who can afford, to support this noble course of supporting the most vulnerable and marginalised learners of our society.
To consolidate social cohesion in schools the department will strengthen” Inkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historian ” award competition which encourages educators and learners in Secondary Schools to research about their environment and society and present evidence of their findings. Knowledge about the environment and society empowers learners to be responsible citizens
Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)
We will continue to implement the revised curriculum content and assessment practices underpinning the revised ABET General Education and Training Certificate (GETC) qualification. It is more suited to adult learners. An amount of R11,1 million will be available in the 2010/11 financial year to support the ABET programmes.
Supporting the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign which aims at reaching the national target of 1,74 million illiterate adults by 2015 remains a priority. The campaign is implemented in provinces by the National Department of Education through volunteers receiving a stipend.
Honourable, Speaker, Premier, ladies and gentlemen and comrades, as we conclude, it is clear from the above that the department is committed to deliver quality basic education together with our stakeholders to achieve improved learner attainment, higher levels of literacy and numeracy, delivery of the curriculum based on the needs of our learners and enhanced support to the learners of the province.
Honourable members, this is exciting and challenging time in the field of education. While the challenges are daunting, the department will put in place machinery and work tirelessly to unlock the education sector for the marginalised and fulfill our mandate to create a better life for all.
Honourable Speaker with your indulgence allow me to pay tribute to my organisation - the African National Congress for guiding us as employees to implement policies that will free our people from bondage of underdevelopment, our Premier Honourable Ace Magashule for his gallant leadership and vision and for initiating the Operation Hlasela
Campaign because our people can wait no longer.
To my colleagues in the Executive Council for the support they gave me, to Members of Education Portfolio Committee for their insight and oversight. To Mr Malope, our HOD and his team in the department for their hard work, and dedication in delivering basic quality education in the province. We also pay tribute to thousands of principals and educators in our province who despite daunting challenges, prioritise the future of our children above all else.
Last but by no means least, Honourable Speaker, we take this opportunity to salute the great Mathematician, teacher and role-model, the late Prof Thamsanqa Kambule who taught us that the teaching profession is a noble one and had the belief that any child, irrespective of his or her t skin colour, background, culture and beliefs could master any subject if they are taught correctly. This is a clear endorsement of the power of Quality Education.
I thank you.
Source: Department of Education, Free State Provincial Government
