Budget vote speech of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education presented by MEC ES Mchunu

Chairperson
Honourable Premier - Dr Z L Mkhize
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Colleagues in the Executive
New Head of the Department of Education, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi
Senior management of the Department of Education
Business leaders
Distinguished guests
Fellow citizens
Ladies and gentlemen

Last year at a meeting hosted by the Sunday Tribune academics, teachers and members of society were asked to highlight attributes of an ideal teacher. They gave attributes that included… has broad content knowledge; discharges his/her duties with accountability and dedication to learners; is a lifelong learner; has positive attitude, always displaying leadership and rises above their often deprived circumstances; and enables rather than disrupt education. There was a measure of variety in their idealistic construct of this teacher's attributes. Of significance, no one said they did not have a picture of an ideal teacher.

The teacher attributes exercise resonates well with the Quality Teaching and Learning pledge signed by all stakeholder-structures with the department to the effect that managers must manage, teachers must teach, parents must support their children, and learners must learn.

These are key values demanded from all of us, if education is to succeed in this province.

For this and for the support we continue to receive from the people of KwaZulu Natal, we wish to express our heartfelt gratitude and happiness as the department. It serves to confirm that that as a people we have taken a decision to rally behind the KZNDoE vision of a “…well educated, skilled and highly developed citizenry.”

Occasionally, questions arise from different academics, recently from Dr Mamphela Ramphele and Sunday Times columnist, Lihle Mtshali on the quality of promotional conditions in our schooling system. We have decided to provide you and the public with an addendum of the relevant facts on the matter for an informed debate in the house.

1. Member of executive council education budget speech

Our own views on the matter could be summarised as follows:

• National debate on education especially, making our system of education work and quality education, should be welcomed and encouraged.
• Improvement of quality of education in the Republic of South Africa, including conditions on progression and promotion is a strategic task but should happen as a process.
• The current system, the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) is not a disaster for the children and for the country but it still requires substantial improvements.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to observe that the focus has now shifted with people debating the quality of our education or lack thereof. This paradigm shift does indeed suggest that we've gone a long way in our aspirations of ensuring that the majority of our people gain access to People's Education for People's Power.

2. Achievements

The Honourable Premier in his State of the Province Address mentioned some of the achievements we have made. Part of these are Education Millennium Development Goals as follows:

A. Remarkable progress in efforts to make education free and accessible for the poor with 4 747 schools being allocated the No-Fee status. This accounts for 80 percent of public schools in the province, involving 1 750 721 learners.

B. According to the 2010 SNAP Survey, learner numbers reached 2 811 548 including those in special and independent schools, enrolled in 6 176 schools and taught by 89 437 teachers. The national learner: educator ratio in public ordinary schools (including 86 543 state-paid teachers as well 2894 SGB-paid teachers) is 29:1 and the provincial ratio is very competitive.

C. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) Annual Survey indicates that 6-15 year old children had increased by 4% to reach 91% in 2010. With more 5 year olds registered for grade R we can only improve access to education.

D. Information shows that participation of 16-18 year olds increased slightly from 80% in 2009 to 83% in 2010. The challenge as learners reach age 15 is to retain them. The attrition rate is unaccounted for as the system does not record reasons for leaving early. It could be FET Colleges and ABET centres, home schooling, although learners are not terminated for pregnancy, death or sickness.

E. According to Statistics South Africa, in 2006 KZN had 1.2 million people who could not read and write. As a result of Masifundisane and Kha Ri Gude, the province has succesfully halved this number. In 2006 when it was established, Masifundisane reached 40 000 learners. The total number of learners reached in nearly five years of existance is 567 000. Plans to integrate it into ABET are at an advanced stage.

F. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) points to a sizeable increase in the correlation between home language of learners, and the medium of instruction particularly in grades 1 to 3. Learners taught in home language increased from 66% in 2007/8 to 73% in 2009/ 2010.

G. The children registering for Grade R exceeded National targets for Universal Grade R. In 2010 we registered 203 544 out of 218 938 five-year-olds in the Grade R class in public school and community based sites.

H. ECD received an injection of 751 newly established classes and furniture for 240 newly built classrooms. Norms and standards were allocated to 60% of public schools with Grade R classes.

I. In the 2010/11 budget we had set to increase the number of learners benefiting from the National School Nutrition Programme to 1 984 704. The current number (2011/2012) of learners benefiting from NSNP currently is 2 087 001, including those from 1 651 secondary schools.

J. In 2010 we recorded an improved NSC pass percentage by a further 9, 6 percent from 61% in 2009 to 70,7%. In 2011, we aim to further improve this percentage to more than 70, 7%.

K. 2476 grade 3 teachers were trained in the teaching of Literacy and Numeracy. 1114 grade 6 teachers were trained in the teaching of Maths, 1090 grade 6 in the teaching of Languages, 56 Grade 9 Educators got tutored in teaching Mathematics while 56 Grade 9 the teaching of English.

L. Sixty (60) Foundation and Intermediate phase advisors completed Literacy and Numeracy course, 95 Educators were trained in financial literacy. 215 Schools participated in The GET Excellence Awards, uGu and Sisonke Districts conducted Science Expo for Primary and Secondary schools.

M. We are increasingly investing in science for both learners and teachers by providing the requisite infrastructure, namely, laboratories, mobile laboratories and science kits.

N. Teacher development targeted gateway subject-teachers. More Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) converges on our drive to improve learner achievement in science, mathematics, technology and accounting. We are creating platforms for highly qualified and successful Science and Mathematics teachers to cross pollinate their competencies with less successful teachers.

O. The department has spent one hundred percent of its capital budget and sustained an unqualified audit opinion for the third successive year. We heed the Auditor-General's report on supply chain management which indicated the requisite fundamentals required.

Chairperson, in Education we are basically dealing with four broad categories of challenges, namely, Human capacity and skills development, management and administration, infrastructure and equipment for use in the classroom. These, in the main, reflect in the implementation of the curriculum, teacher provision, on infrastructural provision and equipment in the classroom, in line with our quest for quality education and levels of excellence in our teaching corps.

3. Curriculum Management

The National Curriculum Statement is nationally determined and benchmarked against international best practice from grade R to grade 12. The implementation and management of NCS is the core function of all managers in the department from HODs, Deputy Principals, Principals, Subject Advisory, Ward and District Management to the HOD and MEC. That is how critical this function is. In the new organogram to be implemented as soon as it gets approved, curriculum management assumes the status of a full branch and the cog around which the whole KZN education machinery will revolve.

3.1 National Curriculum Statement Support

The NCS is supported mainly as a key component in the delivery of quality education. The department has therefore set aside R57, 595 million to do the following:

• Train teachers in order to sharpen their skills
• Develop material to supplement text books
• Train SMTs to properly manage the curriculum
• Visit schools for teacher- and learner-motivation
• To mobilise communities around issues of school safety in order to create a conducive environment for teaching and learning
• Training of Foundation Phase Teachers
• Over and above these, this year we will focus on two stubborn classroom problems, viz: lack of equipment and the sharing of books.

3.2 Teaching and learning

The Department of Education exists for the sole purpose of ensuring that teaching and learning takes place in schools. We have reached a stage where we take for granted that teachers are in school everyday and rendering the service to learners. Our main focus moves to assessment of the interaction between the teacher, subject content and the learners.

We further take for granted that parents are now on board to support their children by checking their homework and ensuring that they are at school on time, presentable and ready to learn. We also take for granted that SGBs as representatives of parents set targets for schools with teaching and learning taking precedence over everything else as part of their governance role. We are tightening monitoring by all Ward Managers on these matters.

3.3 Learning Outcomes and Outputs

The main focus falls on actual results in schools rather than on inputs and programmes. All schools presenting grade 12 to the National Senior Certificate examination must attain a minimum pass rate of 65% in 2011 and a minimum pass rate of 80% in 2014.

Specific provincial targets arising from the quality basic education outcome have been set in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education that:

• all grade 3 learners must attain a 47% minimum pass in literacy; a 48% minimum pass in Numeracy in 2011;
• all grade 6 learners must achieve a 50% minimum pass in languages; a 42% minimum pass in mathematics; and a 50% minimum pass in science in 2011;
• all grade 9 learners must attain a 50% minimum pass in languages; a 45% minimum pass in mathematics in 2011;
• 37 094 learners must pass grade 12 mathematics and 26 947 entrants are envisaged to pass physical science at the end of the 2011 academic year. These targets are set to escalate to a minimum 60 percent by 2014.

3.4 Weekend in-service course

As a result, the department has introduced weekend in-service training for teachers from NSLA schools. The training targets teachers whose schools got a pass percentage of between 0 and 85.

The focus of the training is on subject content and methodology. The process starts with a standardisation meeting with teachers who had performed highly. They are then assigned per subject to a group of teachers they must assist to teach better. The teachers start with an assessment task in order to gauge their subject content baseline. They are also assessed after the course to measure they've taken on board. This, we hope will not leave teachers who are challenged to their own devices with no support. The course covers grade 12 learning area outcomes and content knowledge for the quarter.

Since inception, in February 2011, the in-service training has targeted four subjects, namely, Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and English. One weekend, which starts on a Friday afternoon until Sunday, is dedicated to a school term's work and teachers are subjected to 19 hours and 40 minutes of training and assessment. In Maths and Science, work for the first and second quarters, has already been completed. For Accounting and English, there are 2 and 1 workshops outstanding, respectively. From the second school term, all subjects will be catered for, with some workshops expected to run simultaneously.

3.5 The Annual National Assessment (ANA) – Grades 3 and 6

The Annual National Assessment (ANA) will form the cornerstone that drives Learner Achievement throughout the system, as indicated above, in Numeracy, reading, writing, languages and mathematics. It is expected that educators, subject advisors, parents and all stakeholders alike will use the results from ANA to improve their understanding of what the learners can achieve with what didactic approach and support.

This knowledge of learner capabilities at a particular stage or grade would be based on empirical evidence from ANA.

3.6 Assessment of Learner Achievement

Assessment of Learner Achievement is done at various levels for a number of reasons.

These are:

• Assessment
• Examinations
• Annual National Assessment (ANA)
• Systemic evaluation.

All these measure and evaluate the performance of the systems. Generally, learner achievement assessment happens at the sole expense of the department at all levels, consequently, this programme has been a financial pressure point in the past two years especially with the introduction of other forms of assessment nationally and provincially.

3.7 Examinations and assessment

The financial injection of R126, 778 million for the expansion of examinations is welcome.

Examinations are infrastructure and labour intensive which costs a lot of money. The National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations are particularly security sensitive from the setting, printing, storage and delivery of papers to the delivery of answer books back to various receiving centres of the department.

3.8 Systemic Evaluation

R25, 249 million is set aside to evaluate the performance of the system in the GET phase. Systemic evaluation concentrates on evaluating learner achievement at the exit phase, namely grades 3, 6 and 9 for purposes of analysing the systems that support learning.

3.9 Inclusive education

Inclusive education has always been a priority both nationally and provincially. The department's infrastructure project plan demonstrates an increase in both Capital and alterations to school buildings to comply with the prescripts promulgated in White Paper 6. Specialised training to empower teachers and SMTs to deliver inclusive education to our learners is a priority we are pursuing earnestly. The budget for inclusive education reaches R237,302 million in 2011/12.

3.10 FET Colleges

The Further Education and Training (FET) sector has received significant support from national government level after a period of relative neglect. This is one of the most important sectors in the programme for economic empowerment as it creates the skilled individual with a definite role to play in the economy of the country. The provincial Government works together with Department of Higher Education and Training to ensure that this sector is effectively aligned with the needs for human resource development in the province, supporting the FET Colleges in their resource requirements.

The curricula issues will remain our focus to ensure that the categories of artisans produced are aligned with the quality of skills required in industries whilst ensuring that the programmes for skills development are aligned with the imperatives of industrial development. Learnerships and internships shall continue to be utilised to bequeath the young graduates with the sufficient experience to improve their appeal in the open market.

Special programmes will continue to be promoted to ensure that our youth can acquire simpler skills and be assisted through direct placement in jobs, including training in entrepreneurship (for the small business sector) and cooperatives. Further Education and Training Colleges enrolled according to the mandate from the Department of Higher Education and Training. They enrolled students in the National Certificate (Vocational) and Report 191( NATED) Programmes.

3.10.1 Enrolments for 2011

The final enrolments for 2011 on National programmes received from all nine FET Colleges were captured. In analysing them, it appeared that the total projected enrolments in NC(V) programmes for 2011 amounted to 22 976 students while the actual enrolments amounted to 24 306 students, constituting an increase of 1 330 or 6% of the projection.

Total projected enrolments in Report 191 (NATED) Programmes for 2011 amounted to 18 063 students while the actual enrolments to 22 536 students. This constitutes an increase of 4 473 i.e 25 percent of the projection. The total actual number of students NC (V) plus Report 191 is 46 842. This total excludes students enrolled fror learnerships, artisan programmes, short skills programmes and entrepreneurship programmes (SMME's and Cooperatives).

The budget required for both NC(V) and report 191 (NATED) programmes as well as learners withspecial education needs is R983 441 million, whereas the budget available is R754 793 million.

3.11 Recapitalisation of technical high schools (curriculum)

The recapitalisation of technical schools in KZN aims to improve the capacity to contribute to skills development and training in the country by :

• building or redesigning workshops at technical schools to support the technical subject offering
• refurbishing workshops in technical schools to comply with safety laws and regulations and to meet minimum industry standards
• buying and installing new machinery and equipment consistent with the technical subjects that are offered in technical schools
• training and upskilling teachers at technical schools to acquire new trends, practical skills, and development in their technical subjects.

4. Infrastructure

4.1 Challenges

Infrastructural backlogs remain the department's biggest drawback. The department therefore recognises that unless a once-off massive injection of capital on infrastructure is made, these backlogs will never be eliminated. Of particular concern to us are class sizes which sometimes run to over 80 learners per classroom. Having built 2 000 of the 7 550 classrooms in the 2010/11 financial year – the backlog remains 5 550; of the 829 laboratories and 4 752 libraries required, the department built 89 and 60 respectively; 3 600 toilets from the backlog of 9 936 were built; 1 500 school repairs as well as 94 administration buildings were built. Nine (9) new schools were built with a target of 10 to be built in 2011.

• Specialist rooms, halls and workshops, circuit and district offices still need to be built. We also urgently need accommodation facilities for teachers in rural areas
• The department welcomes the decision of the Cabinet Lekgotla to build accommodation facilities for teachers in rural areas. The project is led by MEC for Finance, Ms Ina Cronjé.
• There is an urgent need for a dedicated facility for the department's in-service training for Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and English for all grades.

4.2 Infrastructure and resources

• The department plans to make its contribution in the country's growth path, taking the provincial education sector specific conditions into account. The department plans to fit in the value chain of infrastructure development through public works programmes by creating school infrastructure maintenance job opportunities. The beneficiaries of school maintenance will also include cooperatives and emerging contractors.
• Consolidate small and non-viable schools (with multi-grades/multi-phases) for effective curriculum delivery and management. This is to be effected in the financial year 2012/13.
• Fencing of schools as well as reviving of School Safety and Security Committees with immediate effect. According to our records, 25 schools needed to fenced in 2010/11 and all of them were fenced off.

Chairperson the department's budget for infrastructure escalates from R2,031 billion to R2,198 billion in 2011/12. It is important to stress that it would be extremely difficult to even make a dent to infrastructural backlogs with this allocation. It is for this reason that we believe a once-off substantial investment on school infrastructure would address the divide between rural and urban, as well as township and suburban schools. Clearly, we would have liked this increase to have been a lot more substantive.

4.3 The technical secondary school recapitalisation

A substantial injection from last year's R15,274 million to R38,563 million reaches the 152, 5% mark of additional funds. The recapitalisation programme has therefore increased by R23,289 million. Therefore, Chairperson in real terms, the increase is not as substantial considering real infrastructural costs required in the short-term to recapitalise. The department is intent on increasing this type of school as the province and the country want people who are properly skilled.

The funds would cover more schools, will support our provision and efforts to rehabilitate old school buildings, the building of new specialist classrooms, and the procurement of equipment for specific subjects and the training of Teachers for skills-based subjects. We intend visiting all these schools during the 2011/12 financial year to see for ourselves how this recapitalisation is strengthening education in theseschools.

4.4 Education Infrastructure

The Education Infrastructure grant in 2011/12 is increased to R1,158 million from R1,035 million in 2010/11. Additional funding is therefore allocated to this item. The department continues to be exposed to inclement environmental elements such as natural disasters, willful damage to property and depreciation.

4.5. The problem of runaway water and electricity consumption

Reports indicate that wasteful consumption of water and electricity is rife. This occurs in two ways. On the one hand, it is common for communities surrounding schools to tap into the school's water and electricity supply for private consumption.

On the other hand, schools tend to be wasteful in their own consumption of these resources, for instance, leaving lights on unnecessarily and not timeously repairing leaking taps.

Schools will be closely monitored to ensure that they are not wasteful and that they preserve these scarce resources.

4.6. Public Private Partnerships

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) provided funding for the development of the Education Centre programme. The department seeks to establish a wide network of partnerships with NGOs seeking to add value to Education.

A. The Ndwedwe, Phongola, Vulindlela, Bangizwe, Jolivet and Emawusheni Education Centres have been constructed. The centres are to be furnished and equipped using EKN funds. Three centres were officially opened in December 2010 the other three will be opened in April 2011.

B. The Ndwedwe and Phongola Municipalities donated land for the construction of two of these centres. For the other four the Traditional Authorities donated land and thanks to the Ingonyama Trust Board which facilitated the transfer of the sites to the department.

C. Seventy eight centres will each receive computers and cabling (network). IT technicians were employed through this programme and were provided with laptops and tool boxes in 2010.

D. They offer technical support to centres and schools. This is cost saving service for schools particularly those in remote rural areas.

E. The Department also partners MiETA in the implementation of the Education Centre Programme. The construction and equipping projects are managed by MiETA.

F. EKN funds have been used to cover personnel costs for some of the staff employed in the centres. The Education Centres Programme is integrated as part of curriculum delivery support within the districts and will the cover all the running costs from this financial year.

The department has other partnerships with business commerce and Industry towards development and programme implementation in education centres.

A. ALTEC/UEC supported the construction of a Media Centre and IT Centre at the Kwa-Mashu Education Centre. All the rooms are fully furnished and the computer lab was equipped with 50 computers. ALTEC/UEC is also funding PROTEC to operate from the centre and run Saturday and holiday Maths and Science Programme for learners and teachers in Kwa-Mashu.

B. Funding was provided by the cement manufacturing company, NPC Cimpor to KZNDoE torenovate and furnish Amajuba Education Centre to have 12 rooms to be used as offices and meeting venues; four (4) lecture rooms, an internet café, a toy room and a library; and will have 22 dormitories which can accommodate up to 66 teachers. Other facilities include a dining room and a kitchen.

C. The Sugar Industry Trust Fund for Education (SITFE) is funding a Maths and Science Project at the Phongola Education Centre. The Project is funded for 3 years and will be implemented by MiETA. SITFE will equip the Phongola Education Centre Science laboratory; provide science kits to schools in the Phongola Circuit.

D. The projects will offer Saturday and holiday classes to Mathematics, Technology and Science learners; however all Education Centres have an ongoing teacher development component.

E. Having recognised that the department's infrastructural backlogs would be impossible to eliminate with the annual allocation, we've begun discussions with both the Provincial and National Treasury to contribute in our efforts to enter into public private partnerships inorder to build, maintain, refurbish and upgrade our school and office facilities. Some partnerships are as a result of agreements between local and international municipalities, for instance, eThekwini Metro and Leeds' (UK) relations involve linking schools. Schools have come up with very productive programmes that benefit the partners in different ways.

5. Teacher Supply, Development and Capacity Building
5.1. Teacher Supply

The current attrition rate annually stands at approximately 6 percent (4500). This is due to a number of reasons such as death, ill-health, misconduct, resignations and retirements. And most of these people are experienced – which leaves us with unresolved problems of teacher supply. We need to address the uneven distribution of qualified educators in rural and urban areas; decrease the number of educators in some districts; implications of an ageing workforce; the shrinking of the reserve pool; race; gender imbalances and high resignations across all levels of the profession.

The department has committed itself to work closely with four universities in the province to develop teacher capacity that impact on learner achievement. The Advanced Certificate in Education programme enables specialists in different fields to become qualified teachers. The specialists are offered employee bursary for a two-year part-time study. The department also offers bursaries to aspirant science and mathematics teachers which will cost R13,5 million in 2011/12.

The Department of Education wants to reduce the number of unqualified and under qualified teachers through a number of available resources. One of the strategies is to register them for different learnerships. A learnership is a mode of delivery of the qualification through 70% of practical and 30 % of theory. R25,2 million set aside is for practitioners wanting to do a National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE) and Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

In line with the President's State of the Nation Address on the prioritization of teaching; the department will embark on an aggressive campaign to improve the teaching processes.

This entails a deliberate campaign on teacher development that would cost the department R20,199 million.

The following measures will be taken to improve the knowledge and skills base of teachers:

• Establishment of a fully-fledged Provincial Institute for Continuing Professional Teacher Development activities, with satellite campuses in all Districts by March 2012.
• Building the capacity of subject advisors, school principals and SMTs to manage and support curriculum implementation.
• And as mentioned earlier, the department has already introduced an Intensive In-Service Teacher Development Programme for Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and English. And these programmes are running currently.

5.2 Post-provisioning norm

Furthermore, the department continues to look at various options for a post provisioning model that will seek to stabilise educator movement. Too many educators are displaced. This is due to a number of factors such as threat from community, human resource factors, or incapacitation as a result of sickness and so on.

The department has recruited 1 895 newly-qualified teachers from Fundza Lushaka, KZN Education Bursary Fund, and teachers returning from resignations back into the system; a total 2 639 schoolbased promotion posts were advertised towards the end of 2010, of these, 2 022 have already been filled while 442 posts are still outstanding owing to variety of reasons. 67 posts for subject advisors for Obonjeni and Sisonke Districts have been advertised and will be filled soon. The two districts were the lowest performers in 2010, it is therefore hoped that the filling of these posts will help improve results.

5.3 Surplus and displaced teachers

The department has made significant strides in the redeployment of teachers who were surplus to the requirements of the schools to those that needed them most. Of the 1 520 surplus teachers, 953 have already assumed duty at new schools. KZN is one of the few provinces that have been able to do this.

Of the 451 cases, the department has successfully resolved 222 displacements through a joint effort with organised labour. The challenge still remains with those holding promotion posts. Even in this respect, officials of the department and organised labour are working tirelessly to resolve them. Chairperson, it is important to mention relations between the department and the labour movement have improved immensely over the last two years.

6. Finance

There are strategic matters the department is working on that will benefit this budget. These include the following areas:

• Improvement of financial prudence to root out and prevent corruption. We took the comments of the Auditor-General - even with another unqualified audit - to mean that there were still areas of concern that need tightening, and these are, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This means we need to improve our supply chain management processes to ensure value for money, especially in the following areas: NSNP, LTSM, construction of infrastructure as well as goods and services.
• All the remaining section 20 schools will be delegated section 21 functions, including financial management.

6.1 Conditional Grants

Chairperson, the department would administer six (6) conditional grant funded programmes in this financial year. The budget increases from last year's total of R2,706, 142 million to R3,078, 939 million which is R480 million (18,5%) without the Extended Public Works Program which was not funded for this financial year. The grants are mainly for the National School Nutrition Programme; Technical Secondary School Recapitalisation; HIV and AIDS; the FET College Sector; Education Infrastructure and Dinaledi Schools.

6.2 National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

The national school nutrition programme (NSNP) seeks to promote learning capacity and better access to education. This is done through the provision of nutritious meals to learners in quintile 1 up to quintile 3 secondary schools in 2011/12. The budget is increased from R855,285 million to R1,070,013 billion which is an increase of R214,728 million (25,1%). The coverage in 2011/12 would effectively reach at least 2 087 001 learners in public ordinary schools including those in quintile 3 Secondary Schools.

In the 2010/11 budget our target was to reach 1,984 704 learners in quintiles 1 to 3 for Primary and quintile 1 to 2 for secondary public schools in the province. We did indicate that there is a need to increase learner numbers in the programme. Now that we have this much, we intend to include 218 282 learners from quintile 3 secondary schools into the NSNP. This increase deals a heavy blow to poverty as a barrier to education, and signals hope for the country's job creation effort for women's cooperatives and individuals wanting to earn an honest living.

6.3 HIV and AIDS

The budget received an inflationary increase of R2,428 million (5, 7%) to last year's R42, 686 million to R45,114 million. We intend to provide access to an effective integrated system of prevention, care and support for both learners, support staff and teachers infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

We will provide education and training for the School Management Teams (SMTs), learners, teachers and other support staff to develop, implement and manage Life Skills Education. Three thousand (3 000) schools will be provided with HIV prevention and Sexual Reproduction Health, and peer education programmes. Six thousand (6 000) schools will receive LTSM that integrates Life Skills into the curriculum. We are also going to formulate a ground-swell of campaigns against learner-pregnancy and substance abuse and link these to the fight against HIV and AIDS. This cannot be funded only from this budget if we intend to impact hard on these social ills.

6.4 Dinaledi Schools

We also have the mission of promoting Mathematics and other gateway subjects. We are determined to improve learner achievement in Mathematics, Science and Technology in line with Action Plan 2014. Dinaledi schools are our effort to improve learner participation in Mathematics and Physical Science, in line with the National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (NSMSTE).

• Each Learner from grade 8 up to grade 12 would receive about 7 textbooks
• Each of the 500 schools would receive science kits, or a mobile science laboratory
• Each school will receive a TV that can receive education television broadcasts, and 50 computers in each of the 500 schools in the programme
• Two thousand (2 000) Teachers in Dinaledi schools will be trained in content knowledge in Physical science, Mathematics and First Additional Language (FAL). Principals would receive capacity development. The department sets R12,3 million.

Learner achievement is interlinked with teacher mastery of content knowledge; we have embarked on a programme of cross-pollinating content knowledge between known high performers and their less confident counterparts. They cover the entire FET curriculum for a quarter over a set number of weekends so that when they leave the centre, they are confident and have tutorial notes to share with learners. We are engaged in the standardisation of both teaching methods and content knowledge.

The restructuring process showed that we need to change job descriptions of Ward Managers and the Subject Advisory services. Schools need improved support and monitoring. We are working on refining the current model of re-skilling science and mathematics teachers until there is a healthy pool of confident Science and Maths Teachers.

7. Support Systems

7.1 Quality Improvement Development Support Upliftment Program (QIDS UP)

QIDS UP is a national programme that aims to improve access to quality education by providing learning resources for learners in rural public schools located in poorer communities. The programme targets the three lower quintile schools in rural areas. QIDS UP also renovates and upgrades grade R classrooms in identified schools. QIDS UP receives an increase in its share to R164, 046 million from R154,7 million.

7.2 Learner Transport

Chairperson as from today, 1 April, learner transport becomes a function of the Department of Transport because of their knowledge and expertise in this field. Learner transport for Public ordinary schools receives an injection of R148,336 million. The need for more cash investment in this programme cannot be over-emphasised. Learner transport talks to opening up of access to education for rural learners who walk long distances to school. Learner transport for Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN) receives an inflationary increase in the budget to R25,249 million, this mark an increase of R1,429 million.

7.3 Quality basic education partnerships

To ensure quality basic education, the department should employ an integrated approach in dealing with social ills afflicting schools i.e. gangsterism, drug and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and general lawlessness. The department has partnerships with government departments, NGOs and community-based organisations that only needs strengthening.

We have embarked on a programme of surprise school raids together with the South African Police Force. These raids are meant to serve as a deterrent for learners wanting to bring into school premises, contraband such as knives, drugs and other illegal substances.

7.4 Human Resources

7.4.1 Employee Relations

The department recognises that effective teaching and learning in schools requires an environment of labour peace and stability. We welcome new developments on the functionality of the KZN ELRC.

The recent Provincial Education Summit played a critical role in ensuring the much-needed stakeholder cooperation and the maintenance of labour peace and stability within the Education system.

The department has decided to take immediate steps to:

• Establish an expedited dispute resolution process to resolve long-standing employee relations cases. An audit of all outstanding disciplinary cases against employees will be conducted and set in motion a process to finalise all by June 2011. No cases should be allowed to remain pending for longer than 3 months, including the appeal process.
• Cabinet decided that a headcount of employees should be conducted in the province and that Treasury and ourselves should work on this project to identify teachers who earn salaries without rendering a service. Salaries of 642 teachers have been frozen as a result – saving the department R113,5 million.
• There is still a forensic investigation on the 1363 cases in order to verify reasons for the financial loss by Treasury.
• On the issue of the No-Work-No-Pay policy which was precipitated by the 2010 nationwide industrial action, the department has taken a decision to temporarily suspend effecting deductions on the salaries of employees who took part.

7.5 Learner Drop-outs

Estimates from the EMIS Annual Survey show that there are about 17% of learners who were not attending an education institution in 2010. Learner dropout figures as they stand are disturbingly high. This could be because some learners complete school earlier than the specified age, or that learners move from mainstream schooling to join either ABET or FET Colleges, or of concern, attrition through death or environmental factors such as failure, de-motivation etc. The main causal factors need to be identified, so we could deal with this matter decisively as a matter of urgency.

7.6 School Sports

The Departments of Basic Education and Sport and Recreation South Africa signed the collaboration framework for the coordination and management of school sport. The department also entered into similar framework regarding the management and coordination of school sport. School sport will be organized into school leagues to accommodate the participation of more learners in ball sports and physical sports for both girls and boys.

Budget at Programme Level

8. Conclusion

We have a number of strategic matters that will benefit from this budget. These include the following areas:

• Improving financial prudence to root out and prevent corruption
• There's an urgent need for the finalisation and implementation of the organogram
• The Provincial Intervention Team (PIT) has made good progress and needs to be beefed up to replicate the effect to more schools
• School grading needs attention provincially - we do have a challenge in this area caused by the current grading mechanism
• Social ills such as learner pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, violence and crime in schools need more visible activism from us and communities
• NSNP service provider compliance with prescribed menu needs visible monitoring to ensure quality food supply to children while empowering locals. The department is planning a summit on NSNP in 2011
• Curriculum delivery at General Education and Training (GET) i.e. Foundation, Intermediate and Senior Phases, is crucial for a solid foundation.

In keeping with the government's priority to reduce unemployment, in particular through public sector job creation initiatives, job opportunities will further be created through literacy projects and Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes.

Further steps to be taken to overcome infrastructure backlogs include the following:

• Reducing by 50 percent the infrastructure backlog for libraries and science laboratories by 2012.
• Install resources in districts (e.g. transport and labour-saving devices) in order for districts to be able to support curriculum implementation in schools.
• Provide a minimum of 5 computers per school by 2014.
• Building of three LSEN schools in identified rural areas by 2014.
• The first part of the strategy in job creation is the filling-in of 1 400 funded school-based vacant posts.
• Of these, two hundred and thirty (230) are management level posts, including posts for managers in Education Centres.
• The department is planning to create an estimated 2 300 decent jobs in the provision of maintenance services to all schools in line with Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• There are also women's cooperatives that work in the NSNP and the department intends to assist more women who want to establish cooperatives.

I thank you, ngiyabonga, dankie.

Source: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education