Chairperson,
Honourable Premier- Dr Z. L. Mkhize,
Honourable Members of the Legislature,
Colleagues in the Executive,
Head of the Department of Education, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi,
Senior Management of the Department of Education,
Business leadership,
Labour Movement,
Social Partners,
Distinguished guests,
Fellow citizens.
Ladies and gentlemen.
1. Introduction
Chairperson, the Department of Education welcomes the allocated budget of R37, 028 billion for the 2013/14 financial year. The budget is in essence inadequate to address the historical backlogs of the period prior to 1994, although it would be able to fund education in its current form.
Our budget has grown considerably from R26, 119 billion in 2009/10, to where we are today. Our analysis of the financial situation though indicates that needs grow faster than the historical growth of the budget. Both the Education and Finance portfolio Committees concede that real educational needs far outweigh the budgetary inputs.
The observable positive growth in budget allocations, is largely influenced by Compensation of Employees, that accounts for 87%, or R28,746,193 billion a consequence of wage increase agreements, and only 13% for service delivery which comes R8,262,386 billion. Conditional Grant funding for various national priorities such as National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), expansion of no-fee schools, inclusive education, Grade Rand Infrastructure Development also have a positive influence in the growth of our budget.
The education environment scan
The department remains committed to service delivery beyond the call of duty. The education environment in the province is stable apart from recent work to rule by Sadtu. Even with the challenges of work to rule, Unions in the province remained committed to the principle of stability.
Stability creates the requisite ethos for quality education to take place, and its absence subverts all hope on the future of education in Republic of South Africa. We still have teachers who never hesitate before they drop chalk or take to the street even for something not related to the sector.
At this stage may insist that corporal punishment is strictly prohibited in schools. Ignoring this has already cost people their job however I do want to stress that there are ways of disciplining a child without assaulting learners.
