Basic Education adjusted budget vote 16 speech for the 2020/21 financial year, delivered by the Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Dr. Makgabo Reginah Mhaule, MP, held at the National Assembly, Cape Town
Honourable House Chairperson
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee and Honourable Members
Minister of Basic Education, Mme Angie Motshekga
Members of the National Executive present
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Sanibonani
Honourable speaker, we woke up this morning to the sad news of the passing of Bab Andrew Mekete Mlangeni, the last of the Rivonia Trialist, recipient of the Presidential Order for Meritorious Service: First Class and Isithwalandwe/Seaperankwe – the highest honour of his beloved organisation, the African National Congress which recognised his outstanding contribution to the liberation struggle that held to our democratic dispensation in 1994. Let me join the President in sending condolences to the Mlangeni family, fellow comrades and the people of South Africa for this great loss.
We’ve also learnt that a number of honourable members of this very house have tested positive with the Coronavirus in the last few weeks. We remain grateful for those who have already made a full recovery and send our prayers for all those who are currently in the fight against this virus and hope for their speedy and full recovery.
Honourable House Chairperson, an education can enables humanity to make a better tomorrow. It is only education that makes us dream, and go on to achieve greatness. It is within this context of the all-encompassing power of education that informed our decision to reopen school in these uncertain times of a global health pandemic. It is and remains a calculated risk not just to rescue the 2020 academic year, but to save a whole generation.
New research from the Stellenbosch University academics is suggesting that without rigorous catching up, the skills of Grade 12 graduates would be lower than in the no-pandemic scenario for a decade up to 2031. In contrast, the catching up scenario if done right, takes the quality of graduates back to the no-pandemic trend by 2023, researchers’ say. This is just one reason why we have resolved to gradually, grade-by-grade reopen our schools.
We convene today under the circumstances, not of our choosing, but those imposed on us by the global heath pandemic which has placed us in a new normal. Thus, our reopened schools offer a new frontier against the pandemic as they are repurposed as epicentres of surveillance, screening, and contact tracing, and testing of cases that would otherwise have fallen through the cracks. The Covid-19 storm that threatens to engulf us and reverse the gains of the recent past in our basic education sector must not be allowed to do so.
We are steadfast in our resolve that the Covid-19 pandemic won’t be allowed to reverse the gains of the National Democratic Revolution. Ours is a historical mission to bring about a new society built on the ashes of our ugly past. We are battle-hardened as former anti-apartheid activists. We insist that as headwinds threaten to stall our march to victory, no child should be left behind. We made a revolutionary vow never to flinch in the face of adversity. As a result, we remain committed to the call of the National Development Plan (NDP) that basic education must play a greater role in building an inclusive society, providing equal opportunities and helping all South Africans to realize their full potential, in particular those previously disadvantaged by apartheid policies, namely black people, women and people with disabilities.
Honourable Members, the Covid-19 battle has re-educated us all on the fundamentals of basic hygiene practises such as hand-washing with soap and the additional use of 70% alcohol-based sanitisers, wearing face masks correctly and social distancing. These are non-pharmaceutical measures which will assist our fight against this global pandemic as we learn to co-exist this virus.
This period of uncertainty offers us an opportunity to craft a post-COVID-19 basic education social compact. It must be built on the back of the solid success of the last twenty-five years. It was no surprise that the Class of 2019 achieved the historic 81.3 percent pass rate. A record of 409 906 candidates passed the 2019 NSC examinations. This achievement is no mean feat considering that the matric pass rate moved from a low base of 53.4% in 1994 to around 60% in 2009, to above 70% pass rates in recent years. Thus the growth to the record-smashing 81.3 in 2019 was organic.
Even before the historic matric pass rate, the focus of the sector and even that of our critics had shifted. It had shifted mainly from policy uncertainty occasioned by the on-off curriculum changes, teacher vacant posts, underqualified teachers, and discord between us and the organised labour amongst others to about educational quality.
Honourable House Chairperson, let’s recap that the 2019 NSC passes for quintiles 1 to 3 (“no fee”) schools combined, stood at 248 960. The Bachelor passes achieved by learners in "no fee" schools stood at 96 922 – an increase of 14.4% from 2018. The poignancy of this increase lies in what research tells us, that in 2005, 60% of the Bachelor passes, came from the best performing 20% of the schooling system. However, with the introduction of pro-poor financing of the education system, in 2015, "no fee" schools, produced 51% of the Bachelor passes, which increased to 55% in 2019. Therefore, the significance of this, is that the gap between the Bachelor passes produced by "no fee" schools versus those produced by fee-paying schools have significantly and progressively increased from 2% in 2015 to 10% in 2019. This was a remarkable achievement based solid foundation since 1996.
Honourable Members, whereas from 2015 to date, greater equity and redress imperatives are systematically addressed, inequalities remain in the system. However, major strides have been recorded since the rollout of pro-poor policies such as no-fee schools, nutrition, scholar transport, and health services amongst others, these have shifted the balance of forces at the school level in favour of the marginalised learners.
All these interventions, which are called the "social wage" by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), have improved access, and retention of learners in schools, thus promoting equity and quality immeasurably. This is indeed a very encouraging development for our country.
Honourable House Chairperson,
Under Programme 2: Curriculum Policy, Support and Monitoring.
In the last decade of the NDP, we are accelerating progress based on this solid foundation. Our vision of the post-COVID-19 basic education is anchored on the immediate implementation of a curriculum with skills and competencies for a changing world. This is to meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution through the ICT roll-out; as well as the introduction of Entrepreneurship, and the building of Focus Schools. At the heart of the post Covid-19 basic education roadmap is the elimination of the digital divide by ensuring that all schools and education offices have access to the internet and free data.
During this financial year, the Primary School Reading Improvement Programme (PSRIP): Through the DBE’s Primary School Reading Improvement Programme, direct curriculum support is provided to 30 000 teachers of English, First Additional Language from Grades 1-6 across all nine provinces. The training of Subject Advisers and School Managers has been moved to an online platform, to specifically support teachers with curriculum catch-up as well as psychosocial and health safety guidance associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Curriculum support materials, such as reading texts for learners, and videos clips for parents and teachers, are being distributed via social media. In addition, Reading has been packaged into the trimmed Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs), amongst others, as one of the fundamentals to be prioritised.
However, none of these plans will make a lasting impact if the envisioned new basic education doesn’t accelerate progress in the decolonisation of the curriculum. This shall be done through the teaching and promotion of African languages, South African and African History as well as national symbols to all learners up to Grade 12. The decolonisation mantra is rooted in a recognition of the turbulent history of our country. I am happy to report that work on this front is at the advanced stage.
To succeed Honourable members, we need a new type of teacher. Thus, under programme 3: Teacher, Education Human Resource and Institutional Development, we will improve the professionalism, teaching skills, subject knowledge, and computer literacy of teachers throughout their entire careers. This will enhance our singular focus on improving the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, especially “reading for meaning.” Our new National Reading Plan provides an excellent explanation of the various aspects of our reading problem.
As the National Reading Coalition works with partners to coordinate successful reading initiatives both nationally and at circuit level. It is raising the profile of reading across 222 education circuits (25% reach) through the provision of reading resources to schools and communities, and through the implementation of community-based activities, aimed at stimulating a culture of reading across the county. The Coalition has also responded to the pandemic by making available readers through a number of e-platforms, which have been publicised widely.
Honourable members, to ensure sustainable progress on quality, Programme 5: Educational Enrichment Services, Cabinet has decided as you already know that the function of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) shifts from the Social Development to the Basic Education. The newly revamped ECD sector is in the making. We have made a conscious decision that the building blocks of our envisioned basic education, post Covid-19, must strengthen the foundations of early learning. This calls for the institutional transformation of the early childhood development sector.
The function shift allows us to reimagine the whole concept, meaning, and delivery of early childhood education. To assist us in realising the reimagined ECD sector, the following process will be undertaken:
- Convene an Inter-Ministerial Committee,
- Various work streams are working on the cradle to grave plans for the reimagined ECD sector,
- A draft of an Integrated National Strategy for the ECD Sector,
- finalise the National ECD Framework specifying the roles and responsibilities of Basic Education, and develop a costed implementation plan,
- Develop a long term financing strategy.
These plans will succeed only if we craft a new human resource plan for the ECD sector, including minimum norms and standards, and quality assurance plan.
In conclusion Honourable House Chairperson,
We have greatly improved the quality of our teachers. In 1994, only 54 percent of the African teachers were qualified, but today out of over 410 000 teachers, only a statistically insignificant number is still completing their qualifications. Interestingly, Honourable Members, nationally, the supply of newly qualified teachers had almost tripled over the five year period, growing from 5939 in 2008 to 25 877 in 2017. This is of course as a result of growing our timber through the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme.
Some optimistic experts now expect South Africa to have a surplus of teachers soon. A further thirteen thousand Funza Lushaka bursaries have been awarded to student teachers, this year alone.
Let me take this opportunity to the thank the Minister of Basic Education, Mme Angie Motshekga for her sterling leadership in driving the sector during this very difficult and trying time in our country and the world.
Honourable members
If we pull together as a nation, we shall triumph. The war against Covid-19 is firmly in our hands.
Ngiyabonga.
