20 May 2003
Madam Speaker
Honourable Members of the National Assembly
Pupils from Harold Cressy High and Gardens Commercial High Schools
Invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen
On Saturday, we said our sad farewells to a great South African, gentle and understanding, determined and disciplined, a person whose love for this country and particularly for all its children knew no bounds. I wish therefore to dedicate this debate to the memory of Ntate Walter Sisulu.
Because he had little formal education, Walter Sisulu was passionate about it. He believed that education was a route to freedom; over the past two weeks many tributes have been evoked from people who Walter Sisulu encouraged to study whether they were still in their youth or advancing in age. He was most concerned, he told Thenjiwe Mtintso, that education should be used for "the bettering of the lives of people". "Never forget who you are and where you come from", he told her.
This should, therefore, be our guiding principle. We shall not let him down.
If there were more Walter Sisulus in this world, we would not have to live at a time where there is little progress towards the realisation of our common humanity and which recognises and embraces the extraordinary diversity of this world. As we move towards developing an inclusive identity for our country, many countries of the North, especially developed and rich ones, have in fact become more racist, xenophobic and intolerant of difference, and this has resulted in increased tensions and conflict. Nor can we watch complacently as wars are fought, refugees are ignored, and millions of children are not at school and go hungry.
The moral authority of our nation, exemplified by leaders like the late Walter Sisulu and President Thabo Mbeki, compel us to play a leading role in reversing these tendencies. We have demonstrated to the world our ability to overcome major political challenges; we must now demonstrate the same fortitude and leadership in tackling the social and economic problems of our country, and to push back the frontiers of poverty as we enthusiastically embrace the UN Millennium Development Goals, the Dakar Declaration on Education and the resolutions of the WSSD in full.
Education is a key instrument for this. Meaningful education makes for both individual and societal development and consequently for the transformation of society as a whole. In the present age of struggle and strife, conflict and confrontation, education for development is the most relevant and necessary issue for contemplation and action by all nations. Education in South Africa embraces the full range of educational activities from early childhood development - where we are making good progress, a new curriculum for general and further education, to special needs education, to adult basic education and higher education; we therefore have a firm commitment to lifelong learning and the development of all our people.
In so doing we contribute to national development by shaping the nature and character of the society in which we live through the values and socialisation provided within the education system; by educating young people about the nature and beauty of our diverse cultures and backgrounds; and through providing skills that fill shortages in the labour market and build the entrepreneurial spirit to support the creation of new jobs.
This is why we needed to overhaul completely the system we inherited in 1994. Nine years ago, almost to the day, we took responsibility for the education of over 12 million children in schools and colleges, and another half-million students in universities and technikons. The system was a chaotic collection of nineteen Departments, defined by apartheid's racial geography and ethnic illogic, and with huge discrepancies in the resourcing, curriculum, and administration of each. I believe that only South Africa, under the leadership of the African National Congress, could have achieved the goals of this monumental restructuring.
Despite a complex constitutional framework under Schedule 4 of the Constitution, but guided by a spirit of co-operative governance, we have established national legislation and policy in all areas of the system. We begin with the teaching, and the understanding, of nursery rhymes such as Baa Baa Black Sheep in early childhood development and offer a full spectrum of educational curriculum, services and facilities all the way through to Post-graduate study of such complex issues as the second Law of Thermodynamics and Nuclear Medicine. This is the essence of what education for development is about. All our people for the first time now have access to this development model.
Schools are financed according to national norms, and children in public and independent schools follow the national curriculum statement. Matric exams are increasingly set at a national level and which are now being re-organised to meet the needs of a new South Africa. Teachers are paid according to common pay scales, and all teachers are registered with the South African Council of Educators, and subject to their Code of Ethics. National policies on school safety, drug abuse and a variety of other aspects have been introduced in our schools.
The achievement of establishing a national system of education must not be underestimated, for it is a powerful contributor towards the development of a national identity, and the determination of our national character. "National consciousness is" as Franz Fanon put it "the most elaborate form of culture." My mentor, Nobel laureate, Chief Albert Luthuli pre-empted these words when in 1962 he wrote that: "Education". creates common attitudes and norms for citizens. It is an important unifying factor in building national consciousness and pride and a healthy community spirit."
In building a unified and national education system many sacrifices have had to be made, in a long struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights which have cost the lives of some, and ruined the productive livelihood of many more.
The first to be recognised are the many thousands of teachers who have gone well beyond the usual call of duty, and showed enormous resilience often in the face of trying circumstances, especially those driven by the imperatives of equity. With us today, representing women teachers particularly from rural areas who form the real backbone of the education system, is Mrs Nobathwa Makamba, a maths teacher from Matatiele, who has corresponded with me about the benefits of outcomes-based education. Teacher development is now a key focus of our work and I am pleased to announce that I have appointed three senior education academics to a ministerial task team that will advise and assist the department with, and give new impetus to teacher development.
One of the key elements in our progress to date has been the important role which school principals and other managers have played recently. The importance of leadership at all levels of the system, but especially at district and school levels, where the teaching and learning is directly effected, must be strengthened. For many years school principals did not receive the credit and the recognition due to them. They have been restored to their rightful place and are now, for instance, at the forefront of the curriculum revision process, with special training, in order for them to provide instructional leadership to teachers. We have also developed a good relationship with the South African Principals Association.
We must also acknowledge the voluntary efforts and work of parents and community members. In the spirit of Letsema or Vuk'uzenzele, large numbers of people have come forward to assist schools and students. They have painted and cleaned school buildings and grounds, they have maintained school food gardens, and used the produce to feed children. In some schools, parents come in to listen to children reading, so that each gets the individual attention they need.
Over 18% of our children attend farm schools, another of our dismal inheritances. But they now fulfil an important need and there are shining examples of how farmers are working with us to improve the system of farm schooling. I am therefore pleased to acknowledge the presence today of three Free State farmers, Mr Apie Smith, Mr de Wet Ferreira and Mr Danie le Roux, who have contributed in time and resources with the development and improvement of farm schools in their areas.
I am pleased that in less than a decade there is a new enthusiasm from our students to work, learn and study. There is greater self-reliance and discipline is improving, although I should emphasise that respect for authority is something that must be earned and then given.
A further contributor to improved quality has been the massive upgrading of teachers through Government intervention and with assistance from the Education Labour Relations Council, and their professional registration with the South African Council of Educators (SACE). This development of teachers has included the basics, to ensure that every teacher has at least a three year qualification, as well as professional development informed by the Code of Ethics. This is supported by the acceleration of the implementation of our Whole School Evaluation programme together with the Development Appraisal System.
All of our efforts have undoubtedly led to an improved quality of education. I would like to detail some indications of this.
The revised national curriculum statements for Grades R-9 have been widely accepted by teachers and parents, and provide significantly more direction for teachers in regard to what can be expected at each Grade level.
Madam Speaker, as you know I have set up a body to review the effectiveness and functioning of the system of School Governing Bodies, a system central to ANC education policy, with a view to making improvements where necessary. I intend therefore to touch on a matter that has brought out the worst in some people, who really should have known better. There has been considerable distortion about our intentions around additional payments to teachers by School Governing Bodies. Let me be clear that we would prefer a system of self-management on this issue but it does require policy guidelines and regulations by the employer of teachers which is the Province. The Employment of Educators Act already makes it unlawful for teachers to earn additional remuneration without the necessary authority. Our current efforts are simply designed to infuse a degree of flexibility into this global proscription. And we will work with the parties concerned to ensure that this happens with due regard to issues of incentive, equity and fairness.
Let me reiterate: there is no place in education for the continued maintenance of historical privilege. Nothing should work to the disadvantage of schools that suffered under apartheid and which now should be receiving additional assistance. Any continuation of privilege will contradict the equity imperative.
We have also begun to transform the nature of our classrooms through our Values in Education initiative, which has promoted the Constitutional values central to our nation. This programme includes an increased attention to history, so that our children know about our past and the struggle for freedom, and develop an enthusiasm for the future.
In Further Education and Training we have made substantial progress in revising the curriculum for Grades 10-12 in schools. This outcomes-based curriculum will be phased in from 2006, once the preparations, including teacher training and materials development, have been satisfactorily completed.
Technical Colleges, which are the responsibility of provinces, have been sadly neglected, and a national intervention has been required to build a coherent and, we hope, vibrant Further Education and Training sector. In the past year 150 dispersed institutions, some good, some bad, have just been amalgamated into 50 new and more professional Further Education institutions, and headed by capable leadership and with responsive programmes, which will ensure that students are properly equipped for the world.
Madam Speaker, let me now turn to higher education. Just under R9 billion has been allocated to higher education. This level of investment, as a percentage of GDP, is close to that of the richest 30 countries in the world and is an indication of the importance we place on higher education and its contribution to the social, economic, political and human resource development of our country.
That development has been greatly facilitated by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This year it will utilise R850 million in loans and bursaries to support students from the poorest communities; to improve their life chances by being able to access the opportunities offered by higher education study. Of this R850 million, I am pleased to report that R210 million comes from repaid loans, an amount which will grow annually.
I am also pleased to report that our transformation and reconstruction agenda is unfolding with increasing support from the higher education sector. Last month, for instance, we celebrated the first anniversary of the inauguration of the Durban Institute of Technology, born out of the merger of the ML Sultan Technikon and the Natal Technikon. In January, the QwaQwa campus of the University of the North was incorporated into the University of the Free State.
The remaining mergers and incorporations, approved by the Cabinet, are due for implementation in January 2004 and 2005 supported by a budget provision for the restructuring. These efforts are being fully supported by my Department, which has established a Merger Unit staffed by experts in key areas such as finance, governance and human resources. I have also this week constituted a Reference Group of distinguished persons with experience and knowledge of Higher Education to assist me to monitor the restructuring processes, and to try and ensure that our policy objectives are not compromised in the mergers.
Members will be pleased to hear that the new framework policy for language in higher education including indigenous languages has received wide approval, notwithstanding some earlier highly inflammatory insults and abuse. Universities and technikons have been revisiting their own language policies to ensure that these are in line with the national framework. I must thank them for their efforts in this regard. This is the ANC in action fulfilling its mandate.
Madam Speaker, one of the most significant investigations carried out by the Department of Education to date, has been the Costs of Education study, which is currently open for public comment. The report identified, firstly, key ways in which we could enhance the system more or less within current budgets and, secondly, where budgetary shifts are vital for improving the situation in our public schools.
There are basic steps we can take, even within current budgets, to ensure that schools get the textbooks and stationery they have ordered on time. Engagement between Government and the textbook and clothing industries will assist in countering inefficient ordering processes, and monopoly situations that push prices up and compromise our provisioning of resources to students. Textbook cost and retrieval is something that we will be paying special attention to during the current year. I should add that the MTEF budget for this year makes provision for nearly R2 billion to be spent on learning materials and school laboratories, an enormous increase from the R350 million spent just four years ago.
We will also be taking stronger action against those who disregard the basic human rights and dignity of students. We will act resolutely against practices that marginalise children whose parents cannot afford to pay school fees, or pervert the exemption process by levying hidden fees. We will also ensure that those guilty of trampling on the dignity of the poor, in violation of our school funding policies, are dealt with appropriately.
We will be further improving the way in which we target the poor with our substantial infrastructure budgets, which have increased from R600m to over R3 billion in just three years, for school building and maintenance, water, sanitation and electrification to add to the many billions already spent in these areas since 1994.
Two critical areas requiring healthier budgets are the school allocations in terms of the School Funding Norms, and school feeding schemes.
We would like to see the total expenditure on non-personnel, non-capital items in public ordinary schools, which is just over R3 billion out of R47 billion for school education, being increased and better spent to ensure adequate resourcing for all poor students. Our analysis has shown that vast inter-provincial disparities as far as the non-personnel allocations to schools are concerned, require urgent attention.
Detailed proposals are currently being discussed with the National Treasury for a national approach to funding schools which recognises both that provinces are not equally rich or poor as well as the differing status of schools. A national norm and standard would ensure that there is equity in the amount spent per pupil across provincial boundaries. In this way we will be endeavouring to ensure that all students in schools in the very poor communities need not pay school fees because we would have adequately provided for their learning and teaching needs.
The budget for the Integrated Nutrition Programme serving young pupils at school has increased to R800m in the current year, and is set to increase to over R1 billion in the current MTEF. We will strive to ensure that all poor primary school pupils receive a balanced meal on at least every school day, in so doing helping to push back the frontiers of poverty. The schools nutrition budget and its entire administration are to be transferred to the education departments in the next financial year, and this fact underlines the need for careful planning and prioritisation.
Over the past year, the education response to HIV and AIDS has gained momentum. The education sector has assumed its role at the heart of the national response to HIV/AIDS in the process reflecting the commitments made in a seminal conference last year on the prevalence, effect and impact of HIV/AIDS in the education sector.
We have continued to develop age-appropriate curricula to equip our children with skills that would enable them to prevent HIV, and live in a world with HIV and AIDS. This is evidenced among others, by the sterling work we have done through the children's TV series Takalani Sesame, and let us not forget Kami, the puppet, who has been accorded the status of an AIDS ambassador for the UN. The series was last week the winner of the Grand Prix award, the highest form of recognition for the media, at the World Media Festival in Germany. My compliments go to the SABC and Sanlam, their principal sponsor involved in this enterprise, for this major achievement.
We have continued to develop and support our teachers to be able to deliver sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in an age-appropriate manner to all our learners. The recently released Nelson Mandela Foundation/HSRC study on HIV/AIDS, reports that 84% of those aged 12-24, learnt about HIV/AIDS from schools.
Madam Speaker, many members are not aware of the enormous changes that have taken place in education in our country - we are not, and cannot be prisoners of either our past or our prejudices. To illustrate that education is not being dumbed down I have detailed just some of our more significant achievements. Many of these can be quantified and measured against standards of efficiency and effectiveness, and such measurement is important in ensuring that government remains accountable to its electorate in providing quality education. But, even after nine years, we still have much to do to ensure that every child has equitable access to well-resourced schools, good teaching and a wholesome school system.
We can rejoice in the wonderful diversity of our nation while at the same time also celebrating our unity and pursuit for nation-building. Our draft policy on religion in education is such a case, where people have confused an attempt to promote nation building in the school context with an attack on religious freedom and diversity. It is not the case that we are expelling or banning religion from schools - in fact we are advocating the strengthening and recognition of the role of religion in education.
In so doing we are providing proper policy and guidelines on the three aspects involved, education about religions of the world particularly those practised in South Africa, religious instruction in a particular religious denomination and religious observance in schools. On Monday I will be meeting the National Forum of Religious leaders to discuss the draft policy with them and to seek their views on how we best fulfil our Constitutional obligations.
Madam Speaker, it is said that you can give children only two things: roots and wings. Roots to hold them to the ground, to their heritage, to their family, and the wings to fly beyond all of these, beyond our expectations and current possibilities.
In establishing a national system of education we are beginning to till and prepared a fertile soil for the roots of all our children to develop. Whatever their circumstances, the souls of the children of South Africa are at last fed by the same soil, nurtured within a common state, and their roots will inevitably be intertwined. We are developing South Africans, and we try to ensure that their roots are strong enough to bind them to this wonderful land.
And our young people are beginning to dream again. In one classroom recently young pupils were asked to emulate Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. One child wrote:
"I have a dream that Blacks and Whites should love and trust one another as brothers and sisters. We have brown skin - they have white skin. We are different in colour but we have the same colour of blood. We are the same but not in colour. I wish we can respect one another. I wish we can all be equal because we are all human beings."
Before I conclude I need to thank the Portfolio Committee for Education, provincial MECs for education, the provinces, the teachers, the managers and other staff, higher education and other educational institutions and including many NGOs, for their hard work in ensuring that South Africa continues to learn. Without all your efforts there would be no meaningful educational development in this country.
During my current term of office we have worked collectively in managing the work of the Ministry and Department of Education and I would therefore like to record my gratitude and appreciation to the Director-General, Mr Thami Mseleku and all his staff who have contributed so much and often beyond the call of duty to ensure that education is normalised and improved in South Africa. We also bid farewell, lost to another government department, to our Deputy Director General for Monitoring and Planning, Mr Bobby Soobrayan who has played such an important role in the cost of education study.
I would also like to thank my personal office staff, some of whom have been with me through most of the last nine years of this government, for their commitment, dedication and loyalty. Thank you also to the various organisations who provided assistance with today's budget vote events.
It is appropriate to end with a quotation from one of Africa's great philosophers, and in doing so dedicate my contribution today to Walter Sisulu. With wisdom beyond his age and time, Steven Bantu Biko wrote:
"We reject the power based society that seems to be ever more concerned with perfecting their technological know-how, while losing out on their spiritual dimension. We believe that in the long run the great gift still has to come from Africa - giving the world a more human face."
Education is helping to create that gift, and we join with all Africans in the giving of the great gift.
I thank you.