ADDRESS BY PROF SHEPHERD M MAYATULA, ANC MP, DURING THE EDUCATION BUDGET DEBATE

Issued by African National Congress - Parliament

20 May 2003

Madam Speaker, Hon. Minister and Deputy Minister, colleagues, and invited guests, before addressing you on the topic at hand, I would like to give a special welcome to one of the team members who will take the podium as a member of the ANC for the first time today. I am referring to the new born baby, in the person of Comrade Tommy Abrahams. He has left the shackles of the UDM and joined the comradarie and free spirit of the ANC. He is now a free man indeed, welcome home comrade.

I would also like the house to think about Hon. Mahlawe who was billed to be one of the speakers today, but her house, in Kokstad, burnt down into ashes last Saturday. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Though traumatized, her heart is with us.

I would like to welcome and pay special tribute to Mr. Appie Smith, for gracing this house. He is one of the farmers from the Free State whose contribution in the education of the poor impressed the Members of the Portfolio Committee on their visit to the Province. For them, I would like to borrow some words of wisdom from Henry Ward Beecher who said, "There was never a person who did anything worth doing that did not receive more than he gave". We commend and congratulate you.

Madam Speaker, on 11-14 May, 2003, I was privileged to attend the Stockholm + 5 Conference, hosted by the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO on Cultural Policies for Development. What made me proud to be a South African, was a constant reference to South Africa, the rainbow nation, by many speakers as a shining light to be followed by other countries. Some faced with the problem of child abuse at school, would like to emulate us and establish their own statutory bodies, like the South African Council for Educators.

Professor Amareswar Galla of the Australian National University, had this to say,

"In its self-articulation as a democratic country, South Africa provided the most critical frameworks for the World Commission for Culture and Development at its 1995 Johannesburg meeting, as was acknowledge by Professor Lourdes Arizpe (of Mexico) yesterday - that is, the location of culture in development."

Madam Speaker, South Africa is part of the African continent, as such, we need to relate its plans and programmes to those of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). NEPAD's main goal is, to ensure that the continent achieves the agreed international development goals (IDGs) which are:

To reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half by 2015;
To enroll all children of school age in primary schools by 2015;
To make progress towards gender equality and empowering women by eliminating gender disparities in the enrolment in primary and secondary education by 2005;
To reduce infant and child mortality ratios by two-thirds by 2015;
To reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-quarters by 2015;
To provide access for all who need reproductive health services by 2015;
To implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2015, so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

[MINEDAF VIII Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 2-6 December 2002]. Most of these goals have a direct or indirect bearing on education.

In the world front, at the World Education Forum, held in Dakar in April 2000, the objectives were as:

Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children
Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory education of good quality
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to basic and continuing education for all
Achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on encouraging girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

Madam Speaker, I am happy to report that according to UNESCO, South Africa falls in the category of those, "Countries that have almost achieved the target or that need to do moderate efforts." According to the Statistical Document, MINEDAF VIII, Universal primary education, goal for all:

On the access rate to grade 6, in 2000, out of 45 African countries, South Africa achieved 94% which was second only to Botswana which stood at 98% (page 13).
On secondary education gross enrolment ratio, in 2000, we stood at 90% and were second only to Mauritius (page 15).

The tirisano programme was meant to address these issues. My colleagues will expand on some of these areas to illustrate the ground this government has covered in addressing them.

Notable achievements include:

Improved access, as reflected in the sharp growth in enrolment figures. These picked to historical highs in excess of 12 million in 2002 and are directly linked to the policy of compulsory education adopted in 1996.
Improved learner: educator ratios, in some instances from 40:1 to 32:1 in 2002
Enhanced efficiency by curtailing out-of-age enrolments
A more equitable distribution of resources within the sector
Strengthening of parent and community involvement through school governing bodies
The successful transition from 17 departments to a unified system of school education under the auspices of the nine provinces.
Accelerated provisioning of school infrastructure, which was reinforced through the school-building programme. Okokuqa emva kokuba lorulumente ethathe intambo zolawulo ngo-1994, zininzi izikolo zodidi ezakhiwe ezilalini nge-face bricks, zinamanzi, umb nezindlu zangasese.

Kodwa kusekude ngaphambili. Ndicinga ngesikolo sase-Naki e-Dutywa esimke nemvula zalonyaka uphelileyo, esase Hermanas kwase-Dutywa esemka nemvula zika 1997 esingekakhiwa. Ndicinga ngezikolo

Some Highlights

From 1996/97 to 2003/04 transfer payments to universities and technikons increased from R4 936 million to R8 381 million. Included in the amount allocated for higher education institutions this year is an amount of R100 million for the restructuring of higher education institutions.

Approximately R769 million has been made available for NSFAS of which R60 million will be utilized for teacher training.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been allocated a sum of R100 million. The purpose of this initiative is to provide children eligible for the Reception Year with access to a quality education and a care programme, particularly the poorest children in our society. These funds will be utilized for, inter alia, licensing 4500 Grade R practitioners, registering 4500 community-based ECD sites and distributing 4500 basic educational kits of learning materials at learning sites during 2003.

A sum of R304 414 000 (an increase of R10 094 000) has been made available to improve financial management in the education system and to enhance the quality of education in schools.

Poverty relief, infrastructure investment and job summit projects: Ikhwelo Project has been allocated R50 million (an increase of R10 million). This is an expansion of the Department of Education's Agriculture and SMME pilots. The funds will be utilized, inter alia, to train and employ 450 educators to deliver agriculture and SMME learning programmes, engage 16 000 adults in life long learning and capacitate 480 governing bodies and centre managers to govern and manage.

Poverty relief, infrastructure investment and job summit projects: Thuba Makote Project has been allocated R64 million (an increase of R30 million) which will be focused on building 20 multi-functional schools.

A once-off transfer of R5 million will be made to the Jacob Zuma Trust Fund to cater for the educational needs of victims identified through the Truth and Reconciliation process.

MTEF spending include R1,7 billion more for higher education, and further skills development funding.

Some important policy considerations of the Department:

The draft White Paper on E-Education envisages that:

Every South African learner (all 12 million) in general and further education and training will be ICT capable by 2013.
All 28,000 schools in general and further education and training must transform into e-schools by 2013.

On guns, all schools are declared gun-free zones. For sporting purposes, there must be a move towards the use of air-guns created specifically for this sport.

Smoking is addictives. Smoking is a slow poison. Smoking kills. I would like to make a special appeal to the youth, please do not start it.

Madam Speaker, the mood and the status of the reconstruction of the institutions of higher learning is summed up in the following statement, by Prof. Dasarath Chetty, "The university of Durban-Westville and Natal are set to merge in January. As a result an institution with 5 campus sites catering for 40 000 students, with all faculties, will be created."

On the Department side, "The Ministry is committed to ensuring that the appropriate human and financial resources are leveraged and mechanisms are set in place to support the mergers. In this regard, a Merger Unit has been established within the Higher Education of the Department to manage the merger process. Among others, the Merger Unit will assess and make recommendations on requests from institutions for financial assistance in terms of the Ministry's framework for financial support, including requests to employ independent consultants to carry out specific tasks in relation to mergers, such as audits of physical assets and infrastructure, identifying legal and financial obligations, etc.

The ANC supports the budget.