Hon Chairperson, Ministers, members and the public at large, education is the most important sector of any government. For this reason, government must ensure that both basic and higher education outcomes are of a high quality and effective standard. If this is achieved, then we can be assured of a good citizen of quality, employment opportunities will be better, infrastructure development will progress, the standard of living will improve, etc. A better South Africa and environment will be our future.
The strategic plans and goals of these two departments do seek to address the aims and goals of the educational outcomes, but in certain aspects they fail to address the problems effectively.
Early childhood development, ECD, has to be the key priority of the Department of Basic Education, and not the function of the Department of Social Development. The department focuses mostly on Grade R as per their service delivery during the 2010-11 financial year. We do have the infrastructure for accommodation of these learners, although it is not adequate. Therefore there is no need to establish new centres for ECD now. We can invest more and better in the development of teachers' learning materials and other educational support, and funding in ECD. The development of a child starts here, followed by the foundation phase, primary phase, and others. If we strive to get value for our money then the decrease from R11,3 million in 2009-10 to R4,4 million in 2010-11 is unacceptable. This does not speak well of the state of the nation address regarding the prioritisation of ECD.
Effective supply and development of human resources available within the department to promote quality teaching and institutional performance plays an important role, but this programme received a decrease of 3,44% in real terms. Whole school evaluation, WSE, is good, but the question that arises is whether there is a system and instrument in place in the department, or is the department still developing it? This must be clarified. The allocation to the Examination Administration Support line item also decreased from R32,7 million in 2009-10 to R26,5 million in 2010-11. The security of examination papers can be at stake and must be cushioned.
A huge concern is the numeracy and literacy standards of learners. The concern is increased by the fact that the department is silent on the type of tests, and how they will ensure the quality and the empowerment of teachers to achieve these targets.
The Department of Basic Education is proud of a new state-of-the-art building - understandably so, because everyone is state-of-the-art happy about new things. However, bear in mind that R126,742 million is spent annually, with a yearly increase of 4%, on this amount for 25 years. Then we must ask: was this money well spent? Over 25 years the department will pay more than R3,3 billion in a PPP agreement. Would it not have been better if the department spent the money on their own infrastructure development, or now on more pertinent priorities? This is an open discussion and debate.
Higher Education depends on the quality outcome of learners from basic education. If they elaborate on these products, then we can also be assured of a better-quality and competitively skilled workforce. All agree that the Setas did not properly perform their functions and duties for the best outcome in skills development. The Department of Higher Education must make sure that human resource development, planning and the monitoring co- ordination mechanism work smoothly and effectively to achieve their goals in higher education.
The investment in historically disadvantaged higher education institutions is mostly welcomed. The decrease in the administration programme of a nominal amount of 3,64% and a real amount of 9,69% is of concern for a new department, although other savings on other items make up for this decrease. The department is lean but must also be mean on their delivery performances. Under the Department of Education, problems were experienced on the quarterly reporting of performance information delivery. So reported the Auditor-General in 2008-09.
In conclusion, there are a lot of challenges for both Basic and Higher Education, but the challenges can be overcome if we stick to the plans, priorities, targets and goals we have set for ourselves. I thank you.