Chairperson, hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, other members of the executive present here, leaders of different political parties, hon members and guests who have honoured us here with their presence, the theme of my speech today is: Together achieving quality education and access for all.
In presenting this budget, I therefore draw on the manifesto of the ruling party, as informed by the resolutions adopted at Polokwane, as well as the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, MTSF, of government and the President's state of the nation address. The underlying theme of all these is the fact that the ANC has declared education a top priority of this government and has declared that together we can do more.
In the 15 years of democratic rule, there have been significant achievements in education, especially with regard to access. A recent report, the South African Child Gauge, has noted that, as South Africa, we have achieved universal primary education in line with the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and have also achieved gender parity in education. More children in our country are staying at school until matric, and it is estimated that about 85% of children are now receiving 12 years of education at schools or in colleges.
We are also taking steps towards improving the quality of education, as shown by the independently conducted annual national assessments. In 2008, the results in numeracy were some 30% higher than the 2007 ones. Much progress has been made in moving the system away from the precepts of apartheid education. As I said, more children attend school and more attend without the burden of school fees. More children participate in school nutrition programmes and in an expanded curriculum. More teachers and principals are exposed to in-service development than ever before. And more provision has been made to improve the infrastructure of schooling, especially in rural and poor areas. Despite all this, we want to acknowledge upfront, as the education department, that many challenges continue to haunt our system.
If we are to make true the instruction of our President that teachers should be in class on time and learners in classes should be studying, a number of things will have to be corrected in the next five years. Again, our approach is guided by a deep belief that together we can do more towards making education a societal matter.
The findings of Jonathan Jansen's report on the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, NEEDU, confirm what we all know: In some quarters there is a lack of public confidence in our education system. This is what he had to say:
Throughout the country, in each of the provinces, from government officials, unionists and teachers alike, the committee heard the strongest expressions of concern, often in very passionate terms, that there was an indisputable crisis in education, and that it needed to be resolved as a matter of urgency. ... Indeed, it would be a serious mistake to underestimate the depth and intensity of concern among all education stakeholders.
The report goes on to say that:
This does not mean, also, that there are not pockets of excellence within the school system, among districts, and even within provincial structures. The committee found striking evidence of exceptionality. Such observations, on the one hand, give cause for hope but on the other hand give cause for concern since the school system cannot be transformed as a system on the basis of exceptional performance among the few. It is fundamental to the vision of government that all schools... Especially in disadvantaged communities, continue to perform optimally, because education - ... is a priceless resource when trying to lift the standard and improve the practice of the rest of the education system.
Amongst, but not limited to the challenges that still haunt our system, is the whole problem of accountability. School accountability tends to be weak, uneven and limited in scope. The accountability system is weak because of a pervasive culture of resistance to strong measures of accountability within the system and not only teachers should be singled out for attention, but the entire system: from schools, to school leaderships, to districts and provinces, including national departments.
Accountability must, of necessity, account for performance at all levels from the teacher, to the principal, to the governors, to the district, provincial and national authorities. While the teacher is undoubtedly the most important factor in our system, the extent to which the act of teaching is nested within other supporting contexts cannot be overstated.
More importantly, we must ensure that there are always consequences in everything, in every action in our system. The fact that teachers should be on time and teaching daily, and learners learning is non-negotiable. The teacher on time and teaching also needs to be assisted by ensuring that the system begins to confront some of the more fundamental problems in the system, which include curriculum organisation and schools that are dysfunctional.
We are all aware of incidents where our schools lose valuable teaching time because of absentee teachers, incompetent principals, and underprepared district officials. The culture of teaching and learning has, to all intents and purposes, disappeared in most of our rural and township schools.
The teachers we want to be in class on time are also reported to be feeling overwhelmed by never-ending external demands on their work that are making them resentful and sometimes distracting them from their core function, which is teaching. Madam Chair, I can't overemphasise the importance of teachers' dedication, commitment, and work ethic. Time on task and careful use of time are key to quality instruction and quality outcomes.
There are quite a number of challenges, which include the socioeconomic challenges that the teacher in class on time and teaching will be confronted with and which she or he will have to attend to in order to get through to the learners, for example the high levels of poverty in our communities, youth criminality, hunger, malnutrition, drugs, violence, teenage pregnancy, and the list goes on. Again, as a committee, we have to develop measures to address this.
Our President has also called on all of us, as a community, to be involved in education and make sure that education is everybody's business. Strong leadership is also one of the key elements that we, as the Department of Basic Education, are committed to looking at.
For historical reasons that are well understood, the better-resourced schools and provinces are better able to support the education system and produce better educational outcomes. This, again, Madam Chairperson, is a major challenge for us. Despite the fact that we say, as this government, we have invested acceptable levels of resources in education, there is still a feeling amongst us and our communities that their proper utilisation or adequacy continues to be a challenge, and we need to find a way of ensuring that for all these resources invested by government there is value for money.
There is no doubt that the economic downturn facing us is going to demand of us to use our resources more carefully and make sure that, indeed, they reach our learners. Schools in poorer areas remain underresourced. Science is being taught without laboratories, children share books and desks, and there continues to be overcrowding in the majority of our schools. Again, Madam Chair, we are committed to confronting all these problems which still haunt our system.
The curriculum, which is our core product in the delivery of education, is one of the areas that we will be attending to through the budget, because we do believe that our core in education is curriculum delivery. This is our product, and our success depends on it: its content and how it's packaged, issued, received and marketed.
My predecessor's report on schools that work confirms that in almost every school there are concerns that there are problems with the curriculum. Many of the people they interviewed mentioned that learners from primary schools arrived unprepared, and I am also aware that institutions of higher learning allege that learners that arrive at the institutions are ill- prepared. Again, I am saying that we will confront whatever problems are raised with us, be they true or perceived, and we will take them as seriously as we can.
The challenges are not simple but, fortunately, with almost 15 years' experience as the ruling party, some of the challenges are known to us and are being addressed. In addition to the constantly mentioned challenges of alleged excessive paperwork, expensive demands of the curriculum, the risks of different interpretations, and inadequate preparation of teachers to implement the curriculum challenges around classroom practices, resulting in all sorts of problems, again, we are doing all we can. We can indicate to this House that, starting from this month, we will both be doing investigations and holding public hearings on this matter. In the next four months, we will make sure that we identify areas of further work and make the necessary interventions so that, come 2010, we will have adequately identified and addressed all the challenges and issues that have been raised by our communities and also by different stakeholders around curriculum challenges.
Through the establishment of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, we will evaluate not only schools and teachers but the entire system to make sure that we identify challenges and, working together with the different stakeholders, address whatever comes to us.
There is no doubt that there is a link between educational outputs and socioeconomic conditions. The South African historical and current socioeconomic dynamics continue to play a major role within our education system. Our schools systems, to a very large extent, are still shaped by their social and historical contexts of colonialism and apartheid. Because of this, our schooling system continues to be unequal, and we have a few public schools in South Africa, serving fewer learners, which are well endowed with impressive resources and facilities and produce superior academic results. On the other hand, we have desperately poor schools with very little to show in terms of academic performance.
The greatest consolation is that even within these challenges a number of schools have excelled beyond expectation. Leaders and educators in these schools appreciate the fact that our children's educational achievements cannot wait, and all children, despite their class, race, gender and location, deserve good quality education now.
In moving to the areas of finances that we have been given by the department, I do want to indicate that in the current financial year we have been allocated quite generously by the state the following resources. With regard to the budget allocations for the financial year 2009-10, I can record with appreciation that the overall budget has increased by R2,4 billion. From R18,8 billion last year, we have been allocated R21,2 billion. [Applause.]
Additional funds have been received in the following areas. My colleague, Dr Nzimande, will speak more about subsidies that were increased that we have received for Higher Education and Training, but Basic Education can record that, for this budget year, we have been allocated R577 million, which is going to allow us to expand to quintile one secondary schools. In addition to primary schools we are providing with food, we will be able to gradually introduce our school nutrition programmes to high schools in the poorest of areas. [Applause.]
Madam Chairperson, we have also been allocated R5 million to recapitalise our technical schools, and I think one of our guests, the principal from Atteridgeville who has always been raising the matter about technical schools, will be happy to hear that we will, henceforth, begin a process of recapitalising our technical schools and this will be implemented over the next two years.
As I have said, my predecessor had established or had set up a commission which had to do investigations about the establishment of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit. In that regard, we have been given R6 million to begin to set up the process and the budget will increase in years to follow.
I won't comment on the financial aid scheme. I think my colleague, Dr Nzimande, will refer to that.
Because, as this government, we have committed ourselves to breaking the back of illiteracy, we continue to receive funds from the state, and we have been allocated R443 million for a mass literacy programme. We have been allocated R5 million for systematic evaluation programmes and, for the further development of the Education Management Information System, EMIS, we have been given R5,7 million.
Some existing programmes on the budget deserve a special mention. One of these is the National School Nutrition Programme, which currently feeds 7,4 million in the country daily, at a cost of R2,3 billion as a conditional grant that we receive as a department.
We have also been allocated an additional R177 million, which will be used by provinces to provide relevant life skills programmes in all our schools. We believe that the decline in new infections amongst our young people can be, and we are confident that it is, partly attributed to this programme. However, the rising tide of teenage pregnancies continues to be a great concern, and we are committed to addressing it, identifying the problems and confronting the problems as we face them.
Teachers continue to be the most important resource in education. Teachers, who we want to be in class, and teaching, continue to be a major focus of our programme and the most expensive and most valuable resource in the system. We have received an investment of about R700 million this year to support more than 9 000 teacher trainees.
I am pleased to record that, together with the teacher unions, and other stakeholders, we have launched the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, QLTC, of which a major part relates to the non-negotiables for different components of the system. For teachers, this involves being in class, on time and teaching, while learners have committed themselves to focus on learning, respect their teachers, and do their work. [Applause.] Departmental officials have promised to visit schools regularly, and to provide them with support, while parents, who have also signed up for the campaign, have volunteered to ensure that all of us play our part. Put simply, if we all do our job as we should, we should see the quality of education improve by leaps and bounds.
These non-negotiables require two pillars of support. The first of these is an evaluation, which will evaluate all parts of the system to unearth constraints and problems in ensuring quality education. The other pillar is that of effective leadership, a key component of the system. All the evidence, locally and internationally, shows that a good school has a good principal. I am proud to say that I have invited today Mr Timothy Mathopa, who comes from a school in Atteridgeville. He is accompanied by his wife. He is somewhere in the gallery. The story of Mr Mathopa is quite interesting and a testimony to the fact that a good school needs a good leader. [Applause.]
Mr Mathopa is a true hero, representing many other principals. I think what he doesn't know and what I can reveal today is that when I visited his school while I was still an MEC, I was told by the district director that Mr Mathopa was a very difficult teacher, constantly fighting with and accusing his former principal of poor leadership and a lack of commitment and dedication to his work. The district, being tired of always intervening in his and the principal's fights, decided to punish him and give him the worst school in the province. When he inherited the school, it had a zero percent pass rate. [Time expired.] [Applause.]