Hon Speaker, the ANC welcomes the idea of the establishment of the national task team to strengthen the implementation of the mathematics, science and technology strategy by the Department of Basic Education. Whilst we can take pride in the fact that, as a country, we have achieved almost universal access to education, surpassing the Millennium Development Goal for the girl-child, we are nevertheless concerned with regard to the academic achievements of our children.
Both national and international assessments continue to reveal that both the numeracy and literacy levels of our learners remain unacceptably low. However, the ANC government has set itself the target of ensuring that 60% of Grades 3, 6 and 9 learners must function at acceptable levels in literacy and numeracy by 2014.
This therefore demonstrates the mammoth task of the ANC government to ensure that adequate resources, commitment and the will to succeed are in place in order to make strides in improving maths, science and technology in our schools. Thus, the ANC's committed to improving the quality of schooling, particularly performance in mathematics, science, technology and language development. We will also devise mechanisms within the limitations of resources to meet the challenges of improving mathematics and science. Thank you.
The UDM did not make use of this opportunity to make a statement and that opportunity moves on to the ANC.
Hon Speaker, I am sorry. I did not hear when you called for the UDM.
You have the floor, sir. Please proceed.