Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr President and Mr Deputy President, I think it's important for me to warn members that I'm the thirteenth speaker and it's very bad luck not to listen to me!
As the World Cup tournament ended, President Jacob Zuma diverted our attention, as well as that of the world, away from soccer towards education. At the Education Summit on 11 July 2010 he said:
We want education to be the lasting legacy of the 2010 World Cup. We urge all nations of the world to mobilise in every corner to ensure that every child is in school, especially at the primary school level.
There are two objectives that have been adopted by the international community in the field of education. The first is Millennium Development Goal 2, which aims to achieve universal primary education by the year 2015. The second is the 1Goal: Education for All initiative, which is an international initiative to bring the benefits of education to every citizen in every society. The 1Goal: Education for All campaign is a popular campaign to enrol all children worldwide in schools by 2014. Key patrons of this campaign are the Nobel Peace laureate, His Grace Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Her Majesty Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and Fifa president, Sepp Blatter.
What is the situation now regarding universal primary education? Globally there has been some progress. An additional 42 million children have entered primary school since 2000, notably because of increased political leadership and national resources for education. However, progress has been slow and some formidable challenges remain.
About 47 of 163 countries have achieved universal primary education, and an additional 20 countries are estimated to be on track to achieving this goal by 2015. But very big challenges remain in 44 countries, 23 of which are on this continent. These countries are unlikely to achieve universal primary education by 2015, unless domestic and international efforts are accelerated substantially.
Colleagues, approximately 72 million children are still denied their basic right to education in our world, and 759 million adults lack basic literacy skills in this age of cellphones, the Internet, and our ability to view planets and distant galaxies.
When we speak about this issue, we should consider that the 72 million children who are not in school will be trapped in a cycle of poverty, which will deny us the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty from the face of this planet.
I say again, 72 million children have never seen a classroom. That is more children, by the way, than all of the children going to primary school in the US, Canada, the whole of Europe and Australia, all combined. We should consider, as an African state, that 32 million of this number are on this continent. Thirty-two million African children don't go to school.
By July 2010, 12 million people, ordinary soccer fans, had joined the 1Goal: Education for All campaign and signed the yellow card calling on leaders of the world to make illiteracy history. Twelve million people called on world leaders to ensure that every child who is born on this planet receives education and the chance to beat poverty. This makes it the biggest campaign for education in the history of mankind, and it is soccer that has made it possible. Because of the World Cup, many prominent and influential people have joined the campaign and lent their tacit and active support.
When asked about his role in the 1Goal: Education for All campaign, His Grace Archbishop Tutu stated the following:
Without free and compulsory schooling, the lives of these children are a nightmare of forced labour in factories, sweatshops and fields.
For this reason, I have become a co-chair of 1Goal: Education for All.
The fact that we have 72 million children out of school shames us; it should shame the world. There are heart-wrenching cases all over the developing world, and stories like Mahder's, a 12-year-old from Ethiopia, are all too common. Like any child who should play sports and love reality TV, when her father died her family could no longer afford school fees. It is stories like Mahder's that have led 1Goal to call for the abolition of school fees in all developing countries, so that a level of educational inclusion, which is yet to be attained, can be delivered.
His Grace Archbishop Desmond Tutu further said:
The solutions put forward by 1Goal are so simple that it is immensely frustrating that they need to be enumerated at all.
The essence is this: rich governments must play their part by supporting poorer countries in getting all children into school.
For their part, developing countries must bear the responsibility of making sure that money is spent properly by ensuring that 20% of their budgets are given over to education.
Further, developing countries must make education a constitutional right.
Yes, times are tight, financially.
But bear in mind that the $16 billion needed to deliver the dream of universal education amounts to just 0,2% of the money used to bail out the global banking system.
The economic case is absolutely clear: developing countries could be losing out to the tune of $70 billion a year by not having well-educated populations ...
Excitingly, the world of football has lined up behind the campaign.
I am proud to say that ... very prominent members of Bafana Bafana, including Aaron Mokoena, the captain, have lent their support to this campaign.
His Grace concludes that it is the first time ever that a tournament of this nature will leave a genuine legacy. While $16 billion is needed to achieve this goal of universal access to education in 2015, the Education for All Global Monitoring Report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, indicates that aid to basic education in sub-Saharan Africa dropped from $1,7 billion to $1,6 billion in 2008. So let us recap: We need to send 72 million kids to school; we need 0,2% of the money used to bail out global banks to be spent on education.
Premier Zille spoke about choices. Let us also remember that in this country, as the President said, 200 000 children don't go to school. Let us address this reality. Let us address the reality that more coloured boys and girls are out of school than any other group in this country. Let us get those kids into schools and eradicate the legacy of gangsterism and drugs on the Cape Flats. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]