Hon Speaker, hon Minister, the IFP supports your initiative to review the curriculum, but as the owners of the language I'm using would say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We'll wait and see whether what you have announced will bridge the gap between theory and implementation, because for a long time now our education system has been characterised by this widening gap between what we do here and the legislation that we formulate, and the implementation of that same policy.
Having said that, the IFP is not in the habit of saying "we told you so", but let's just go back and see what has characterised the system until now. You say we no longer speak of outcomes-based education, but what is the conceptual framework that we must now use if there's no OBE?
Let me say, looking back, that from its inception the OBE system has been ineffective, and the Minister will agree with that. It has been understood by neither the educators nor the district officials, nor even the top officials of your department. You ask them what OBE is, and they will scratch their heads. They will not just come out and tell you what it is. Perhaps it is for this reason that we welcome the Minister's simplistic and well-understood review of this curriculum. We welcome that.
We as the IFP did warn - I remember the Minister of Higher Education was still my chairperson in the committee - when this OBE was implemented, that it was not an appropriate education system for South Africa, due to the country's lack of resources such as libraries, laboratories and all the other things that go with the system. [Time expired.] [Applause.]