Madam Deputy Speaker, the decision by the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, to scrap hundreds of thousands of specially watermarked papers for matric certificates so that redesigned ones with a larger and more prominent South African coat of arms could be printed instead, shows that she is driven by arrogance and superficiality, and that she has her priorities in completely the wrong order.
The DA fully supports the inclusion of the coat of arms on the matric certificate. It is an important mark of national pride. However, the coat of arms is already prominent on the certificate. If its size and position needed to be changed, the change could have waited until next year, when no additional expenses would have been incurred.
For security reasons, the certificates are printed on watermarked paper which is produced overseas. If the cost of the paper for each of these certificates were R10, the cost of the scrapping exercise would be a staggering R6 million. It may well have been more, depending on the cost of the certificates.
If we add to this the inconvenience and cost to universities, who now have to pay the department for statements confirming the results, as well as the strain being placed on learners, then it is impossible to justify this act. It appears that the Minister is focusing on everything except improving the dismal quality of education received by most South African children.