Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Deputy Chairperson, hon members, MECs for Education, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to thank you for affording me the opportunity to address this Council today during the Budget Vote of the Department of Higher Education and Training.
I would like to convey an apology on behalf of the Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, who was looking forward to this opportunity, but, due to other commitments, could not be with us today. I also welcome my family up there, my daughter and my husband.
Hon members, our theme for this year is: Working together for improved access to quality education and skills development. We are here, to debate our Budget Vote against the backdrop of the historical and world-renowned Soweto uprising of June 16, 1976.
Thirty-five years down the line a great deal has changed. We are in a democracy and have realised our political freedom. Commemorations of June 16 are about us and our history. We therefore have to ensure that the Soweto uprising as not in vain and that we don't only pay tribute to the youth of 1976, but also strive to achieve their desired outcomes.
Hon members, this budget speaks to those noble outcomes - namely quality education and training. It also speaks to the issues of race, class, age, gender, disability, language, geography and HIV and Aids. The National Skills Development Strategy 3 deals with these issues decisively.
Firstly, it is important to reflect on the 2011 state of the nation address, in which President Jacob Zuma emphasised that the focus of Higher Education and Training would be to expand access, especially for children of the poor. We are aware that currently we have about three million young people between the ages of 18 and 24 that are neither in employment nor in education and training institutions. This budget is dedicated largely to these marginalised young people who live in the poorest communities in the provinces that you represent.
Government's prioritisation of education is evident in the budget allocation of 19,4% of the total national Budget to Higher Education and Training. Higher Education and Training has been allocated R37,4 billion. I will now only focus on provincially relevant programmes.
Hon members, we are aware of the urgent need to transform current higher education and training; hence the creation of our department. Key in this, is the renewal of the further education and training sector. The Further Education and Training Colleges Amendment Bill, which seeks to replace the authority of the MEC and HOD with that of the Minister and Director-General of Higher Education and Training, has already been through a public consultation process. The amendment will shortly serve before this House. Further, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has already published a draft amendment to the Constitution for public comment. We are also embarking on an intensive Green Paper process to bring together policy on the post-school system.
Funding for FET colleges has increased from R4,12 billion to R5,56 billion in this budget. This is an incredible 35% increase. The FET colleges financial aid allocation increased from R318 million in 2010 to R1,235 billion in 2011, which translates to an unprecedented 288%. This gives effect to the announcement by the hon President of the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma, in his 8 January statement this year that all FET college students who are recipients of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, will receive bursaries instead of loans. This means that more than 169 000 eligible students will benefit, as compared to 61 705 in the previous financial year. Provincially, the bursary beneficiaries have almost about tripled compared to last year.
Since the introduction of the National Certificate Vocational in 2007, the department has noted the need to review the qualifications offered at colleges so as to ensure that they serve their intended purpose. The ministerial task team has been appointed by the department to begin to assist in developing our thinking in this direction.
The extension of the Report 191 Programmes, the so called N courses, will enable us to meet the targeted requirement of producing 10 000 artisans per annum. Additional funding has been allocated towards the increased student enrolment from 77 210 to 89 355 in the N1-N6 Programmes.
In addition, the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, QCTO, is focusing its efforts on updating the artisan qualifications beyond N1-N3.
In provinces like the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, such opportunities already exist. However, in provinces such as the Free State, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape, we are still facing some challenges, given the absence of the business sector. We will therefore call upon the government departments, state-owned enterprises, municipalities, and education and training institutions to work together in providing and creating work experience opportunities for students.
We are also doing work to strengthen and support private FET colleges. The Further Education and Training Act, Act 98 of 1998, and the regulations for the registration according to the relevant sections of the law provides that everyone has the right to establish and maintain, at their own expense, independent educational institutions.
In light of these legal injunctions, and within the context of the vision statement of the department, the department has embarked on regulating and supporting private colleges.
With regard to Adult Basic Education and Training, Abet, hon members, the allocation for the Adult Basic Education and Training programme in provinces rises from R1,346 billion in 2010-11 to R1,444 billion in 2011- 12. This is an increase of 7,3%. This will enable us to meet the target of 27 500 adult learners.
The department has established a task team which is responsible for the reconceptualisation of the nature and role of the Adult Basic Education and Training centres, as well as the introduction of community education and skills centres. We are acutely aware that the Department of Higher Education and Training needs a presence in the provinces. Our initial plans for this financial year include the securing of suitable premises for one office per province with three core staff. The functions of these offices will be to co-ordinate, support, liaise and to provide career advisory services.
In addition, these offices will link with the provincial skills development forums in the premiers' offices, as well as with the Department of Labour and provincial education departments, universities, Setas and other relevant government departments and stakeholders.
With regard to universities, hon members, we have the mandate to focus on previously disadvantaged universities and to begin with a turnaround strategy so that we are not stuck in the language of the historically disadvantaged.
We are also pleased to announce that this budget has plans for the building of two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. The chairpersons of both provincial task teams have submitted their draft reports on the establishment, and the final reports are due soon. We have already begun developing a technical framework that takes into account, inter alia, the infrastructural requirements of the new universities, the legal requirements, governance arrangements, academic planning, architecture, including the programmes and qualifications to be offered, staffing and many other transitional arrangements. An amount of R300 million has been allocated for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period 2011-12 to 2013-14, which will be utilised for the initial establishment of these institutions.
Hon members, I cannot emphasise enough the contribution these two institutions will make towards improving access to higher education opportunities for students coming from these two provinces.
We find it unacceptable that universities have, in the past, withheld student qualification certificates due to money being owed to them. Students who receive their qualification certificates have a better chance to enter the job market. As a result, an amount of R200 million has been allocated to assist 25 000 undergraduate and postgraduate students who met the requirements but couldn't get their certificates due to the outstanding fees. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, will manage the allocation of these funds.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme levies interest on student loans from the date the students signed for the loan. In future that will change. The NSFAS will only start charging interest on student loans 12 months after a student has graduated or left the university.
The department is also concerned that 69 107 of our students who owe fees have been blacklisted with credit bureaus. We have directed NSFAS to remove the names of all students that they have blacklisted with the credit bureau. My department is further engaging with the National Credit Regulator and universities on this matter to explore ways of ensuring that these young graduates are able to pay back their loans and to start working immediately.
Overall, my department has set a target of 12 000 new school teachers to be graduating annually from universities by 2014. The university system will be supported to expand capacity to achieve this target.
With regard to the National Skills Fund, NSF, the sector education and training authorities, Setas, have, through the National Skills Development Strategy 3, been directed to ensure that priority areas in skills development are addressed. The National Skills Fund is a national resource that will function as a catalytic fund enabling the state to drive key strategies, such as the New Growth Path, the rural development strategy, and the human resource development strategy for South Africa.
One critical factor for government's ability to deliver massively on skills development is the availability of adequate capacity and infrastructure. Some examples of NSF - supported projects, at a cost of R19,6 million, are in the following provinces: in the Eastern Cape, 62 co-operatives; in KwaZulu-Natal, 141 co-operatives; and in Mpumalanga, 130 co-operatives.
In conclusion, I would like to say that we live in the best of times and also in the worst of times. From the tabled budget it is clear that there are significant and fundamental transformative steps are being introduced. The bold policy positions, while welcomed by many, have evoked strong resistance and sabotage from those who are failing to take a long-term view of what equal and quality education can do in building a sustainable country, in solidarity with the continent and other countries of the world with whom we share the same burden of decolonising the mind. We are calling upon all our MEC's and heads of our learning centres, including our institutions of higher learning, to pay close attention to our curricula. The investments we are making in education will not be evaluated in terms of numbers, but in terms of the quality of our learners.
There are lessons to be learned from Paulo Freire's work on education for critical consciousness. In simple terms, the thrust of his work was that education should not only be about how to read, but also how to understand the material and sociopolitical conditions under which people live.
We all want our learners to get jobs, but we also need to prepare them in such a way that they become agents of change at the workplace, so as to fast-track the dismantling of resistance tactics, which have become the swelling ground of hidden tensions between the haves and the have-nots. Remember that no country in the world has ever grown the economy and created jobs without considerable investment in socially appropriate education.
I would like to thank the Minister in his absence, the acting director- general, my office and the department for all the support they have given me since my appointment as the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training. I thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, hon members of this House and the public at large, the ANC will continue to promote the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution, NDR, to unite all South Africans behind the vision of a united, nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Father of the nation, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, once said:
Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times ... that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.
Chairperson, the ANC-led government needs to use this budget to quantify the costs and implement measures to eradicate these social ills.
Fellow South Africans, if truth be told, we cannot boldly tackle the current challenges in our education system without interrogating the painful past. The question today is whether the ANC-led government has achieved a single, united, diversified education and training system where all people enjoy equal opportunities.
Education is the top ANC-led government priority and accounts for 19,4% of the total national Budget for 2011-12. The Department of Higher Education and Training lived up to the expectations of the ANC-led government. In the year 2009 President Jacob Zuma established this Ministry and said:
We have to ensure that training and skills development initiatives in the country respond to the requirements of the economy. The Further Education and Training, FET, sector with its 50 colleges and 160 campuses nationally will be the primary site for skills development training. We will improve access to higher education of children from poor families and ensure a sustainable funding structure for universities.
The department's vigilance should aim at ensuring that it widens access to education as a right.
Hon members, education not only provides children and families with a pathway out of poverty, but it can also yield even bigger returns for the world's poorest countries through its impact on areas such as health and the economy. Lack of access to education is preventing millions of people from escaping the cycle of extreme poverty around the world. Of the 67,5 million children out of school around the world, 95% live in developing countries. Our people have struggled selflessly for freedom from oppression, and we therefore cannot fail them when it comes to the struggle for the elimination of poverty. The National Skills Fund is a catalytic fund that will enable government to drive key skills strategies, as well as meet the training needs of the unemployed. It will be used to target gaps and complement resource shortages for national priorities.
The ANC is convinced that central to building a more just and a more equal society is the creation of more and sustainable decent jobs and opportunities for self-employment across all rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. In the same breath the ANC-led government will review the funding policies applicable to universities and FET colleges so that consideration is given to fund innovative and creative programmes relating to race, class, gender, age, disability, and HIV and Aids.
Our young people in education and training are vulnerable. Therefore the ANC government encourages working together between the departments, for instance Higher Education works together with a number of government departments, including the Department of Social Development on the training of social development professionals and community development workers, CDWs. Social Development promotes education and awareness about the effects of substance abuse.
We seek to build a developmental state premised on people-centred and people-oriented change, and on sustained development based on high growth rate, restructuring of the economy and socioeconomic inclusion. That is why the ANC-led government deliberately made a choice to follow a New Growth Path that is driven by job creation and skills development. In this regard, the government of the ANC treats skills development not only as a domain of tertiary education institutions, but also as a mandate of work places. Our advantage is that we are a population dominated numerically by young people. The irony of this, however, is that the majority of these energetic young people are unemployed.
In 2011 the sector education and training authorities, Setas, entered a new phase. During this new phase the Department of Higher Education and Training made some fundamental changes to the leadership, governance and strategy of the Setas in order to meet the objectives of the National Skills Development Strategy, NSDS 3, and improve their functioning and performance. The intention is to set up a comprehensive performance monitoring, evaluation and support for all our education, training and skills development institutions, with a particular focus on the Setas and public FET colleges. The real value added by Setas is their understanding of labour market issues in their respective industrial and economic sector. Setas must ensure that they are backed by employers and workers, acknowledged as a credible and authoritative voice on skills, create interventions and shape solutions that address skills needs with their sectors.
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, has met members of the Seta forum and reached a ground-breaking agreement on the transformation of the Seta landscape and the urgent need to develop an adequate skills base that seeks to promote economic growth and development in South Africa. This happened after the Minister took a decision to place the Setas under administration. This follows their poor performance over a period of four years. There was nongovernance and financial mismanagement, general noncompliance with the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA, Act 1 of 1999, and the Skills Development Act, Act 97 of 1998.
Universities received R19,4 billion for the 2011-12 financial year and R4,3 billion is allocated to FET colleges. Public entities received R4,1 billion , of which R4 billion is allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. The remainder is shared by the SA Qualifications Authority, SAQA, and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations. Chairperson, NSFAS will distribute R5,4 billion in loans and bursaries for 2011-12 - double the R2,7 billion distributed last year.
The vision of the ANC-led government is taking shape through NSDS 3. The NSDS 3 is aimed at increasing access to training and skills development opportunities and at eliminating unfair discrimination in skills training. This seeks to improve the quality and effectiveness of training, and channel it increasingly to the formal training institutions, where workers and the unemployed can get full occupational qualifications. The University of Stellenbosch is amongst the institutions that have accepted a policy for the assessment and recognition of prior learning, RPL.
The ANC-led government is integrating workplace training with theoretical learning, improving the skills levels and addressing poor work readiness of many young people leaving formal education institutions and entering the labour market for the first time. The department is addressing the skills shortage in the artisan, technical and professional fields, as well as ensuring that rural development receives the necessary attention and priority. Recognition of prior learning is a process whereby people's prior learning can be formally recognised in terms of registered qualifications and unit standards, regardless of where and how the learning was attained. Recognition of prior learning acknowledges that people never stop learning, whether it takes place formally at an educational institution or whether it happens informally.
An announcement by the President was made in the 8 January statement and further elaborated on in his state of the nation address regarding further assistance for FET students and final-year university undergraduates who qualify for NSFAS. In previous years NSFAS charged interest on student loans throughout the period when the students were studying. This resulted in students of the working class leaving the university with large debts, as the Deputy Minister has indicated.
We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us. The ANC- led government provided R200 million to enable NSFAS to grant loans to students who have completed their studies but have not received certificates due to outstanding debts. The Government of the ANC intensifies the fight against corruption and the fly-by-night institutions and eliminates unnecessary middlemen in the provision of services, in order to maximise the impact of the allocated resources.
Education must address the development of knowledge and skills that can be used to produce high-quality goods and services in such a way as to enable us to develop our cultures, our society and our economy.
In conclusion, I would like to remind this House of what former President Nelson Mandela said about education. He said:
Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of a mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
I thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Chairperson, Deputy Minister, members and guests, the mission of the Department of Higher Education and Training says it very clearly, and I quote:
To develop capable, well-educated and skilled citizens that are able to compete in a sustainable, diversified and knowledge-intensive international economy, which meets the developmental goals of our country.
Another fact of life is that education awakens the mind and increases expectations, aspirations and ambitions; which, in turn, increases public pressure on government. All these go parallel with economic growth and sustainability.
Quality higher education depends very much on the quality of education in primary and secondary schooling. One of the problems in pretertiary education is the high drop-out rate of learners before reaching Grade 10. Many different reasons can be identified, but we must pinpoint the main causes of this and address them.
Approximately three million young people between 18 and 24 years of age are not employed or in education and training programmes. This is a huge waste of human capital. It creates more poverty and the possibility of instability in communities. This is a worrying situation and we must ensure that we keep our youth in our educational institutions and systems. It is true that without growing the economy and job opportunities, a well- educated population will not escape the scourge of unemployment. We must focus on skills development.
Of much concern is the fifth programme of the department - Skills Development - which aims to adhere precisely this objective. The budget of R128,2 million allocated to this programme is lower than last year. The department says that R30,8 million is due to cost-saving measures and includes reducing government's contribution to the National Skills Fund. The department must state clearly and openly why this decrease is necessary, and whether it will not negatively influence the growth of skills development.
The coherence between FET colleges and universities must be broadened and sharpened up. The staff of FET colleges must not only have occupational qualifications, but also pedagogical training capacity. It is just here where our universities can play a vital role. Another problem is the lack of articulation for students between FET colleges and universities. Students find it difficult to move on to university when they have completed their studies at the FET colleges.
Students completing their studies at technical colleges find it very difficult to find opportunities to gain practical workplace experience. The department also aims to improve the pass rate of trade test students to 45%, but it is quiet about what they will do to improve the opportunities for these students, especially in the public sector. Government must play a bigger role in working together with employer institutions to create these opportunities.
Quality teachers and educators play a vital role in quality outcome education. Our public image of the teaching profession and teaching morale is a huge obstacle. It is difficult to retain and recruit teachers. The difficulties teachers experience in maintaining to proper discipline in schools are just one factor which leads to the negativity associated with this profession.
Learners experience this daily and tell themselves not to become a teacher. This we must address if we want to increase the number of student teachers. It is not only the money and benefits which attract people to a profession, but also satisfaction, respect and control in their work experience.
It is a very good thing to increase loan opportunities for students to study. Statistics are telling us that 29% of students dropped out during their first year of study for different reasons. One drop-out is too many and we must ensure that students who are allowed into our further educational institutions have the ability and capacity to absorb the content of their courses.
Those who need the support must be provided with the opportunity to have intensive support courses offered to them by good quality and dedicated lecturers who understand the challenges which are a result of incapacity among ability by the students. Only then will we have success in decreasing the number of drop-outs in universities and colleges.
The department of education must develop strategies to tackle all these challenges. An integral, co-ordinated pre- and post-school system, planned in the light of the needs of students, the economy, job creation and quality of education is paramount to improve the quality of our people and citizens. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Chair, hon Deputy Minister and hon members, distinguished guests in the gallery, allow me to add my voice to those people who wrote the Freedom Charter in 1955, which was adopted in 1959. They said the Freedom Charter says that the doors of education and learning shall be open to all.
We do, however, acknowledge that education is the only tool - the real tool - to eradicate poverty, to give our people back their dignity, so that they can understand who they are and where they come from. Without education we will get nowhere. This department plays a crucial role, and it is a good thing that the hon Minister in this department knows where he is coming from. He knows how the people have suffered in the past; he knows what it is to be educated. [Interjections.]
Really, sir?
I said the hon Minster, not the hon Deputy Minister. All right! Thank you, hon Tau.
We do, however, support all efforts the department is making in order to assist all potential students, especially in rural areas to pursue a tertiary education.
Education is the most powerful weapon for any economy. It is therefore crucial that various avenues are afforded to our youth to attain a tertiary qualification, as many of them cannot afford to study. Educational drives and state funding should be properly promoted in provinces which are far behind other rapidly booming areas.
As I was reading through the speech of the hon Deputy Minister, I would have loved to ask a question, but I see it has already been answered, and that she is in the process of doing what is needed by the Northern Cape. Building a university for the Northern Cape is of the utmost importance. [Interjections.]
In Upington.
Agb Minister, ons is bewus van die geweldige taak wat op u skouers rus om die agterstand in geletterdheid te probeer uitwis. Ons moet u net aanmoedig om u bes te doen vir hierdie kinders wat graag verder wil studeer, sodat u hulle kan help. [Hon Minister, we are aware of the enormous task that rests on your shoulders to attempt to eradicate the backlog in literacy. We can only encourage you to do your best to help these children who would like to further their studies.]
Deputy Minister, let me just say this one thing again: to read, to write and to understand - if you can do those three things you are already on your way to being a successful person. [Interjections.]
So, what do you want?
What I want to say today to the hon Deputy Minister and to this House is that there is so much money - many millions of rands - and this department is busy ploughing it into ... [Interjections.]
Let me conclude by saying ... [Interjections.]
This leads me to ask the hon Deputy Minister that the amount of R200 million that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme was allocated over the 2008 year period. Is that the money you are using now, or is it a new budget? I thank you.
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Mphathisihlalo, neSekela likaNgqongqoshe wezeMfundo ePhakeme, akusiyo neze imfihlo ukuthi okuseqhulwini lika hulumeni kulo mhlangano wukuba kwenziwe izinguquko ezweni lakithi kwesasihlangabezana nakho okuyizinkinga; kuyo yonke indawo, ezikoleni zethu, ngisho emanyuvesi ethu.
Ngiyazi-ke ukuthi kwesinye isikhathi kuye kwenzeke - laphaya emanyuvesi - umuntu ahlangabezana nezinkinga zokungakwazi ukwelekeleleka nokuthola izinsiza njengezinsiza zokwenza ucwaningo kahle ukuze umsebenzi uhambe ngendlela efanele kumuntu ngamunye ezikoleni.
Ngiyazi ukuthi lo Mnyango eniwuphethe usezingeni eliphakeme, ngakho akusiyo neze imfihlo ukuthi ezikoleni zethu siyaye sihlangabezane nezinkinga zabafundi abangaphumeleli ekupheleni konyaka futhi abahluleka ukuhlangabezane nezidingo zokuba bamukeleke ezikhungweni zemfundo ephakeme.
Lezi zinselele ziyaye zivame ezikoleni zethu zabantu basemakhaya nabantu abamnyama ikakhulukazi emalokishini ethu. Kutholakale ukuthi siyadoja nothisha bethu ngokunjalo nabo bayadoja, akuyona imfihlo ongaze uyifihle ngoba yizinto ezenzakalayo lezi. Ngiyafisa ukuthi kube khona lolu hlobo lokuhlola ukuthi ingabe umfundi noma uthisha wenza umsebenzi wakhe ngokuzinikela. Kufuneka lezi zinto zixhunyaniswe ngendlela ebonakalayo nanahloli bezizinda zezikole babone ukuthi izikole ziqhuba kahle ukuze sikwazi ukuba nabafundi abakwazi ukungena ezikhungweni zamabanga aphakeme emfundo.
Singeke saphika ukuthi iNingizimu Afrika endala yayingenakho ukuhlinzeka - ikakhulukazi abantu bebala; yayihlinzeka kakhulu uhlobo oluthile lwabantu noma lwezingane zabantu abadla izambane elikhulu likapondo. Uma ngibheka, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe abantu babefisa ukuba bafunde baqede iziqu zabo zokuqala bese benza iziqu ze-honours ne-masters. I-National Student Financial Aid Scheme yayingakwazi ukukusiza uma wenza iziqu ze-Honours, masters ne-PHD ngoba kwakuthiwa hhayi ngeke usakwazi ...
Uma ngibheka lolu daba lokuthi izingane zethu lezi ezifuna ukufunda, odadewethu abafuna ukufunda bakwazi ukwesekwa, yinto enhle kakhulu leyo ezosiza nezwe lakithi. Ngiyakuncoma ukuthi uyakubalula la ukuthi ama-FET college nizowavakashela niyobheka ukuthi kwenzekani kuwona.
Ngiyafisa, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe, ukuthi nenze ubudlelwane nezimboni. Kulesiya sikhungo engangifunda kuso Empangeni, okuthiwa yiNyuvesi yase- Zululand, sasingenabo ngisho ubudlelwane no Alsafa, onxiwa abakhulu, nezinye izimboni ezithile. Kwakungukuzifundela nje, uma uqeda lapho bese uhamba uyohlala ekhaya nesitifiketi sakho; uyoze uzibonele ukuthi umsebenzi uwuthola kanjani.
Egameni leqembu lethu ngiyaleseka ivoti leSabiwomali soMnyango wakho ngoba ngiyabona ukuthi nikhona ukuba nikwazi ukufeza izidingo zabantu abahluphekayo emakhaya basizakale uma izingane zakithi emakhaya zithanda ukufunda, zilithole lelo thuba.
Nakhona kungakuhle ukuthi ningenelela ngoba abafundi bayaye bangathathwa ezikhungweni eziphakeme, kuthiwe sekugcwele. Noma-ke umuntu uma eseqede umatikuletsheni, engenamali engazi ukuthi angaya kuphi ukuyofunda, uma ethi ufaka isicelo sokufunda kuthiwe sekugcwele. Uma ningakwazi ukungenelela lapho ngoba amanyuvesi azimele nje kodwa nawo anemikhawulo. Ngibonga kakhulu, Mphathisihlalo. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Chairperson, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, it is no secret that government's main concern in this meeting is to make changes in our country in respect of the problems we encountered - in all aspects - in our schools, and even in our universities.
I know that sometimes at the universities one can encounter problems of not getting support and resources such as those used to conduct research so that one can achieve excellent results.
I know that the department you are heading is at a high level, and therefore it is no secret that in our schools we encounter problems with learners who do not pass at the end of the year and thus do not meet the requirements for admission to tertiary institutions.
These challenges are most common in our schools in the rural areas and among black people, especially in our townships. You find that learners miss school and the teachers do the same thing. There is no need to keep this secret, because these things happen. I wish there could be an assessment programme that can check if a child or a teacher is devoting herself to her work. These things must be incorporated so the district inspectors can see if the schools are doing well, and so that we can have learners who are accepted at tertiary institutions.
We cannot deny the fact that the old South Africa did not make provision - especially for the people of colour; it provided for a special kind of people or for the children of the rich. If I look at it, hon Minister, people were willing to study and graduate with diplomas and then do their honours and master's degrees. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme could not sponsor people who were doing honours or master's degrees, nor those who were studying towards their PhD because they would say you cannot ...
The fact that our children, our sisters, who want to study can be supported, is one great thing that will help our country. I applaud you for pointing out that you will visit FET colleges to check what is happening there.
Hon Minister, I wish you could work in partnership with the industries. At the University of Zululand at Empangeni, where I studied, we did not even have a relationship with Alsafa, the big businesses and other industries. One was just studying for the sake of it, because after completing your studies you would go back home with your certificate, and you would have to see for yourself how to get a job. On behalf of our party I support your department's Budget Vote because I can see that you are there to serve the needs of poor people in the rural areas and to provide opportunities for children who are willing to study.
It would be good if you could intervene, because at times children are not accepted at tertiary institutions because those institutions are full. When children matriculate and do not have money and do not know where to go to further their studies, when they send in their applications they are told it is full. Please intervene in that regard, because the universities are operating as if they are independent, whereas they have boundaries too. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]]
Deputy Chair, Deputy Minister, inevitably, knowledge must stand at the centre of the processes of change, if we are to avoid undertaking the catastrophic action resulting from the state of ignorance and limited knowledge.
We would like to urge the Minister and the Deputy Minister to take South Africans into their confidence on at least two issues: Firstly, the actual plans regarding the Setas and the shortage of skills in the country; and secondly, the merged universities and technikons with regard to access to institutions of higher learning and the intended outcome for merging these institutions.
The roots of unequal educational opportunities are extremely deep, and we are mindful that higher education alone cannot redress the social imbalances that appear to threaten the future of our country. Deracialising education and education transformation move at a snail's pace, because we are still content to refer to institutions of learning as previously disadvantaged and others as privileged. In his budget speech a few days ago the Minister of Higher Education and Training said, "Setas are ideally pleased to assist educational institutions to access workplace experience for students."
We believe that the implementation of Setas needs to be reorganised and simplified, as well as strengthened. We also recognise that the Seta system has been inefficient and too slow. We therefore support the Seta reforms, but believe that this should not be done in an autocratic manner.
Unemployment perpetuates and deepens poverty and exacerbates social ills in the extreme. We acknowledge that one of the main causes of unemployment in our country is that our labour force is inadequately and insufficiently skilled. On the other hand, the decrease in education performance comes at a time that the economy requires more skilled workers and, indeed, workers with highly specialised skills.
Lack of good quality education for the majority of children in our country reinforces disparities linked to wealth and gender, and undermines prospects for skills development and economic growth. The Minister has been quoted again as saying the schools should not be blamed for the country's lack of skills.
To say quality education is no longer suitable will create a generation of youth trapped in insecure, low-wage employment or long-term unemployment, with attendant consequences for political and social stability. This has also been observed by Mr Brown, the former UK Prime Minister in his Education for All report.
In conclusion, Cope urges the department to accelerate the development of the master skill list in order to have a reliable knowledge of skill shortages in our country for effective planning. It really does not help not to know the real critical skills needed for suitable growth, development and equity. I thank you.
Mhlonishwa Sihlalo, Sekela likaNgqogqoshe, malungu ahloniphekile alo Mkhandlu weziFundazwe waseNingizimu Afrika, ngiyanibingelela. [Hon Chairperson, Deputy Minister, hon members of the NCOP, I greet you.]
We meet today, six days after the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Soweto uprising under the theme: Youth Action for Economic Freedom in our Lifetime.
It is this very department that could be best placed to help and advance our young generation, which is in the majority in our country. The majority of our young people drop out of school after Grade 9 and do not go to further education and training, FET, colleges, Adult Basic Education and Training, Abet, centres, to Grade 10 nor get employed. More than half of our matriculants do not pass, are not allowed to repeat and remain unemployed. More than 25% of South Africans are unemployed, and 20% have given up looking for jobs.
This department, then, is faced with the mammoth task of responding to these challenges. Sekela Ngqongqoshe [Deputy Minister], it is not enough that the department has held summits; the nation needs action now through the sector education and training suthorities, Setas, FET colleges, adult institutions, technikons and universities. It is against this backdrop that the legacy of apartheid has to be tackled. We dare not fail. [Interjections.]
We welcome the plans to transform the FET colleges in the areas of governance, curriculum, funding, etc. However, progress is very slow. The task teams are taking a long time. Learners continue to fail in their numbers, whilst the majority of unemployed youth cannot gain access to FET colleges because of insufficient capacity. Very few learners or students are enrolled per subject as per the current policy. Those that are enrolled fail in large numbers because of the microwave-type of teacher training that was done when National Certificate Vocational, NCV, was introduced.
The task teams that are working on these various areas should include lecturers who are best placed in advising the academics and industry people within those task teams. Timelines have to be revised so that there will be implementation, as we have just entered the third year of our term of office.
Because of the huge demand of skills by the unemployed youth and retrenched workers, more people become victims of unscrupulous private providers, financially and academically. Your department needs to protect such people against these unscrupulous private providers. Adult Basic Education and Training centres and night schools are not yet responding to the needs of the out-of-school youth. The issue of the community centres has to be taken forward with relevant and specific focus on our intention to open the doors of the world of work.
The issue of the recognition of prior learning within the National Qualifications Framework was the hope of the workers and the working class, as part of the redress programme and of opening the doors of learning. It is now 16 years since the establishment of the SA Qualifications Authority, Saqa, and providers are not responding to it.
The recognition of prior learning, RPL, remains in documents and in qualifications as a compliance issue, rather than an access or recognition issue. When a provider does it, it becomes so complicated and extremely difficult for a learner or worker to go forward and get a qualification or a certificate. There has to be an intervention in relation to having an institution for the RPL, with assessors, mentors and other resources provided if we are to move forward with this issue.
Saqa and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, QCTO, should help us to realise the people's education for the people's power. The 2009 manifesto of the ruling party has promised the reopening of the colleges of education to respond to initial teacher education and teacher development. A summit has been held and task teams established, but this process is yet to bear fruit.
As a delegate from Gauteng, where there were many teacher colleges, constituencies were happy about the commitment to the reopening of the teacher colleges. However, they are now asking for progress, as the universities are not really responding to the initial teacher training. Furthermore, universities are not strong on the foundation and intermediate phase training. Hence there is a low student intake in those areas.
You would also acknowledge that the Gauteng province has a number of universities. The closed teacher colleges in other provinces are white elephants, whilst there is a high demand for community development. I would like to commend the University of Johannesburg, UJ, on the revamping and upgrading of the former Vista University in Pimville, changing it from a glorified high school to a state-of-the-art university in Soweto. It is money well spent. This gives dignity to Soweto students, and they feel that they are part of UJ as an institution, and not in name only.
What is worse is that there is a drastic decline of students specialising in African languages in the universities. Prior to 1996 there was an over supply of them and they were stigmatised by other students or graduates who held that specialising in an African language depicted a reduced intellectual capacity. It was even worse in schools during redeployment time African language teachers would be the first to be redeployed and then they became more stigmatised.
Therefore what is needed is a campaign to recruit students of African languages as a scarce and critical skill and to incentivise the African languages. The provincial boards of PanSALB, the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Basic Education have to play a bigger role in this issue. Maybe it has to be elevated to a social cluster and/or an interministerial level.
Deputy Minister, during the recapitalisation of universities, the Vista University campuses were incorporated to well-established universities. Here I am specifically talking about the Vista University's Daveyton campus, which was incorporated into UJ. Thereafter, UJ closed it and the communities and the stakeholders made presentations about the need for Vista or UJ to continue to exist, as distance and other issues affected students who had to take more than three taxis to arrive at UJ. As we speak now, it is just used by the students studying on their own as a venue to submit Unisa assignments and is not of benefit to the community.
Whilst acknowledging the mammoth task of redressing the past imbalances created by the apartheid education championed and engineered by Mr Verwoerd, we have to increase and redouble the pace we are moving at in order to open up opportunities for all South Africans for a better life for blacks in general and for Africans in particular. With this budget and the necessary political will, we will open the doors of learning and bring about a better life. [Interjections.]
A campaign has to be launched by with the Department of Basic Education in order to give Grade 12 learners information about when to apply, which bursaries are available from the different departments, and who qualifies for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. This will enable us to avoid the long queues that we see every year at universities of students who did not apply and students from the poorest of the poor, who end up not registering because of a lack of information.
Whilst demonstrations and raising issues of discomfort are allowed, rights have responsibilities and limitations. One would condemn the acts that destroy infrastructure and appeal to the leadership of students in tertiary education to educate their members.
I would like to commend the Ministry on its endeavours to transform the Setas. Some of these Setas are riddled with unaccountability, underspending of billions and investment of monies that are supposed to be spent on skills development.
The common constitution of the Setas is a result of consultation within the Seta community. As I was a member of the Education, Training and Development Practices, ETDP, Seta before I came here, and as a former member of the National Skills Authority, I can say without fear of contradiction or favour that this common constitution was not imposed on the Setas. So, the Ministry took over where the Department of Labour left off.
In closing, we appreciate the progress made on the establishment of the universities in the Mpumalanga and Northern Cape provinces. However, the pace of the progress has to be improved. Ke a leboga, ha khensa, dankie ha khensa. [I thank you.]
Chairperson, hon members, in the five minutes I have, I will pick up on a few of the issues that were raised. I'll start with our chairperson, hon Makgate.
Hon member, I agree that we should see this budget as a form of reparation for those who lost out the most. You referred to the painful past. I think once people acquire education they begin to recover their lives. I agree with what the hon member has said.
With regard to the issues raised by hon De Villiers of the DA, I would start off with the simple one, the question of the high dropout rate in our schools. Certainly, I agree. We are fully aware of two big white elephants in our schools, which could be lifted when thinking about the dropout rate.
There is a lack of transformation in our schools. In integrated schools especially, you find that learners from poor family backgrounds are often discriminated against. They are ill-prepared in some instances, the environment is generally not conducive and they end up dropping out. Another instance is the element of poverty where in some instances you find learners dropping out of school because the family is migrating, they cannot afford fees, or children have lost parents. In South Africa we are in a unique situation with an unacceptable number of child-headed families.
With regard to the question of funding, the reduction of R30 million is only from the exchequer and not from the levy. In fact, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, levy increased by more than R100 million. We should be careful when we read the budget. It would be important for hon members to refer to the figures on this budget allocation.
We also recognised that improved success in university studies is of critical importance. Two streams of funding are specifically focused on the foundation provisioning, teaching and development. The Department of Higher Education and Training is working with universities to emphasise the importance of supporting students. National Student Financial Aid Scheme loans have been improved to ensure that poor students are sufficiently supported in schools.
Hon Gunda, I think I can say that it is clear that a lot of work has been done around the Freedom Charter in this House. Each time we interact it comes to the fore and we really appreciate that. I think hon members have done a good job in bringing to the House the history and traditions of the ANC. It's an important day when one recognises education as a right.
With regard to the increase in budget I just want to emphasise that it's all going to happen within this period of time. It's all new money. The hon member should know that the 288% increase that we are talking about is new money. I would again encourage members to look at the budget to be able to understand and see this massive increase we are talking about.
Basically, the message is that money should no longer be a barrier to anyone who wants to go back to school. Hon Zulu, I think the question of rural schools ...
... siyavumelana kakhulu nomhlonishwa ukuthi ... [... we agree with the hon member that ...]
... whatever we do, we do have a strategy, namely the National Skills Development Strategy, NSDS, 3, which is biased towards these special categories, namely, women, ...
... abantu abakhubazekile, nabantu abahlala emaphandleni emakhaya ababhekene nokuhlupheka kakhulu. [... people with disabilities, and the people who live in rural areas who are faced with extreme hardship.]
Hon Plaatjie, I think you agreed with us. If the Minister were here he would really have been happy to hear that there is general acceptance for workplace skills to be opened. I also think that Prince Zulu did say that even universities should look at places nearby and make sure that students simultaneously get both exposure to the institution of higher learning and to the workplace. Of course we must accept that.
When we talk about all the changes we are bringing about in the sector education and training authorities, Setas, they come at a cost. Change is painful. It's difficult for people who have had privileges to part with them.
The Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Economic Development and others to ensure that we get accurate figures of people who need skills, people who need other skills, and those who are not employed, and so on.
Hon Mncube, from your intervention I would take the question of African languages. In brief I can say that as the department we have shown our commitment by coming up with a career guidance wing in partnership with the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, to ensure that the campaign starts quite early so that people would start thinking and planning to avoid what we have seen.
The question of African languages is part of the transformation we are talking about. For a long period of time we have lost touch with ourselves by prioritising languages of foreign countries at the expense of developing our own languages. In our training we have realised that people should first realise that they have to serve the African community.
African languages are fundamental. They talk to culture, they talk to one's identity and they talk to our understanding of where we are. We spoke about material conditions and political conditions. Through these African languages, people will be able to articulate the required education. They will move out of the trap of ignorance and irrelevance. Sometimes our outputs were not relevant to the needs of the people.
Again, I take this opportunity to really thank each and every member who participated in the debate. The questions enlightened us. We will certainly follow through. I hope that members can also follow up their specific questions as we implement the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.