Hon House Chair, thank you very much for this opportunity, cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers who are present, hon members, MECs from provinces, distinguished guests and stakeholders from the Department of Education. Chair, in the next two days the whole world will commemorate our outstanding son, a true visionary, the father of our democracy and an icon that the world continues to cherish; the first democratic president of our republic, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
As this happens, we are required to volunteer time and energy in a manner that will help grow South Africa. In our context, we are expected to intensify education delivery to emancipate the people of South Africa from poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The Mandela month takes place against the backdrop of the youth month which accorded South Africans an opportunity to commemorate 43 years of brave actions of the class of 1976, who were inspired by the Freedom Charter's injunction that "the doors of learning and culture shall be opened to all". This
generation, hon members, held a dream of a South Africa that is free, democratic and at peace with itself.
It is this generation that organised itself as the Congress of South African Students, COSAS, which celebrates 40 years of existence this year espoused by their mantra, "Each one teach one". The institutional mechanism at the time labeled this great generation of ours as crazy, and history has judged them harshly. Today, we are proud to see the dream of these young lions come to fruition.
Chairperson, our government in the course of continuous assessment, sanctioned departments to undertake a 25-year review of progress made. The review which is available at the Department of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, re?ected on trends in educational outcomes, among which are the following; access to education, efficiency in school progression, quality of learning and equity in educational outcomes. This shows a huge movement from where South Africa was before 1994 and where she is in 2018.
Hon Chairperson and members, the President of the republic, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, made a commitment in his State of the Nation Address in June 2019; and it was that of a capable state. Within the basic education sector, this translates into ensuring that all levels of basic education delivery are functional, efficient and of impeccable quality.
Chair, members and fellow South Africans, efforts of improving the quality of teaching and the status of the teaching profession will be intensi?ed. Teachers will be empowered and equipped with skills, knowledge and techniques for a changing world, with a strong focus on foundational skills. We have started.
The quality and kind of teachers which are produced cannot be over- emphasized enough since they are instrumental in producing the kind of learners the country requires. The department is therefore working closely with the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology as well as the Education Deans Forum to improve the quality of initial teacher education programmes.
The current process of revising the policy on The Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Quali?cations, MRTEQ, in line with new developments in global and local contexts, will enhance effectiveness and efficiency in the development and delivery of initial teacher education programmes.
The revised policy will recognise the need for teacher education to consider emerging priorities, such as digitisation, 21th century skills and imperatives related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The National Development Plan, NDP, requires the basic education sector to strengthen and expand the Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme, FLBP, to attract young students into the teaching profession.
During this current financial year, chairperson, more than thirteen thousand bursaries have been awarded to student teachers who are thirty years of age or younger, to register for initial teacher education programmes at universities. Collectively, more than 5 000 young people have been recruited
from no-fee schools and disadvantaged communities, who have registered to study at universities across the country since the introduction of the District-Based Teacher Recruitment Programme.
Chair, a solid foundation for Mathematics in the Foundation Phase, FP, is crucial. Training of the Foundation Phase subject advisors on a year-long course with universities remains a priority. The current European Union, EU, funding is only benefitting 200 foundation phase advisors in two districts and only in one province at the cost of R8 million.
Chairperson, plans are being ?nalised by both departments, the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Social Development in support of the systematic and phased-in relocation of the responsibility and leadership for Early Childhood Development, ECD, from Social Development to Basic Education, in response to President Ramaphosa's injunction during the February and June State of the Nation Addresses.
The main purpose of the ECD relocation is to expand access and to improve the quality of ECD programmes in support of two years of compulsory Grade R for all children before they enter Grade 1, as well as provision of ECD for 0-4 years old children. A costed plan for the ECD function shift will be ?nalised by March 2020.
The Department, in collaboration with United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, UNICEF, and Cotlands with funding from the Lego Foundation, embarked on an in-service training programme to capacitate 150 000 ECD practitioners at foundation phase educators in play-based learning pedagogics and practice over a three-year period. It is impossible that when you have such a training, to train teachers in six months.
Hon Chair, through the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning Programmes, CSTLP, the department seeks to provide a basket of support services to remove barriers to learning. Our children face many challenges such as poverty, violence, lack of shelter, care and protection; health challenges, mental health, teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drug and substance abuse - the
list is long. This shows that South Africans are concerned about these challenges.
These conditions have a direct impact on their ability to access school, to stay in school and to achieve to their full potential. Given some of the pressing and spiraling social ills in society, it has become increasingly critical for the department to double the efforts in providing psychosocial support services in the sector.
Schools are microcosms of society, it is then logical that schools will exhibit the challenges that exist in society. That's why on issues of violence and issues of school safety, we cannot as members of society put it to Education alone because this is a societal matter. It needs a joint effort by all of us because what is happening in society is migrated to schools, so we cannot put a blame on schools and say, Minister, do this in schools, yet, we experience that and even worse in societies.
We need to work together with sectors of society to bring back degenerated morals in our societies.
A conducive learning environment is a necessary prerequisite to achieving quality and efficient basic education. Among other things, the training and placement of child and youth care workers through partnership with Social Development, provinces and Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, are critical.
We continue to explore additional models and capacity with the support of the National Education Collaboration Trust. HIV and TB are now regarded as chronic diseases that have reached epidemic proportions in South Africa. The department is, therefore, intends on strengthening its programme in this regard.
Chairperson, we all say, education is everybody's business, education is not for critics because some of the critics become even professional, and you find somebody being a professional social critic. Such people cannot bring any substantive and progressive ideas. Theirs is to criticise and criticise and criticise.
Chairperson, the department is receiving support from the Motsepe Foundation to the value of R117.5 million. This partnership seeks to encourage participation in sport and cultural activities, which are integral to the holistic development of a learner, as indicated in the National Development Plan, NDP.
The three key focal programmes are schools football, netball and the choral eisteddfod. Schools are where talent is identified, career choices are made and habits are learnt. We remain committed to the National Development Plan's Vision 2030 of making learners more conscious of the things they have in common, rather than their differences.
The department set aside funds to implement the following three social cohesion and equity programmes; the National Schools Moot Court, iNkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History Programme and Evaluation of Textbooks, which intend to identify areas that depict discrimination, stereotypes, sexism and cultural discrepancies and misrepresentation contained in textbooks.
Hon members, by the end of 2019, the department commits to, among others, support the provision of school health services to 200 000 learners in Grades R, 1, 4, 8 and 10, including the Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, vaccine programme in Grade 5. We will print and distribute more than half a million educator guides and learner books on sexuality education scripted lesson plans for Grades 4 to 6 and 10 to 12 in thousand schools.
We will also host a workshop on restorative conferencing and physical assault response towards violence prevention to improve competence on violence prevention in the sector.
Chairperson, on the issue of infrastructure, by the end of this financial year, we will complete the construction of 40 schools and deliver sanitation to 775 schools and water to 225 schools. The number of schools to be provided with sanitation includes 606 to be provided through the safe initiative, which is implemented in partnership with the private sector.
Those who are not critics but when they see a need, they come closer and assist, and they also assist departments such as the
Department of Water and Sanitation as well as Environmental Affairs, and entities such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa, BDSA.
School infrastructure provision, Chair, remains a contentious matter that agility, innovation for effective delivery to accelerate the achievement that has already been registered. In order to beef up capacity at national level, we have a chief quantity surveyor and an engineer. We are in the process of appointing two more chief quantity surveyors and a chief project manager for school infrastructure.
Chair, as I close, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity and thank the Minister of the Department of Basic Education for the good that she is doing, and team education. I also, Minister, want to appreciate that my aunt is up there, she said that she wanted to come to Parliament and she is here today, Sarah Mgiba Mhaule. Thank you, Chairperson.