Hon Chairperson, this year is an important milestone for our democracy, as we have just completed the local government elections. I believe that this address to the NCOP is the ideal opportunity to review the progress made in realising the vision of our Constitution and to show that our successes in education go a long way towards realising the struggle of the seventies.
I would like to congratulate the ANC in the Gauteng province on its overwhelming achievement in the local government elections and retaining all its metros.
The Constitution guarantees the right to education. This is a social right that not only guarantees access but also demands that the education be of a high quality. We in the ANC welcome the Minister's declaration of commitment to tackle quality through intensive and directed initiatives and programmes over the next Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period.
Over the past 17 years the ANC has travelled far in transforming the education sector in this country, to honour the rights of the Constitution. While there are still numerous challenges facing education, we have achieved a level of stability in education that we had not seen in the 20 years prior to democracy, and that is across all communities, not just those that were advantaged.
The curriculum redress policies, the national curriculum statements and the proposed curriculum and assessment policies have ensured that schools whose curriculum offering simply added to the marginalisation of the youth of our country have successfully introduced appropriate subjects that will ensure that learners leave school with more opportunities than ever before.
Despite all these successes, one must reflect and ask the question: Has the quality of education improved over the past 17 years?
I would also like to congratulate the Gauteng province learners for an outstanding performance in the 2010 matric results, surpassing all other provinces, including the Western Cape.
While education has always been a high priority for this government since 2009, it has become the single highest priority, or Apex Priority, as it is called. This is partly in recognition of the importance of education. It is also partly in recognition of the fact that we have not made as much progress in improving the quality of education as we would have liked, especially in poor communities. Let me be more specific: We have not yet eradicated the shadow of history in reversing the legacy of apartheid education. While we knew that this would be a multidecade challenge, we did expect to have made more progress.
Gauteng welcomes the commitment of the Minister and her department to work even harder towards a delivery-driven basic education system, given the many challenges facing the education system and the need to respond to them effectively.
In support of the national thrust for quality in the basic education sector, both nationally and provincially, Gauteng province welcomes the targeted programmes and interventions to address the quality of teaching and learning. Gauteng welcomes the 27 targets of Action Plan to 2014 and the four outputs of the delivery agreement.
The budget that has been tabled before the NCOP today represents more than an allocation of resources and an accounting of revenues. Behind the numbers and statistics the central purpose of this budget is to ensure that South Africa is equipped to rise to the challenge of the new and fast- changing global economy. Not just a few of us, but everyone.
Gauteng welcomes the increase in the overall budget of the Department of Basic Education for the 2011-12 financial year, which has been increased to R13 billion. We note that most of these funds are being directed to address systemic issues across provinces and schools. However, government must be satisfied that resources in education are going directly to learning in the classroom.
We also welcome the budget to support the Minister of Education's programme of action, so that every school can meet the standards set for results and quality learning in safe and conducive learning environments.
Gauteng welcomes the targeted funding and conditional grants to support and improve education delivery in provinces and schools. Gauteng will provide access to an appropriate and effective integrated system of prevention, care and support for learners, educators and support staff infected with and affected by HIV and Aids.
Gauteng will train 150 master trainers in the integration of life skills and HIV and Aids programmes. It will also train 1 000 educators to integrate the life skills programme. It will provide peer education, care and support programmes for learners, educators and other school support staff in an additional 300 schools. It will also develop age-appropriate, National Curriculum Statement, NCS, compliant learning and teaching support material for Grades R to 7. These will be adapted for the deaf and blind and distributed to all the respective special schools.
In Gauteng, the total number of learners to be fed is 889 792. Included in these are over 151 000 learners in quintile 3 secondary schools that will benefit from the scheme for the first time in 2011. Gauteng will use this grant to recapitalise 38 technical schools and improve their capacity to contribute to skills development and training by improving the conditions of technical schools. It will modernise them to meet the teaching requirements of learners in the technical fields and increase the number of suitably qualified and technically skilled graduates from these schools.
Gauteng will use the infrastructure grant to accelerate the construction, maintenance, upgrading and rehabilitation of new and existing infrastructure in education. It will focus on 142 ordinary and special schools for renovation and refurbishment as part of the major maintenance programme.
In supporting Dinaledi schools in Gauteng, the province will use the Dinaledi schools grant to support 101 Dinaledi schools with additional maths and science resources. Also, there will be an additional 202 posts for additional maths and science educators.
In Gauteng, all affected grades will benefit from the nationally driven processes related to Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements, workbooks and textbooks.
The long-term review of spending on education in provinces and schools must meet targets for raising standards in schools in their areas. And those involved must demonstrate that money is being spent in improving the quality of learners' education. Finally, the fast-growing economy and rapidly changing social environment threaten to marginalise more of Gauteng's youth if we do not act rapidly and ensure that quality education is a permanent feature of the education terrain in South Africa. It is against this social pressure that Gauteng unreservedly supports the Minister's thrust for quality education. I thank you. [Applause.]