Chairperson, hon Minister, colleagues, members and comrades, we in the Gauteng province did consider both Bills adequately and submit our views on them. Regarding the Education Laws Amendment Bill, it was the province's view that this was a very crucial Bill which would enable Government to streamline existing Acts and give them a stronger hand in governing our education. We are of the view that with regard to the different Acts that the Bill seeks to amend, all the amendments were quite necessary and, as such, strengthen the Government's and the educational institutions' arms in regulating schools.
We highly appreciated especially the section on disciplinary actions which began to separate or clarify the difference between minor and serious offences of educators. We also appreciated the amendment of the counselling and rehabilitation of educators that is also provided for in the Bill.
We also felt that through this Bill the current uncertainty over the employment of educators in the absence of the governing council will be clarified. This we experienced in the province during the transition, where old governing bodies were being replaced by new governing bodies and there was a vacuum in the process in terms of the appointment of teachers. We are quite appreciative that this Act will avoid such situations as we had in the past.
In the event of the founding of new schools, the Act will enable principals to employ teachers in the absence of a governing council. We thought this was a very useful and innovative amendment which would, as I said, further strengthen our education system.
I want to come back to the Education Laws Amendment Bill. The amendment of the Further Education and Training Act to provide for public education centres is also necessary and timely. All the amendments are welcomed by the province. We feel that they are important in streamlining and regulating our education system, but also in empowering Government and Government institutions to undertake their duties more ably.
The province greatly appreciates the Adult Basic Education and Training Bill. We feel that this Bill enables Government in particular to fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide education for all, and in that respect we welcome and appreciate it.
The province is of the view that this Bill will lay a good foundation and prepare a framework leading to a process that will establish a thoroughly regulated Abet sector and system. As other speakers have indicated before me, the Abet sector is one of the ugly legacies inherited from our old system in which our people were denied education. This will bring about a very good process of redress to address all the problems which we inherited from the previous system.
The province regards the Bill as very useful in that it will provide a framework for the building of an Abet sector and, more importantly, will begin to locate the Abet sector within the National Qualifications Framework, so that the skills and knowledge acquired in this sector are portable and recognised, and can be used quite widely.
Currently we have a very disparate system in which everybody teaches what they want to. It is very difficult to give recognition to the qualifications that currently come from the system. In our province we thought this Bill would help in regulating the system and especially give currency and value to the qualifications obtained in this sector.
We also appreciate the amendments relating to curricula and governance, and, more importantly, the fact that this Bill starts the process of a whole new approach to the Abet sector.
We think the Bill will go a long way towards improving the governance of education and, as I have said before, towards fulfilling the obligation to provide education for all. Now even adults will have that opportunity.
Before I sit down, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the chairperson of the education committee, Mr Kgware, for enabling the provinces to participate in the discussion of these Bills. However, looking at the whole process, the length of time given to the provinces to hold their own public hearings before having to make their submissions was quite short. We have indicated this in writing, but I feel I should nevertheless mention that we needed more time, especially on the Abet Bill, which, in our view, was crucial. We needed more time to have more participation in the provinces. We would appeal, as provinces, for more time to be set aside for that process in future.
We would also like to express our appreciation to Adv Boshoff of the national department, who came to assist the province. He went through the Bills with us and quite ably clarified all the questions we put to him.
Most of all, I think the hon the Minister deserves our appreciation and gratitude for tabling both these Bills. We think they were very necessary and timely and that they will go a long way in strengthening our education system. In my view our education system is safely on track, no matter what lobbying or electioneering is going on. I think under the able stewardship of the hon the Minister, and with the types of education Bills that are being tabled, our education is on a safe footing. [Applause.]
Mr S L GABELA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members and comrades present, it is a great privilege for me to begin by saying that KwaZulu-Natal supports both these Bills.
It is estimated that South Africa has nearly 24 million adults between the ages of 16 and 65, of whom 3,3 million have not had any schooling and 9,4 million have not completed Grade 9. Therefore 12 million, which is about 51,5 % of the adult population, have not completed a general level of education. The main priority for us all has, of course, to be the 3,3 million who have not had access to schooling and basic education. I wish to state that these are in the main the rural poor, and women in particular.
Let me echo the hon Nkuna's words by saying that the adult basic education programmes are going to empower women by putting them in a position to read and write. We also need to remember that at a particular point in the development of South African society, we had sectors of our people who did not even believe that it was necessary for women to go to school, because there was no need, as long as they were in a position to write letters to the mines and read the responses.
The provinces are already involved in an approach to Abet developed at national level. It goes beyond literacy and targets learning outcomes that empower rather than lead to dead ends.
In a bid to bring about redress for past discrimination through equal access to basic education and training, this kind of legislation is one means of realising our dreams. It is a timely response to the challenge to provide optimal opportunities for adult learning and literacy.
The future of our country and its social and economic development are dependent on the combined efforts of us all. All stakeholders should appreciate the putting into effect of such a Bill. This requires us all to contribute our maximum to ensure that adult basic education is successful.
The amendments to the South African Qualifications Authority Act have been uniformly welcomed and supported. The importance of ensuring the safety of educators and learners at schools cannot be overemphasised. Our schools have now turned into centres of criminal activity. This has to come to an end as a matter of urgency.
Had time allowed, I would have shared with hon members a story told to me by my three-year-old daughter, Thulisile, about how she helped effect the arrest of somebody who tried to steal her teacher's purse and some school T- shirts that were on sale.
It was possible only because of something children in Grade R call ``umgo out''. It was only because she was allowed that ``umgo out'' that she saw a person she suspected was not part of the school management but was too old to be a learner at that school. She shouted, and later, when the police arrived, she told them that she was a comrade and that she understood that offenders had to be arrested.
New disciplinary measures for educators who fail to meet expected standards of professional behaviour need to be accompanied by regulations which serve as further strict control measures. We need to indicate that, while we note that the measures may be new, these standards apply to all civil servants. Educators have had so much freedom that these measures might seem too stringent for them, but they are within the acceptable norms of discipline.
There are unacceptable forms of behaviour at schools that need to be brought to an end, such as the abuse of alcohol and drugs, assaults or other forms of victimisation because of party-political or union affiliation, engaging in business activities during school hours, sexual assaults on learners and educators, sexual relationships between learners and teachers, and bribery related to examinations, which also includes theft and fraud.