Hon Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon members and honoured guests, during the debate on the Budget Vote for Basic Education yesterday, we referred to the recently released Needu report. The report detailed the sad state of affairs where teachers can hardly pass question papers that are set for learners!
The training of teachers, hon Minister, falls under your department. We therefore call upon your department to take a closer look at the quality of the present training for teachers. We have heard how universities complain about the quality of the learners they receive from secondary schools. Today we want to complain to the Minister and the universities about the quality of teachers the schools receive.
Furthermore, during our oversight visit we were shocked to see how student teachers of Funza Lushaka at the National Institute for Higher Education in Kimberley were neglected by the universities that they were attached to. Those students were basically left to fend for themselves, and at the end of the day we are going to expect them to go out there and teach, when they themselves are not being taught!
Azapo welcomes the building of 12 new campuses, as we have raised concerns regarding the distances that students from rural areas have travelled to access FET colleges.
The FET colleges have to be developed into institutions of choice. There is a need to invest in the training of FET college lecturers. The percentage pass rate at FET colleges is unacceptably low. We cannot continue to celebrate, when we still have less than 50% of the students passing.
Presently there is no parity of esteem between the National Certificate (Vocational), NCV, and the National Senior Certificate, NSC. FET colleges cannot be institutions of choice if there are still perceptions out there that the NCV is inferior to the NSC. However, we agree that there has been a lot of improvement in FET colleges. Those who have doubts must ask Orlando Pirates! [Interjections.]
Minister, Azapo has in the past expressed reservations about how you have handled the issue of chartered accountants sent to colleges. Our concerns are strengthened by reports that chartered accountants are even sent to schools that already have qualified chief financial officers, CFOs.
Azapo says yes to the improvement of infrastructure at higher education institutions. The students live in terrible conditions! We were in tears, Minister, when the report on student accommodation was presented to the portfolio committee. And as we point a finger at you, hon Minister, we are also asking ourselves whether these institutions have vice-chancellors and a college council because, if they do, how could they have let conditions deteriorate to the state they are in, which we have seen?
Azapo will support Budget Vote No 17. We thank you. [Applause.]