Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon Members of Parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me first to talk to the issue of corruption as raised by Cope. An impression is being given in the country that it is only the opposition parties that are serious about corruption and the ANC-led government is not.
The point that was referred to with regard to EduSolutions and all other cases, are being followed by the institutions that are doing so under the initiative of the ANC-led government. You know as well that at its 53rd ANC National Conference - Mangaung-, the ANC resolved to ensure that all its members who are associated with corruption activities should be dealt notwithstanding the view that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. It's known that we are serious about corruption and not everyone, but the ANC.
Chairperson, as the ANC we believe that the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. As such, we are of the view that the successful implementation of our national curriculum depends on the strength of our teacher development programmes. Teachers are the essential drivers of quality education for all. We therefore commend the department for taking the initiative to make teacher development a focal point of their 2013-14 plans, and realising that this complex task can only be executed as a joint responsibility shared amongst all those involved in education.
We are confident that this view will go a long way towards reinforcing the gains that we have made in this area. The ANC emphasises therefore that an investment in education is a prerequisite for building a country that works and, most importantly, that advances the ideals of our Constitution.
For us to make education an Apex Priority in the country, our teachers must play their part. They must turn the image of the profession around. Through professional conduct like coming to school on time and doing their work diligently, the teaching profession will regain the respect of the community. We will revert to the situation of years ago, when teachers were revered members of the community that people looked up to. We want children to look up to the teachers and learn from them more than from the formal curriculum.
Through watching the conduct of teachers, learners must want to be successful, respectful and to be good citizens who will take the country forward to prosperity. Our teachers therefore carry an enormous responsibility on their shoulders. They carry the dreams and hopes of the nation. The manner in which they raise and nurture our precious children will help us build the model South African citizen. We will build the country that national heroes and heroines such as Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Chief Albert Luthuli, Ruth First, Dorothy Nyembe, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and many more sacrificed life's comforts to establish. Those who do not believe in the noble vision of our forebears do not belong to the profession. They will continue giving the profession a bad name and besmirch the name of all teachers, including those who are dedicated to their work.
The challenges facing teacher education and development in South Africa are substantial. These include the lack of access to quality teacher education and development opportunities for prospective and practising teachers; a mismatch between the provision of and demand for teachers of particular types; the failure of the system to achieve dramatic improvement in the quality of teaching and learning in schools; a fragmented and unco-ordinated approach to teacher education and development; and the tenuous involvement of teachers, their organisations and other role-players in teacher education and development planning.
We want to congratulate all those who participated in the crafting of the Declaration of the Teacher Development Summit in 2009, as it has culminated in the collaborative work that gave birth to production of the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa, 2011-2025. We urge the department and all involved to begin with the implementation of the plan so that we may begin to reap the fruits of an improved quality teacher education and development system, as a critical lever for the improvement of the quality of teachers and teaching. We commend President Jacob Zuma for identifying the need to investigate conditions of service of public servants, more specifically teachers. As noted in the state of the nation address, and I quote:
All successful societies have one thing in common, they invest in education. Decent salaries and conditions of service will play an important role in attracting, motivating and retaining skilled teachers.
We are confident that this move will serve as a boost to the department's efforts which aim at developing teachers and attending to their needs. The cherry on top was the announcement that teachers will receive first priority. We therefore urge all teachers to ensure that the service they provide in our schools is worth the amount of investment the state will make in teachers. Our expectation in this regard is that the review must also consider enforcing teacher incentives for those working in rural areas and in difficult conditions of service that do not befit the stature and professionalism of the teaching profession. This will go a long way to enticing more teachers to the rural areas.
We acknowledge the fact that state-employed educators with at least a three- year postmatric qualification are now over 96%. However, the challenge that we are facing is that of the competency of some of our teachers to be able to meet the expectations of our streamlined national curriculum. This was also confirmed by the recently released National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, report which exposed critical weaknesses in this regard. Further, the shortage in maths, science and technology teachers in the system is becoming a cause for concern. However, we are confident that the plans that were presented to us by the branch that deals with teachers in the department will go a long way towards enhancing the capacity of our teachers to deliver our national curriculum. We need to have a better understanding of the supply and demand nexus.
We need to improve the public image of the teaching profession, and attract more young and talented people into the education system. It is an open secret that our teachers in the system are aging. We commend the department for establishing the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme, which offers bursaries for undergraduate studies in mathematics, science and languages. By the end of 2012, the department awarded around 11 500 Funza Lushaka bursaries. The estimated allocation for 2013-14 is R900 million. This will make it possible for more than 14 000 bursaries to be awarded in the current financial year. This is an increase of 3 000 bursaries from the 2012-13 financial year.
In order to enhance new teacher recruitment initiatives, the department is targeting learners from rural and poor communities to assist them to access Funza Lushaka bursaries. More than 100 bursaries have been awarded to students through this approach. However, the department should note that few students are enrolling to teach Foundation Phase and Intermediate Phase. There are allegations that the bursary scheme does not have an intake of Afrikaans speakers and therefore this should be looked into, Minister. We urge the department to develop a tracking system to monitor bursary recipients both during their study period and once they are employed in order for them to meet their contractual obligations. We also urge the department to evaluate the programme in order to measure its impact in increasing the number of quality teachers in priority areas.
In terms of the use of information communication technology in teacher professional development, the department is working in collaboration with the University of South Africa, Unisa, in the resourcing of 45 teacher centres. A budget of R87 million has been earmarked for the initiative.
We believe that challenges with teacher supply and demand have led to some of the unintended consequences such as delivering of undergraduate studies to students who are not physically onsite to receive their education. That is, rather than attending full-time in a conventional classroom, lecturers and students communicate through the exchange of electronic media and other sources. We are of the view that a face-to-face interaction allows the student to acquire essential social skills necessary for working as a teacher, and gives the student a chance to be socialised into the culture of what it really means to be a teacher in the first place.
This system of attaining qualifications has been criticised for providing us with teachers who have a qualification, but who are not adequately competent to face the challenges in our schools. We urge the Department of Basic Education to work with the Department of Higher Education and Training to look into this matter. The reopening of teachers' colleges by the Department of Higher Education and Training is a welcomed idea.
We are of the view that all teachers need to enhance their skills for the effective delivery of our national curriculum. Research reveals that continuing teacher professional development succeeds best when teachers themselves are integrally involved in their own development and are given space to reflect on their practice. As such, we commend the department for forging ahead with the continuing professional teacher development programme. The programme will ensure that current professional teacher development initiatives contribute more effectively and directly to the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning.
We welcome the fact that the department has included an allocation of approximately R10 million for this programme in their plans for 2013-14. We urge the department to forge ahead with the implementation of the plan in order to advance our movement towards quality education for all.
Teacher accountability is at the centre of our work towards quality education for all. Recently, the department commissioned a study on integrated quality management system that revealed some inherent deficiencies in the system. The department indicated that discussions at the Education Labour Relations Council on the quality management system would be finalised by the end of April 2013. Thereafter, the Minister would be requested to declare the policy on the matter, should an agreement be reached. It is envisaged that the training of teachers would be undertaken in the second quarter along with the existing integrated quality management system.
In addition, there are plans to enhance accountability of office-based educators. This will include reviewing of the current performance management development system through reopening discussions on the education management system.
The department has established teachers' centres across the nine provinces with a view to bringing teacher development opportunities closer to teachers. We welcome the fact that the department has included in its 2013- 14 plan the strengthening of the capacity of existing teachers' centres so that they are in a position to support teachers on content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and the effective implementation of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements.
Effective and efficient leadership and management are increasingly considered as crucial in any organisation whose mission is to strive towards excellence. As the ANC, we are of the view that effective school management creates an environment for high performance and service delivery. Research shows that newly appointed school principals experience great difficulty in adapting to the role of principalship. The internal monitoring and evaluation processes of the department have revealed challenges with the implementation of policy at school level. To this end, we would like to congratulate the Department of Education for introducing targeted initiatives to address this product of the legacy of the past. We are delighted by the fact that the department introduced a new threshold qualification for aspiring school principals as part of the wider strategic view to address the challenge of poor standards of performance in the public schooling system.
While we believe that more still needs to be done, we should not shy away from the good stories emanating from our programmes. But one of the challenges we present to the department is, how long will we speak of the troubling temporary teachers phenomenon without finding the necessary solution? The ANC encourages a strong resolution of this phenomenon on an equal footing across provinces. Under the guidance of the national department, provinces need to come up with a strong policy position on dealing with teacher vacancies, and movement of seemingly elusive teachers to where they are needed.
For how long will we hear about continued misconduct and absenteeism of teachers while we watch? How long will we hear about the streamlining of the SA Council for Educators, Sace, Education Labour Relations Council, ELRC, and departmental disciplinary cases, more especially where schoolgirls are victims of sexual harassment because they are more traumatised when they are subjected to three different processes dealing with the same thing, that degrades their person? As the ANC we support this Basic Education Budget Vote for 2013-14. I thank you. [Applause.]