Mr Speaker and Mr President, the failure to fix our hobbling education system is holding South Africa back from achieving its full potential. The inequality in opportunity for children is a rude rebuke to the very idea of the South African dream. The same inequality divides our children from one another in respect of schools, our children's futures and even how they think as adults.
There is not enough appreciation of why education is of such fundamental importance to the success of our country. Education prepares individuals for the world of work. Education is how we learn to discover and to deploy information. It refines the human ability to make sound evaluations and good judgements.
Opvoedkunde is belangrik, en in 'n mate is dit veel meer as net die nodige bydrae wat dit maak ten opsigte van ekonomiese groei. [Education is important, and to some extent it is much more than simply making an essential contribution to economic growth.]
It is the principal means by which we understand the mysteries of this world and our place in it. It fosters a better understanding of the interests, needs and desires of everyone so that we may treat one another with greater sympathy and respect, irrespective of the different choices we make or the experience that shape our lives. It follows that there is nothing more important in the democracy than building a quality functional educational system.
President Jacob Zuma spoke about the National Development Plan, but he did not elaborate. Let us therefore look at three proposals contained in the National Development Plan, NDP, that are relevant to education.
The NDP proposes to introduce incentive schemes linked to the Annual National Assessments, ANA, to reward schools for consistent improvement. It also defines competency as achieving 50% or more. It seeks to improve literacy, numeracy, mathematics and science. Instead of plainly saying how the government could achieve these three objectives, the President spoke about reviewing teacher salaries and service conditions. To us it sounds like an election ploy, which is a nod and wink to the teacher unions.
He failed to establish a link between improved remuneration and performance. The DA would like to offer practical proposals to fix our broken education system and meet the NDP's objectives. For example, whether we go for the essential services option or not, to limit instability, we propose that wage bargaining in the education sector is to take place every five years.
Agreement should have built in annual increases and be valid for the full five years. The principle of "no work, no pay" must be strictly applied. Teachers must be in class, teaching, and learners should be in class, learning, for seven hours a day.
Beyond schooling, the evidence is clear that the private sector is training most of the apprentices and highly skilled technical workers that we have. It is equally apparent, we must point out, that universities and professional associations are running de facto cartels, which restrict the supply of medical doctors, accountants, lawyers and engineers and these things drive up salaries.
To compound this, we are failing to retrain workers to deal with the unstoppable changes in workplace technologies and the shockwaves of labour market changes in the face of our globally interdependent economy. To address these problems, tax breaks, cash freed up from the obsolete Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, and trade union investments in retraining and upskilling are measures we should all look at very carefully. This government hesitates to implement practically minded innovations for reasons of ideology. It does not seem to grasp what both learners and employers are asking for.
Recent research indicates that employers of unskilled workers look for matric and a relevant qualification, previous work experience, communication proficiency, trustworthiness and civility. For skilled workers, they look for the same things, namely, a higher education qualification, previous experience, communication proficiency, trustworthiness and civility. This is why having quality education matters. This is why the introduction of the Treasury's youth wage subsidy scheme to give young South Africans work experience matters.
Dit is waarom kommunikasie in ons veeltalige land saak maak. [This is why communication in our multilingual country matters.]
This is why building trust through civility matters. It matters because these qualities would more likely lead towards a job, building trust and bringing back hope in land yearning to be respected once again for succeeding against the odds.
Therefore, tell us, Mr President, how do you plan to lead us towards success against the odds? Your state of the nation address did not tell us. Perhaps your response to our remarks will. The nation would like to know. The nation deserves to know. Thank you very much. [Applause.]