More and more people are concluding that without a requirement on unions to be reasonable and to acknowledge that their rights do not automatically overwrite the rights of learners and parents, progress in the education sector will continue to hit roadblocks. We will never have the teachers and managers needed if a union's stronghold is allowed to prevent a culture of dedication and hard work. The ACDP calls for a review of existing legislation to allow for reasonable protection of learners' rights. What is best for learners, which includes what is best for teachers, must be our primary concern.
Early childhood development is not yet available in all schools and in all areas, despite legislation requiring provinces to prioritise spending on this in poor areas. As the world strives to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, early childhood development is a growing focus area for achieving equity goals.
The importance of early childhood development to the future calibre of our matric students and the nation's next generation of adults is critical. Insufficient resources have been made available for human capacity for early childhood development support at all levels of government and in the NGO sector. The ACDP is concerned that the departmental budget allocations are presently inadequate for scaling up early childhood development relative to the target population.
Funding for the early childhood development through equitable share is also problematic as provincial Treasuries continue to divert funds to other programmes, ignoring legislation requiring them to prioritise spending on early childhood development, especially in poorer areas. So, the ACDP calls for the prioritising of funding for early childhood development. We will, however, be supporting this budget.