Chairperson, hon members, in the five minutes I have, I will pick up on a few of the issues that were raised. I'll start with our chairperson, hon Makgate.
Hon member, I agree that we should see this budget as a form of reparation for those who lost out the most. You referred to the painful past. I think once people acquire education they begin to recover their lives. I agree with what the hon member has said.
With regard to the issues raised by hon De Villiers of the DA, I would start off with the simple one, the question of the high dropout rate in our schools. Certainly, I agree. We are fully aware of two big white elephants in our schools, which could be lifted when thinking about the dropout rate.
There is a lack of transformation in our schools. In integrated schools especially, you find that learners from poor family backgrounds are often discriminated against. They are ill-prepared in some instances, the environment is generally not conducive and they end up dropping out. Another instance is the element of poverty where in some instances you find learners dropping out of school because the family is migrating, they cannot afford fees, or children have lost parents. In South Africa we are in a unique situation with an unacceptable number of child-headed families.
With regard to the question of funding, the reduction of R30 million is only from the exchequer and not from the levy. In fact, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, levy increased by more than R100 million. We should be careful when we read the budget. It would be important for hon members to refer to the figures on this budget allocation.
We also recognised that improved success in university studies is of critical importance. Two streams of funding are specifically focused on the foundation provisioning, teaching and development. The Department of Higher Education and Training is working with universities to emphasise the importance of supporting students. National Student Financial Aid Scheme loans have been improved to ensure that poor students are sufficiently supported in schools.
Hon Gunda, I think I can say that it is clear that a lot of work has been done around the Freedom Charter in this House. Each time we interact it comes to the fore and we really appreciate that. I think hon members have done a good job in bringing to the House the history and traditions of the ANC. It's an important day when one recognises education as a right.
With regard to the increase in budget I just want to emphasise that it's all going to happen within this period of time. It's all new money. The hon member should know that the 288% increase that we are talking about is new money. I would again encourage members to look at the budget to be able to understand and see this massive increase we are talking about.
Basically, the message is that money should no longer be a barrier to anyone who wants to go back to school. Hon Zulu, I think the question of rural schools ...
... siyavumelana kakhulu nomhlonishwa ukuthi ... [... we agree with the hon member that ...]
... whatever we do, we do have a strategy, namely the National Skills Development Strategy, NSDS, 3, which is biased towards these special categories, namely, women, ...
... abantu abakhubazekile, nabantu abahlala emaphandleni emakhaya ababhekene nokuhlupheka kakhulu. [... people with disabilities, and the people who live in rural areas who are faced with extreme hardship.]
Hon Plaatjie, I think you agreed with us. If the Minister were here he would really have been happy to hear that there is general acceptance for workplace skills to be opened. I also think that Prince Zulu did say that even universities should look at places nearby and make sure that students simultaneously get both exposure to the institution of higher learning and to the workplace. Of course we must accept that.
When we talk about all the changes we are bringing about in the sector education and training authorities, Setas, they come at a cost. Change is painful. It's difficult for people who have had privileges to part with them.
The Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Economic Development and others to ensure that we get accurate figures of people who need skills, people who need other skills, and those who are not employed, and so on.
Hon Mncube, from your intervention I would take the question of African languages. In brief I can say that as the department we have shown our commitment by coming up with a career guidance wing in partnership with the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, to ensure that the campaign starts quite early so that people would start thinking and planning to avoid what we have seen.
The question of African languages is part of the transformation we are talking about. For a long period of time we have lost touch with ourselves by prioritising languages of foreign countries at the expense of developing our own languages. In our training we have realised that people should first realise that they have to serve the African community.
African languages are fundamental. They talk to culture, they talk to one's identity and they talk to our understanding of where we are. We spoke about material conditions and political conditions. Through these African languages, people will be able to articulate the required education. They will move out of the trap of ignorance and irrelevance. Sometimes our outputs were not relevant to the needs of the people.
Again, I take this opportunity to really thank each and every member who participated in the debate. The questions enlightened us. We will certainly follow through. I hope that members can also follow up their specific questions as we implement the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.