The question was complicated and I am only registered for standard grade. [Laughter.] As the education infrastructure conditional grant will be transferred to the provinces, it is important to have regular reports from provinces on how many structures have been built and at what cost. Provinces should be encouraged to categorise these structures according to how many are in urban, rural and township areas, and include those in farming areas, where we have schools on private property. One of our challenges with farm schools is that we are trapped in a cycle of poverty that is inherited. We believe that the vulnerability of our farm workers, their dependency on the commercial farmers and their extreme indigence are often the main obstacles impeding the delivery of quality, uninterrupted education for the African child.
Remember, at these schools that are on private property our children and the parents are, most of the time, dictated to by the owners. We should look into that and ensure that every child who lives on a farm, as well as teachers, adheres to the policies of the Department of Education and not to the rules of the owner of the land. That is another problem we have.
We also welcome the notice of the Minister of Basic Education to invoke section 100 of the Constitution in the department of education in the Eastern Cape. As the ANC, we are committed to moving with absolute speed and tenacity to dismantle all the obstacles that threaten our education transformation agenda in the Eastern Cape or any other corner of this country.
The January 8 Statement 2010 says that in all our endeavours to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our schools, early childhood development and the foundation phase remain critical. Particular attention will also be paid to improving the quality of Grade R and early childhood development to ensure that young children are adequately prepared for schooling. We have called for non-negotiables in education. We are happy and we congratulate the department because it made sure that there was training of early childhood development, ECD, facilitators and that dream will be realised.
Again, responding to the January 8 Statement 2010, we acknowledge that your department has introduced standardised workbooks of high quality as an additional support to textbooks in all public schools, for learners in Grade R to 6. When we leave here, even the critics should take a look at the books outside and see the quality that we are talking about.
We have also noted that the department will be developing new training packages through distance education and e-education to enable our Education department to improve learning outputs. We see this as a motivator for young educators to enjoy teaching as a profession. We will be taking a keen interest in the outcome of these programmes. The department will have to give regular updates on how many have entered the system and how many have completed it.
I want to couple what I am saying with your statement that you want us to support the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit. We will really support that initiative as soon as the Bill arrives because we believe that there are gaps in the integrated quality management system and whole-school evaluations that will be addressed by this particular policy or this Bill, to ensure that our schools receive what is due to them.
Since the inception of the school nutrition programme, more children have enrolled in our schools and the rate of absenteeism has been reduced. We appeal to the department to ensure that allocation for this is done on time. I am saying this because during the first term of each year children at school do not receive the food because of the budget and because by the end of the previous year everything had been finished and now they do not have anything.
Let us come up with a plan. We asked the department to come up with a plan so that our learners do not have a day at school where they do not eat because they are still waiting for the financial year to start. This may not happen because it also means increased absenteeism, especially in the rural areas. As you have noticed, in most schools, during the first term, there are fewer learners because there is no food. We cannot allow that to continue. We need to replan around the programme of the first term.
Regarding the merger of schools, the Department of Education has set guidelines for the rationalisation of small, nonviable schools. One of the guidelines for the district is to ensure additional support for learners and their parents. I want to raise this as we talk about this merger. We have problems, especially in areas like the Western Cape, where they make sure they place emphasis on the feeder schools and these feeder schools have been structured to be more racially divided.
We want to make sure that we do not concentrate on the feeder schools so that the motivation that they put forward, which is that if you have been in a white school you should be a feeder to a white school, is not taken into account. What happens to other children from other schools? [Interjections.] We must make sure that this is really not taken into account.
Also, as we improve our schools, we don't want to see adverts like those in the Western Cape where it is implied that to be a member of the school governing body you have to be of a particular profession, like an accountant or a former teacher. [Interjections.] We don't want to see those things because it disadvantages our poor parents who did not go to school. If you have your children in that school, you are just there as a parent but you cannot take part in the school governing body because the adverts are very clear that you need to be a member of a particular profession. That is not the aim.
With regard to learner transport, let us provide a conditional grant to the provinces. We are tired of the learner transport where every province has to decide. We need a policy that will guide how the learner transport works. Thank you. [Applause.]