Chair, it is a known fact that well-performing schools have good managers and good teachers, and these good managers and good teachers must be valued and paid accordingly.
There must be accountability, authority and flexibility in our schools in relation to people, time and money. Schools, for example, must be able to choose their management and teachers. Where children are behind and more time is needed, they must be able to make such arrangements.
The one thing no-one usually likes to talk about is, like it or not, blocking South Africa's progress in education, and that is the superior rights of unions. We will never have the teachers and managers needed if a union stronghold is allowed to prevent a culture of dedication and hard work.
The negative spin-off from our present labour situation requires us to review and rectify existing legislation or continue to spend our significant budget and get more of the same. What is best for our learners must be our primary concern.
Another priority for the ACDP is early childhood development, which is not yet available at all schools and in all areas, despite legislation requiring provinces to prioritise spending on this in poorer areas. Research done by the Human Sciences Research Council suggests that 350 000 jobs could be created if the target of reaching the estimated 2,6 million poor and vulnerable children in South Africa aged naught to four years could be met.
The general lack of awareness of the crucial importance of early childhood development, ECD, to the future calibre of our matric students and the nation's next generation of adults concerns the ACDP. Insufficient resources have been made available for human capacity for ECD support at all levels of government and in the NGO sector.
Training providers and job creation schemes are not taking sufficient account of the new job categories outlined in ECD policy. Channelling funding for ECD through the equitable share is, as usual, problematic, as provincial treasuries continue to divert funds to other programmes, apparently failing to appreciate the value of ECD.
This budget needs to ensure funds are available for programme design based on a simple minimum set of health and psychosocial outcome indicators and measures for children and caregivers. Evidence, especially from developing countries, suggests that programmes with the greatest impact on child growth and development are those that commence prenatally and extend into infancy and early childhood.
Higher levels of leadership management and supervisory training are also critical for ECD practitioners and training institutions, as the ability to leverage resources, both cash and in kind, are dependant on an ECD centre's ability to manage resources effectively and to account for them.
The ACDP is concerned that departmental budget allocations are presently inadequate for scaling up ECD, relative to the target population. We will however, support the Vote. Thank you. [Time expired.]