Hon Speaker, I would like to respond to two of the statements, one in relation to early childhood development, and the other in relation to the laptops for teachers.
Had the hon member from the IFP paid particular attention to the detail of the allocation made by the state, he would have known that all the unions had decided that the SA Council for Educators had been appointed by them to negotiate with the service providers for the provision of computers. This is a decision that was taken independently by the unions.
The Department of Education had prescribed in regulation the nature of the expectations with regard to the ICT, its capacity and software. This was made public, and now what is required is, basically, for the unions and the SA Council for Educators to conclude the business.
There has been no delay whatsoever in terms of the funding of this particular and important item. In fact, if the unions had been a little more serious about what they ought to have done, then there would have been delivery. The delivery is delayed only by them.
With regard to early childhood development, the hon member is, indeed, correct: Early childhood development is central to success in education.
Social scientists have indicated that the period of gestation is already an indication of the cognitive and other developments of a child. The first two years of a child's life are an indication of 70% of the cognitive ability that the child will acquire over a lifetime. Therefore this government has emphasised the importance of early childhood development.
With regard to Grade R classes, we have moved from 400 000 to beyond 650 000 in a period of two years, so these centres are integrated into our schools. With regard to preschool, or pre-Grade R, the Department of Education is working extremely closely with the Departments of Social Development and Health to ensure that we expand and increase the number of early childhood development centres.
We can also celebrate the fact that we now have a curriculum and uniform training schedules for practitioners, and that resources are provided to every child in a Grade R class in the country. Thank you very much.