Chairperson, your clock started before I started speaking. Before I start with my speech, I'd like to acknowledge the presence of the following people: We've invited the former Deputy President, Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who continues to help us with education. Also present are various MECs from the provinces, various Ministers and Deputy Ministers, members of our Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, the ambassador of Basic Education, Mr Thurston Sebotsane; the principal of Dendron Secondary School, one of our top ten schools, situated in a deep rural area with limited resources, yet one of the best. Some of our business partners are also here, as are our friends in NGOs in the education sector and the teacher unions. I've also invited my mother and other members of my family, and I want to acknowledge them, too.
Chair, Cabinet colleagues who are here, members, members of the diplomatic corps, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we have made huge strides in education since the establishment of our new democracy. We have achieved an enormous amount in terms of transforming the education system in a relatively short space of time.
Given what we have achieved, we remain determined to address those challenges that continue to detract from how far we have come. We continue to be concerned that South Africa's learning outcomes are unsatisfactory. All local and international assessments indicate that far too many of our learners, especially African learners, do not perform at the required level. We have identified the underlying factors and we are determined to work systematically to resolve them.
As indicated in my 2009 budget speech, we need to turn the system around with bold targets and initiatives that are carefully crafted and executed, and that pay due attention to the already fragile nature of the system and people who work in it.
The adoption of an outcomes approach in implementing government's priorities was announced by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address. This approach will ensure that the work of government will be measured according to outcomes.
These performance outcomes are politically determined positions of government to achieve greater and more focused development. The President declared this year as the "year of action" focusing on implementation. The outcomes approach enables us to set measurable targets and deliverables, against which we and South Africa can monitor our progress in addressing the challenges that remain in education.
Our targets are high and will require a lot from us. Both budgets and priorities are informed by the ruling party's Ten Point Plan and election manifesto commitments. And we will be working closely with the provinces to ensure that there is alignment between strategy and structure.
Our systems will have to improve to achieve our targets. Our turnaround strategy includes a social compact with unions to achieve our goal to have all teachers in schools doing their job.
In order to address these challenges, we have established targets that we need to achieve by 2014. They are as follows. Firstly, increasing the number of Grade 12 learners who pass the national examinations and qualify to enter a bachelor's programme at a university from 105 000 to about 175 000. Secondly, targeting Grade 12 learners who pass maths and science so that 225 000 and 165 000 learners will pass those subjects respectively. Thirdly, our target, which will be monitored and measured, is to increase the percentage of learners in public schools who obtain the minimum acceptable mark for Grades 3, 6 and 9 from between 27% and 38% to at least 60% by 2014.
In order to support the achievement of our targets for the education system, Basic Education has set out the following priorities: by 2014, there will be universal access to Grade R; adequate learning and teaching materials will be developed and distributed; there will be standardised national assessments of the quality of learning that takes place in Grades 3, 6 and 9. This will start this year and be done on an annual basis.
I also have announced the development of a national Basic Education Action Plan. This long-term plan for the basic education sector will be known as "South African Schooling: the Department of Basic Education's Action Plan". It will allow for the monitoring of progress against a set of measurable indicators covering all aspects of basic education, including, among others, the enrolment and retention of learners, teachers, infrastructure, school funding, learner wellbeing and school safety, mass literacy and educational quality.
This Basic Education Action Plan will co-ordinate and guide all interventions in the Basic Education system in order to turn the system around. The plan will establish key outcomes and performance deliverables for the entire education system, including the national and provincial departments. The plan will commit provinces and provincial education departments to clear, agreed-upon outcomes and ensure that everyone in the system is accountable for the attainment of these outcomes. Regarding the improvement of the curriculum, we have already acted on the main recommendations of the report prepared by the ministerial committee that had been established in 2009 and tasked with reviewing the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement. Curriculum reform is not something the system takes lightly. Change fatigue is something we need to counter to restore the confidence and enthusiasm among all our stakeholders. At the same time, we need to iron out the difficulties that exist quickly and efficiently.
So we will not rush change and risk confusion and failure, which we can ill afford. We will proceed with due deliberation and decisiveness to effect the broad recommendations of that ministerial committee.
For this reason, I have and will continue to make changes on an ongoing basis where they can be made with minimal disruption to bring relief and improve systems. But the longer-term change to the curriculum requires coherent action and needs to be done properly. All stakeholders need to be kept properly informed at all times.
To provide short-term relief, we have reduced the number of projects expected from learners and done away with the need for portfolio files of learner assessments and with continuous assessment. Instead, the tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9 will be set nationally, administered by schools and externally moderated. The department will make available exemplar question papers.
I have established three committees to enable the smooth implementation of curriculum streamlining. They are led by three able people who have the experience and qualifications to do so.
Recall that the review committee raised questions about the lack of clarity in the National Curriculum Statement. Therefore, the first committee's task is to provide clear guidelines of what teachers ought to teach on a grade- by-grade and subject-by-subject basis. This work is being conducted under the chairpersonship of Dr Cassius Lubisi, who has great experience in the research, planning, development, management and implementation of the curriculum. The timeframe for this committee will be two years, rather than the one year that was proposed by the review committee. This will enable the first committee to consult widely and to test the statements with teachers.
Chair, I should have asked for more time. I have a sore throat and I'm encountering difficulties.
The first committee's work is supported by the two other committees, one to plan the implementation of the recommended reduction of learning areas in the intermediate phase from eight to six, and the other to consider recommendations on improving the distribution and use of learning and teaching support materials in schools.
The committee making recommendations on the reduction of learning areas in the intermediate phase is led by Professor John Volmink. This committee is considering all the possible implications of the intended changes, including timetabling, human resources and legal implications, as well as models and timelines for implementation. It will report by the end of April and its recommendations will inform the longer-term work on the curriculum.
A Ministerial Committee on Learner Teacher Support Materials, LTSMs, headed by Mr Garry Rosenberg, will report mid-year. We expect recommendations on guidelines for a national catalogue of LTSMs with price guidelines. Their recommendations will take account of matters relating to teacher choice, quality and cost effectiveness.
The curriculum change is a comprehensive one. It requires ongoing research and development. For this reason, we will continue to build capacity for curriculum research and review within the national department to ensure that we strengthen the implementation of the curriculum.
Effective communication of all these changes is critical. We have begun a curriculum newsletter and have distributed the first one to all teachers and officials in time for the start of the school year in 2010.
Regarding budget allocations for the 2010-11 financial year, I am delighted to record that the overall budget for the Department of Basic Education has increased by R2,2 billion to R6,1 billion.
Additional funds have been received for the following priorities, with growth expected in the budget over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period: Firstly, for the National School Nutrition Programme, conditional grants increased from 2009-10 to cater for the implementation of school feeding in quintile 2 secondary schools. Secondly, regarding the supply of learners' workbooks, R750 million has been allocated, to reach R1 billion by 2012. Thirdly, the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, has been allocated R11,3 million. Fourthly, Funza Lushaka Bursary will increase from R424 million to R471 million. Fourthly, the recapitalisation of technical high schools received an allocation of R80 million, an increase on the R5 million we were given last year. Finally, the allocation for our literacy programme, Kha Ri Gude Campaign, increased from R468 million to R520 million.
The R750 million allocation for this financial year for workbooks will reach R1 billion in 2012. The allocation for workbooks is a significant contribution towards assisting us in meeting our challenges in providing support for our schools - and we hope it will contribute towards improving the quality of our education.
We are also implementing the Foundations for Learning Programme and distributing learning and teaching support materials and workbooks. Learning and teaching packs for Grade R teachers have been distributed to all 13 900 schools that offer Grade R. We are also planning to distribute lesson plans in literacy and numeracy for Grades 1 to 6 teachers in primary schools.
Regarding the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, section 8(1) of the National Education Policy Act of 1996 compels the Minister and the national Department of Education to monitor and report on the implementation of education policies as well as the progress of the system. The additional funding will help us to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of our whole education system.
We have investigated the mandate, scope, name, location and modus operandi of the proposed structure and on this basis we will shortly operationalise Needu and appoint staff who are appropriately qualified to head and direct its work.
Needu will be a professional facility for purposes of monitoring, evaluation and support. It will be a unit that will evaluate school quality and present regular reports to the nation on such quality. Its role will be to assess and develop strategies for improving the quality of educational outcomes and supporting schools to achieve this. It will monitor and evaluate performance across the entire system. It will be there to ensure that learners learn and achieve, teachers teach and departmental officials properly support schools.
Credible and up-to-date information on how our learners perform is valuable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it helps identify systemic weaknesses that might impact on the quality of learning and teaching in our schools. Secondly, it enables the tracking of progress in the measurable learning outcomes and targets that we have set for ourselves.
As mentioned above, we have been given R10 million this year for the Grades 3, 6 and 9 assessments. This amount will increase to R18 million over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. We have decided that performance in Grades 3, 6 and 9 will be improved from the current average performance of between 27% and 38% to at least 60% by 2014.
From 2010, independently moderated annual assessments will be administered in Grades 3, 6 and 9 and the results will be reported to parents. By 2014, the average performance in these independently moderated assessments must be no less than 60%.
The provision of relevant learning and teaching support materials will be linked to the assessment processes to ensure that teaching and learning do not only benefit from the assessments but also inform what has to be done.
We have also received money for our teacher bursary scheme. The Funza Lushaka Bursary allocation has increased from R424 million to R471 million. This is the linchpin in our efforts to improve the quality of beginner teachers in scarce and critical subjects, such as mathematics, science, accounting and languages.
We acknowledge that our teachers and principals are key to a quality education system. We recognise that there is a need for coherence and synergy across the system. We recognise that there are many role-players who have a stake in the development of teachers and school leaders, not least of all the educators themselves, who have a key role to play in their own growth and development.
However, the key responsibility for ensuring that teachers are supported to deliver the national curriculum lies with the Department of Basic Education. So, while provinces have the responsibility to implement the programmes on teacher development, the national department has the responsibility to develop policy and to plan for, monitor and evaluate provincial delivery.
For this reason, we are developing a common plan throughout the sector and want to find ways to compel schools to use teachers according to their strengths, areas of specialisation and qualifications without jeopardising our schools' already precarious human-resource balances. This matter was raised sharply with the President during his interaction with the principals.
This year we shall also introduce a new distribution model of posts to schools. We will use this "pro-poor" model as a planning tool to determine the actual utilisation of and future demand for teachers with regard to subjects and/or phases. This model will be adjusted to address changes in the curriculum.
A key deliverable in 2010 will be the action plans emanating from the multistakeholder working groups established after the National Teacher Development Summit that was held last year. Their task is the completion of a detailed national teacher development action plan, including activities, timelines, responsibilities and outputs for the next five years, nested in a longer-term plan to ensure a sustainable teacher development system. Together, we will move forward to improve teacher subject and pedagogical knowledge to realise the rights of all learners to quality education.
For the period 2010 to 2011, we are targeting at least 8 000 principals and deputy principals to complete the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership and Management, the ACE programme. In addition, all school leaders from underperforming secondary schools and their feeder primary schools will complete specific stand-alone ACE modules.
We will strengthen subject advisers' knowledge of the school curriculum and their skills for supporting teachers in order to implement the curriculum more effectively through specific programmes - this is a currently budgeted for activity undertaken through the curriculum support directorates. The training of early childhood development and foundation-phase practitioners will occur through further education and training colleges, among other places.
We will not live up to our claim that every child is a national asset if we do not concentrate our efforts on tackling our immense infrastructural challenges. The backlog is estimated at R140 billion; that is what we need to spend if we are to get all our schools onto an acceptable level. In spite of considerable progress, the current rate of financial allocations means we can anticipate eliminating our infrastructure "conditions" and "space" backlogs only in 20 years' time. Consequently, finding innovative funding and infrastructure delivery mechanisms to deal with all the backlogs in the shortest time possible is now paramount in our endeavours.
In order to address this and accelerate our infrastructure improvement programme, we will draw explicitly on the construction capacity and momentum created to complete the stadia for the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup event. The Department of Basic Education is working with the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Treasury regarding appropriate financing models and capacity for this accelerated school infrastructure improvement programme.
The Basic Education Action Plan, which is currently under development, will make provision for short- to medium-term initiatives to source alternative resources for school infrastructure development. These resources will be aimed at eliminating the backlog of those schools that fail to meet the basic functionality levels of provision. While addressing this backlog, the proposed initiative will also strive to upgrade these schools to optimum functionality.
We have an enormous responsibility to ensure that our funds are well spent on the purposes for which they are intended, and that we see results. Our democratic mandate is to deliver on the right to education, and this means the right to be literate and numerate when you leave school. We are fully focused on delivering on this mandate.
Let me end by paying tribute to all the members of the executive council responsible for education from the different provinces that have assisted in defining this agenda. I also want to thank my Deputy Minister, Minister Surty, for his strong and capable support at all times. My thanks go also to the Acting Director-General, Mr Bobby Soobrayan, and his senior officials who have been responsible for ensuring that this agenda is efficiently implemented.
I want to pay special tribute to the outgoing Director-General of Education Mr Duncan Hindle for his loyal service to the South African education system. I also thank all the officials in the department for their sterling work and the support that my Deputy Minister and I are enjoying. Thank you. [Applause.]