Chairperson, from the beginning, our history has been one of severing of unities; the breaking of tribal, racial and credo barriers. There remains before us the building of a new land, a home of men who are black, white and brown. There remains to be achieved our integration with the rest of our continent. Chief Albert J M Luthuli said:
Somewhere ahead there beckons a civilisation, a culture, which will take its place in the parade of God's history beside other great human syntheses - Chinese, Egyptian, Jewish, European. It will not necessarily be all black, but it will be African.
Chairperson, former Deputy President, former Deputy Speaker, hon Minister of Basic Education, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, esteemed colleagues who are present, 50 years ago thousands of our people assembled, unarmed, peacefully protesting against the carrying of the dompas. This was in Sharpeville, and the protest was about the indignity of carrying a document that would circumscribe where a person lived, how he or she travelled, where their children would go to school, what the nature and quality of their education would be, and what the circumstances of their life would be.
It was for protesting against this indignity that scores of people were killed and approximately 170 injured. Yet, the struggle for our liberation, for a nonracial, nonsexist democracy, continues, and we have this legacy that we have to respond to.
As we celebrate Human Rights Day, we are reminded that 20 years ago we also celebrated the release of Nelson Mandela, the epitome of a veteran who struggled for our liberation, who sought to advance human rights and to affirm the dignity of our people. At the same time, 20 years ago, member states committed themselves to a declaration, an important declaration - Education for All, EFA - to ensure that basic quality education is provided to all learners.
I have listened very attentively to the discourse on education, to the various suggestions that have been made - many of them are legitimate and sound - to the concerns that have been raised in the context of education and what we could do better in terms of teacher development, better resourcing of our schools in terms of infrastructure, water and sanitation, and a range of other things. We have heard from experts, analysts, commentators, the media and, more importantly, from teachers. What emerges clearly from this is that, as we look at the challenges that we face as a nation, we should be cognisant of the fact that we come from a very difficult, fractured past, a past in which we were unequal citizens, the legacy and the consequences of which we will continue to carry with us for a long period of time.
That is the political context in which we must try to bring about change in the system of education. We cannot pretend that we could bring about significant change in 15 years, yet we take comfort from the fact that practitioners and educators are mindful of the challenges we face.
Take the situation of a young, committed, passionate, newly qualified foundation-phase teacher, Fazlyn Diedericks - and she is here in the audience - who has been teaching for two years. She says that in order to provide quality education, you require a competent and qualified teacher who is able to understand the needs and abilities of the learner. That says a lot. It says that the learner is at the epicentre of this new paradigm. It says that the educator must not only be qualified, but competent enough to understand the different needs, limitations and abilities of that learner. It says that, as a foundation teacher, sensitivity to the individual and special needs of each and every learner is critical and necessary.
We also have the views and response of a more senior educator who is also in the audience here. Her name is Roegshana Hendricks. She teaches in a city school, and she says 20 years ago things were somewhat different. Things have changed. The composition of learners within the city school has changed dramatically. Learners travel from different areas and different communities. They are primarily and principally from poor areas. They have different cultures, different languages and different practices. Many of the learners have to use more than two vehicles to get to school, so they are fatigued. Many of them are extremely poor and no nutrition is provided for them. All these factors provide what some would call a "toxic mix" for ill discipline in schools.
It takes a special and extraordinary teacher to realise that in our new dispensation, in our democracy, we are required to understand that the challenge of teaching in a heterogeneous environment is one we should celebrate. The challenge to teach in an environment where there is a diversity of cultural language and practice is something that is empowering rather than something that should erode our confidence. It is important that we recognise this particular challenge that comes to us as a nation, for if we were at all concerned about the struggle, the commitment of those who laid down their lives for us in Sharpeville and in Langa, we would recognise that we have a particular responsibility to this generation of learners and generations of learners in the future.
What Miss Hendricks is saying to us is that, unless and until we understand the context and are sensitive to this particular change in the diversity of our learning environment, we will not be able to bring about what the chairperson of the portfolio committee has spoken about - the kind of discipline that is necessary. Because learners would be frustrated and they would not be encouraged to respect the authority before them. As a result of this frustration and a lack of ability to communicate meaningfully, they would become disruptive in class. This, indeed, would militate against quality education.
As we think about the release of Nelson Mandela and as we think about 20 years of a commitment to education for all, we should sit back and reflect on how far we have come. I would like the hon Dr Kloppers-Lourens to pay particular attention to this, because it is no good saying that we haven't done much. It is no good reading the newspaper and saying South Africa has failed its nation. Before 1994, fewer than 50% of eligible learners were in schools. Within 16 years, we have universal admission and enrolment in primary school. We have near universal admission and enrolment in secondary schools, and this is borne out by a report, not by a South African, but by an independent panel of experts from the Southern African Development Community, SADC. South Africa has done the best among all developing countries in the SADC in the retention rates, even among those who are 15, 16 and 17 years of age. [Applause.]
The risk is to read a newspaper without interrogating the information that is there. If we were attentive to the detail, we would know, for example, that with regard to retention rates, South Africa has done reasonably well. In 2008, for example, the percentage of 16, 17 and 18-year-old learners attending an education institution was 92%, 87% and 73% respectively. It does not help, hon member, to say that the Minister was trying to mislead the House. What she was saying is that, as a result of the establishment of Further Education and Training, FET, colleges, we currently have more than 120 000 learners who are not in the mainstream of academic schools, but who are in FET colleges. That cannot be misleading. It is something that we should celebrate. It is something that the chairperson of the portfolio committee said.
What we should do is to look at other possibilities, post-school opportunities for our learners. We should not only look at academic excellence at institutions of higher learning, such as universities and universities of technology. Furthermore, it is not what is said, but it is what is not said that is critical.
I think we should be mindful of the fact that, indeed, with regard to special education and inclusive education, we have an enormous challenge. We have a responsibility. We cannot betray those who are vulnerable and those who have disabilities. Yet, as we do so, we must recognise that we have already converted more than 15 schools into full-service centres for learners with special needs. We must recognise that mainstreaming has, indeed, occurred and special training has been provided, yet more has to be done. But to pretend that nothing has happened for the past 10 years is a failure to recognise that there was a collective decision that we should not work on individual deficits, but look systemically at the issue of disability and ask, how do we deal with it on the basis of pilot studies that we carried out in rural and urban provinces. Now, we cannot ignore those realities. I think we have much to celebrate. With regard to the EFA goals, I will go through them very quickly, Chairperson. Firstly, it speaks about early childhood development. We have more than doubled the rate of learners in early childhood development, ECD, centres within the past 10 years. We can celebrate the fact that, in the past three years, we have increased the number of learners in Grade R from about 350 000 to 650 000. On this basis, we will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the EFA goals with regard to access to early childhood development. We can celebrate the fact that we have distributed resource materials, study guides and assessment guides in all languages to all our learners in Grade R. This means that, for the first time, we have resources in the hands of every learner in a Grade R class.
The expansion of Grade R in the school environment means certain things. The consequences are enormous. It means additional classrooms, a special environment, and additional practitioners. But what we can celebrate, and what we must, indeed, celebrate, is the fact that, for the first time, we have a National Curriculum Statement for Grade R learners. For the first time, we have special norms and standards for practitioners who are teaching in Grade R classes. This means that the foundations for learning that we spoke about earlier will be strengthened and supported by this important platform that we are providing.
The hon Minister, as president of the ANC Women's League, can take pride in the fact that with regard to gender equity and the EFA goals, we have done extremely well. There are more girl learners than boy learners in primary and high schools. The retention rate of girls is higher than that of boys. The enrolment rate of girl learners at universities is higher than that of boy learners. The pass rate of girl learners is higher than boy learners. Malibongwe! [Praise!] Let us celebrate the fact that our women are doing much better. [Applause.]
And this has occurred in a short space of time. In 16 years we have been able to turn around the realities of inequality between the genders. We are able to advance and promote the capacity and ability of learners. Yet more has to be done, and women have to participate more meaningfully in the sciences, where I think there is a critical demand for their skills.
With regard to the issue of skills development and of opportunity and access to quality and skills, the hon Minister of Higher Education and Training will be addressing the House on Thursday, and I do not wish to steal his script. [Laughter.] He will tell you that there will be an emphasis - I am telling him what to say to hon members on Thursday! - on post-school opportunities. He will say that out-of-school youth must be given an opportunity. He will share with the House the fact that our youth are, indeed, willing to learn, because just this year, a few weeks ago, 135 000 learners sat for their supplementary examinations. It makes a powerful statement about the commitment of our youth to acquiring quality education. What we have done, as Basic Education, is to increase capacity and opportunity. We have provided for funding of R500 million to 200 technical schools, so that they can improve their infrastructure and provide the practical training that the chairperson of the portfolio committee has been speaking about.
With regard to our commitment to the EFA goals, to halve adult illiteracy by 2015: I think we must take pride in the fact that we have Prof Veronica McKay in our presence. Their programme has won the Best Communicator's award as well as the Pan South African Language Board, PanSALB, award for the promotion of indigenous languages.
Resource materials have been made available to more than a million adult learners within two years. They have been assessed, and their ability and performance have been independently controlled. In the past two years, we have been able to train one million people, and we intend training 650 000 this year and another 650 000 next year. This means that we would, certainly, have achieved our Millennium Development Goals.
What we are saying is that, notwithstanding the enormous disparities, the huge differences, the legacies of inequality, we were able to move forward as a nation. We have done extremely well in terms of access. What we have to do is to emphasise the mantra of this Minister and the former Minister: quality, quality, quality. With regard to the last EFA goal, the Minister has spoken about it already. She has spoken about her commitment to make sure that the curriculum is implemented properly, to reduce the administrative burden on educators, to ensure that we do whatever is necessary to enhance better education and learning. And indeed, that is something that we can celebrate.
As I conclude, and given the fact that we are, indeed, a diverse nation with a history that is quite extraordinary, the ruling party, as well as government, has indicated that this year we should also celebrate 150 years of the arrival of Indians - and I do not say this because I am an Indian Deputy Minister, but I do so on very direct authority! [Laughter.] As we do so, we should remember the contribution of stalwarts and veterans, people such as Fatima Meer, who made an enormous contribution to the liberation of this country as an educator, activist and comrade.
Thank you, Chairperson. May I thank the Minister, the MECs for education, the heads of department present, the acting director-general, the former director-general, and all the senior management for their wonderful support. [Time expired.] [Applause.]