Chair, in closing I want to again thank the hundreds of principals and teachers out there who continue to make our schools work. As I said earlier, we even invited the principal of Dendron, a school deep in a rural area. It is a top ten, quintile 1, no-fee-paying school which has been producing outstanding results consistently. We want to thank those principals and teachers for their dedication and hard work. [Applause.]
This takes me to the point made by the chairperson. I fully agree with her that the quality of education depends on schools that work. Schools that work are schools under capable managers and dedicated and committed teams. I fully agree with her.
On the issue of infrastructure, as I have indicated, we are in agreement with the Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA, and we will confront the infrastructure backlog. We are working hard to make sure that we build schools now and pay later. The idea is to begin to remove noncore functions from the Department of Basic Education in order for education to focus on learning and teaching. Things like infrastructure must be managed elsewhere to ensure that we focus on our core business. We will start with the programme. The DPSA will be paid from Treasury. Provincial departments will be tasked with improving the quality of learning and teaching and will not deal with an issue that is a noncore function.
In responding to the hon Kloppers-Lourens, I want to say that I highly respect her for her skills and articulation. It is, however, sometimes quite sad that a person of her calibre in the official opposition is unable to give an alternative voice and cannot see the wood for the trees. All she and the opposition do is spit venom and respond to rumours and newspapers. What I am interested to hear, as a Minister, is what her constituency is saying. She has a sizable constituency. It would be very useful to hear what their views are because it will enrich the work we are doing. To respond to rumours and spit venom all the time is not useful because it kills the importance of having an opposition party. I think it is quite regrettable.
Mr Lorimer, I respect and note the things you have said about the fact that schools are still disrupted. We will follow up on that. You have mentioned the fact that there are still challenges about quintiles. According to our information, those quintiles are being reviewed. If there is still a problem, we will continue to review it.
What we are looking at, Dr Kloppers-Lourens, is what the issues are, in order for us to address them. We are not scared to address them. Don't give us what is in the newspapers. Tell us what your constituency is saying. We cannot function on rumours. Don't you have a constituency? Let's hear what your constituency is saying.
In responding to Cope, I really want to thank the member of Cope and want to reiterate and agree with her that libraries continue to be central in our system. It is very sad that the system has collapsed. We are doing all we can to revitalise libraries. According to our norms and standards, libraries are one of the main priorities. We have interim measures. When things change, we will inform you.
I must say to hon Mda that she is still showing her true colours. She is still a product of the real Congress of the People. We can hear from her input that she is indeed a child of the congress. Thank you very much for your contribution. We have taken up most of the things you have said. We will follow up and if we have the opportunity, we will report. [Interjections.] Baba uMpontshane ... [Mr Mpontshane ...]
I don't know about the cadre policy. We will look into it. Let me give you an example.
... ukuthi ayikho le nto.[... that this does not exist.]
Tomorrow we have interviews to appoint a head of department. We have advertised the post. We have Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, KPMG, to audit all the applications and to do the screening. I don't even know the three people I am going to interview tomorrow. There will be two Ministers, two heads of department, the Deputy Minister and it will be "cadre development".
Ikuphi i-"cadre development" kulaba bantu abathathu. Uma kuyinto kaKhongolose sizothi yi-cadre. Akuyona i-cadre development. Uma bekhona abantu bakaKhongolose bayekeni nabo baphathe. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Where is the "cadre development" in these three people? If it were the ANC's people we would say it was a cadre. It is not cadre development. If there are ANC people, let them be in positions as well.]
Where I agree with you, hon Mr Mpontshane, is that education depends on the teachers. Unfortunately, on your point that we should get funds for teacher development, I want to say that it is in provinces and it is quite abundant. What we have to do as a national department is to monitor that funds are properly utilised and that the current programmes give teachers the necessary skills to implement the existing policies. As the national department our core function is around the curriculum. Hence, even the budgeted money that remains at the national department is to assist us in dealing with curriculum issues.
Most of the issues around the running of schools are done by provinces, and ably so. Ms Gina made a good point about the way in which we measure education. It is quite right that a successfully educated person is not a person who is only literate and numerate - which is very important - but also a holistic individual. It is a person who is socially, emotionally and politically balanced. That is why we have a very intensive social programme to ... [Interjections.] Otherwise, they will respond to rumours. After being educated, they will give you rumours instead of facts. We want facts and not rumours or things in newspapers.
Ms Gina, we have the screening programme and we are working with the Department of Health to ensure that we reintroduce school nurses. We are working with the Department of Social Development to provide school counselling and social-work services. We want to ensure that all challenges concerning the emotional wellbeing of children are addressed in order for them to be holistic and rounded children. On the issue of school inspectors, I don't know. During the apartheid years, I taught for more than seven years and an inspector came once. That was my first experience. He wrote and said I was a promising teacher. That was the end of the inspectorate. Is that what you want to do? We are not bringing it back because it did not work. We will use the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, Needu, to evaluate and develop our education outcomes, not to evaluate teachers to see whether they teach well. We will not evaluate teachers in the way we used to.
The aim is to visit classes and schools and to look into the bureaucracy, which you are talking about, that is sometimes non-functional. The aim is to support learners, not to find mistakes. The aim is to visit classes in order to find what is needed to support learners and teachers. That is what Needu is doing. On 1 April we are opening the offices of Needu. The inspectorate - the one that says you are a promising teacher - is going to be a small part of what Needu will do. I am bringing in a more advanced, modern, progressive and positive institute that will enable us to visit classrooms and schools and look at the bureaucracy in its totality. Let's not speak about an inspectorate. It is archaic. This is the real thing.
Hon Alberts, I agree with you that, 15 years down the line, we should not be saying, "Teachers should be ...". It is really demotivating to have to be telling teachers to be in class on time. However, the reality is that they are not. I can't pretend that they are in class on time. I went to a school last week that scored zero. It was the third visit. On a Friday at 10 o'clock in the morning, I found that the principal was not there. [Interjections.] I have. We agree. [Applause.] The fact of the matter is that we are still confronted by managers who are not committed to their work.
We have committed ourselves to addressing this problem, not to pretending it is not happening. We are committing ourselves to getting rid of it and fighting it with all our strength. This does not undermine the fact that there are hundreds of teachers and principals who run our schools quite well and even go beyond the call of duty. [Applause.]
You and I cannot continue to agree! We are agreeing completely on mother- tongue teaching. The results in our schools confirm it. The fact that African children don't perform to the best of their ability is sometimes not due to poor teaching. Sometimes it is because of the language dilemma for African kids. The problem is not only due to the dysfunctionality of schools. There are also policy issues, like the language policy, that cause problems, especially as they affect African children. The language issue still needs to be addressed. We agree. We are working quite hard to ensure that we can confront this.
I don't want to leave any member out. On the issue of laptops, provinces have made provision for teacher laptops in their budgets, but it is a provincial competency. We will follow up on it. Our job is only to monitor it and to follow up. It is not our job to ensure that the laptops are bought. We will monitor it. The provisions and budgets have been made available to provinces.
Hon Bhoola, I am going to speak to Premier Mkhize to give Rajbansi something. Maybe we will then have peace. I am really not sure what you are talking about. I don't know what this race story is about suddenly. But let's sort out this Indian story at the KwaZulu-Natal level because perhaps it is about Rajbansi and has nothing to do with race. I will speak to my chairperson of the education portfolio to do something. I think we will then go back to being happy, like we were when the year began. It is getting sour now. I think it might have something to do with Rajbansi.
Hon Mashishi, indeed the Dinaledi schools constitute only 9%, but you'll be glad to hear they contribute more than 24% of passes in general and 50% of passes in maths. We intend to increase their numbers, but one mustn't bite off more than one can chew. You cannot go beyond that.
Mr Lorimer has already spoken about the fact that we should look at quintiles and at the challenges we have in that respect. I heard him talk about subject advisors. Subject advisors are not class teachers. If the circular calls teachers to be out of class, it is a problem. If it is addressed to subject advisors, then it is not a problem. Subject advisors can be trained during working hours because they are not school teachers.
I did not have the opportunity to elaborate on issues that are nonfinancial with regard to our plans. The fact is, we have a district organisational plan aimed at strengthening the capacity of districts to support schools. It is quite important that we not only focus on schools but that we get our districts to ask such questions as "What kind of manager will not be able to argue for a quintile?" We are working very hard and we are changing the structure to ensure that our districts can indeed support schools. We are working on a plan to do a district reorganisation.
In conclusion, the Deputy Minister and we have taken notes and will follow up. I want to thank members for their good contributions. I appeal to the opposition to not politicise education. [Interjections.] It is a national issue and asset. Let's not work on the basis of rumours but on facts and build this country together. We have a responsibility. You cannot spit venom all the time and not give alternatives. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.