Modulasetilo, Matona a Lefapha a a leng teng fa, pele ke simolola ka puo ka re thuto e botlhokwa mo baneng ba rona. [Chairperson, senior officials of the department present here today, before I start with my speech, I would like to say education is important to our children.]
Nelson Mandela's long walk and commitment to quality education for all South Africans manifests itself not only in his personal struggle to qualify himself as an attorney, but also in the broader struggle for the liberation of black people in general and black Africans in South Africa in particular.
His vision of quality and free education in a nonracial, democratic, nonsexist society has evolved over many decades through not only personal sacrifice, but also the collective political counsel of the then leadership of Kotane, Max Sisulu and others.
The ANC's vision for a quality, compulsory and equal education was subsequently concretised in the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown on 26 June 1955. These objectives were completely articulated and amplified in the Rivonia Trial of 1964, during which Nelson Mandela said:
The present government has always sought to hamper Africans in their search for education.
There is compulsory education for all white children at virtually no cost to their parents, be they rich or poor. Similar facilities are not provided for the African children ...
Against this background, it must be noted that the vision of the Freedom Charter became the bedrock of struggle for the liberation and its policy compass. It culminated in the adoption of the South African Constitution of 1996. Moreover, the Bill of Rights, although conceptually raised during the Rivonia Trial, encapsulated all the ideals that we envisaged during Nelson Mandela's testimony.
In relation to education, the Constitution is ambiguous. Section 29, clause 1 says:
Everyone has the right -
a) to a basic education, including adult education; and
b) to further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible.
(2) Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable. In order to ensure the effective access to, and the implementation of, this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account -
a) equity;
b) practicability; and
c) the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices.
Since Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as President in 1994, our ANC-led government has made significant strides in relation to policies pertaining to education. In our primary and secondary schooling, we are just a few years away from achieving 100% participation by all our children. About 600 000 children attend crches and preschools. The matriculation pass rate has risen from 58% in 1994 to 60,7% in 2009.
Overcrowding in classes has been greatly reduced. The teacher-learner ratio in 2006 was 1:32 as opposed to 1:43 in 1996. Currently, more than the poorest 60% of schools in the country are no-fee schools.
The mass literacy campaign is now reaching more than 500 000 people who could not read and write. In higher education, 140 000 students have been supported through our national financial aid scheme, which is helping to improve participation of the poor in higher education.
Furthermore, during his tenure as the President of the ANC, the first democratically elected President of the Republic and his public-speaking career after retiring from presidential duties and office, Nelson Mandela has been consistent in his quest to amplify the historic evolution of ANC policies, emphasising the critical importance of education and constructively criticising the subsequent ANC administration for failing to implement policies.
However, it is critical that we contextualise recent trends in basic education, particularly against the enormous sacrifice of Nelson Mandela and his peers. In this regard, the consistent decline in the matric pass rate between 2006 and 2009, with 2009 presenting us with an all-time-low matric pass rate, is indeed alarming. Many commentators have, since the publication of the 2009 results and over the last while, lamented the direction of the systematic deficiencies of basic education in our country.
As we all know, our ANC-led government's policy which entails shifting resources to the poor, achieving almost universal access, and implementing initiatives to enhance outcomes and the culture of learning in schools has been amazingly effective. Furthermore, our education budgetary allocation demonstrates this government's commitment to developing the strategic capacity and instruments to build the developmental state; and we would like to engage with any contrary view.
At the same time, new challenges have emerged which demand of the ANC-led government to be more resilient. However, we need to acknowledge that these successes have not translated into an improved outcome. Our country continues to be confronted by low pass rates mathematics, science and technical subjects which in turn continue to cast doubts on whether we are able to meet the immediate, medium- and long-term skills capacity demands of the developmental state.
What is it that we need to do? I have already alluded to funding, which has given access to millions of South Africans to the various bands of education. However, we believe that indicators of access should not be restricted to a narrow definition of registration at a centre of learning, since the evidence of inequalities is still reflected in our learning and teaching landscape and it remains stuck.
For example, the critical deliverable of infrastructure provision often gets overlooked in the broader picture. Currently, and although we have made significant gains in the sphere of infrastructure provision, the scenario remains heavily skewed, particularly in relation to rural areas and poor and wealthy urban schools.
Moreover, infrastructure delivery in rural and peri-urban schools continues to be bedevilled by the absence of synchronisation between the three spheres of government. We are therefore calling on the Department of Basic Education to address this matter.
As the ANC, we have adopted certain non-negotiables in education as contained in our 2009 January 28 Statement. Amongst other things, the ANC is calling on teachers to be in class on time and to teach for seven hours daily. These non-negotiables were reaffirmed by our President, Jacob Zuma, during the state of the nation address two weeks ago.
As we know, our education system, aside from real constraints, is also seriously constrained by management capacity. This has led in many instances to unintended consequences. For example, they manifest in poor delivery, dysfunctional schools and ill discipline among some educators and learners. We are therefore endorsing the injunction of our leadership to engage with all its stakeholders, learners and teachers to adhere to the non-negotiables.
Furthermore, we are calling on the department and its provincial counterparts for improved evaluation and monitoring. Also, we wish to propose to the Department of Education, as a matter of policy, a revised and faster evaluation and assessment of schools where management requires attention.
In addition, we would like to be privy to an updated database that reflects those schools where management deficiencies are acute, in order to remedy the situation. It is our view that through working together we can destigmatise the image of township and rural schools, since it appears as if a stigma has taken root in many of these schools.
As we all know and have seen, either as spectators or active participants, the functioning and transformation of our school governing bodies remain contentious. In most areas, SGBs are indeed executing their mandate and statutory obligations in an exemplary fashion, and we salute them.
In other areas they have been used as catalysts to advise on the sinister objectives of careerists with regard to counter-transformation and further undemocratic and racialist agendas.
The SGB system has been given life through an Act of this democratic Parliament and as public representatives it is our duty to ensure that the statutory mandate is upheld at all times. It is our view that the latter is also a non-negotiable since the responsibilities and duties of the SGBs and the school management in general are regarded as being mutually exclusive. Quite the contrary, they are indeed both central to the framework within which management of schools is located. Furthermore, as the ANC we are calling for the forging of a social compact for each sector to contribute to the common objective in which particular communities and progressive formations can together strengthen the schooling system and build an enduring people's contract.
In conclusion, despite the achievements articulated here, as the ANC we are conscious that both higher and basic education have not evolved to the desired level, hence education is our government's number one priority, consistent with the definition adopted at our 52nd conference in Polokwane. Thank you. [Time expired.]