Hon Chairperson, hon members, Minister, Deputy Minister and MECs from the provinces, as the IFP we welcome the fact that we now have two Ministers to deal with education. Hopefully, many of the problems we have been experiencing over the past years will be dealt with in a good manner in every sense, Madam.
Empeleni, mhlonishwa, Ngqongqoshe, kunezinto eziningi eziyaye zingikhathaze emphefumulweni wami nakuba seniye nayenzangcono imfundo yethu emazingeni onke kubalwa nama-Governing Body nje. [As a matter of fact, hon Minister, there are many things that trouble me although you have managed to improve our education system at every level, including the school governing bodies.] My problem, hon Minister and MECs ...
... lawa ma-Governing Body, uma kuqashwa othisha ezikoleni - kukhona omama nobaba bethu emakhaya, abangazange balubhade esikoleni kodwa kuthiwa abenze inhlololwazi kothisha. Ngibona ukuthi uMnyango ufanele ukulubhekisisa loludaba ngoba mina ngokwami ngibona kuwukudlala ngabantu bakithi ukuthi benze le nhlololwazi. Kusuka umuntu owenze iBanga Lokuqala noma ongazange afike naseBangeni Lokuqala nje kuthiwe akenze inhlololwazi kumuntu oneBanga le 12. Ngiyacela, Ngqongqoshe ukuthi nikubheke lokho. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... is that these governing bodies, when they recruit teachers for schools, involve our fathers and mothers who never attended school, but are expected to interview teachers. I think that the department should reconsider this position, because I feel that it is ridiculous that our people are expected to conduct these interviews. You cannot expect a person who has only completed Grade 1 or who did not even reach that grade to conduct an interview with a person who has passed Grade 12. I am pleading with you, hon Minister, to look at this matter.]
Coming to the budget in these schools ...
... ngiyazi, mhlonishwa, Ngqongqoshe ukuthi ezikoleni zethu sekunezabiwomali. [... I am aware, hon Minister, that there are budget allocations for our schools these days.]
These principals are not accountable to the people...
... ngale mali yabakhokhi bentela. [... regarding the taxpayers' money.]
We should look at all these things, Minister...
... noNgqongqoshe bezifundazwe. Ake nizibhekisise lezi zinto. Laba bantu kufanele baphendule ngabakwenzile ngoba yizimali zomphakathi lezi ezisuke zisetshenziswa. Lapho uThishanhloko avele nje athumele isheke elingabhalwe lutho kuSihlalo ukuthi asayinde noma ashaye isithupha. Lokho ngikubona kuyinto engahambi kahle.
Okunye, wukuthi ngithanda ukunibongela boNgqongqoshe ngoba niyafika - mhlonishwa uNzimande, nawe Ngqongqoshe. Ngakho-ke ngiyethemba ukuthi nizobheka kahle izinkinga ezikhungethe izingane zakithi ezimnyama ezisemanyuvesi. Kufuneka nazi kahle ukuthi kukhona izingane lapho emakhaya kungenalutho ezifunda khona laphaya emanyuvesi okufanele kubukisiswe kuyo le mali le esuke ikhokhwe nguhulumeni ukuthi bayanikezwa yini abantu ngendlela ekuyiyona yona.
Sengiphetha Ngqongqoshe, okunye okungikhathaza kakhulu wukuthi, ngoba niyafika, ngeke ngilokhu nginibhaxeka ngodaka olwenziwe ngabanye abantu ningekho. Le Mithethomgomo ekhona kwezemfundo kufanele ibuyekezwe futhi kubhekwe ukusebenza kwayo. Okunye mhl onishwa, dadawethu, izilimi zesiNguni kanye nezinye izilimi zama-Afrika kufanele ziqhutshekiselwe phambili futhi zinikezwe amandla zikwazi ukusebenza kuyo yonke iMinyango kahulumeni ngoba asikhona eNgilandi lapha, kodwa sise-Afrika lapho kukhona khona abantu bakithi abamnyama okuyibona abayiningi okufanele banakekelwe ngokuthi kuqhutshekiselwe phambili zonke izilimi zabo. Ngiyabonga, Nxamalala. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[... and MECs. Look at these things, please. These people should be accountable for what they are doing, because it is the taxpayers' money that is used. Some principals just send a blank cheque to the chairperson to sign or to attach a thumb print. I feel that that is not right. The other thing is that I want to congratulate you Ministers, because you have just joined us - hon Nzimande and you, hon Minister. I therefore believe that you will look into the problems which are troubling our black students who are at the universities. You must know very well that there are children who come from destitute homes who are studying at those universities and therefore you must look out for them through the funds that are paid out by the government by making sure that the right people receive them.
In conclusion, hon Minister, the other thing which troubles me a lot is that because you have just joined us, I won't hold you responsible for mistakes that were committed by others whilst you were not even here. These policies that are in use here in education need to be reviewed and looked at closely with regard to how they function. Another thing, hon Minister, my sister, the Nguni languages and other African languages should be developed so that they can be utilised in all government departments, because we are not in England, but in Africa where our black people are in the majority and need to be taken care of by developing all their languages. Thank you, Nxamalala. [Applause.]]
Ms L HLONGWA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to be part of this debate today, following the tabling of the budget by the Minister, the hon Angie Motshekga. We wish to start by congratulating the Minister on her appointment and on being entrusted by the ANC with this very crucial position to lead the Department of Basic Education. We also want to pledge our support to constructively critique where we see shortfalls and be appreciative where necessary.
We draw our strength and comfort from the knowledge that the hon Motshekga, as a disciplined member of the ANC, will deliver and ensure that she effects qualitative transformation in this department, which shall bring about a shift in the manner in which things have been done in the past. This year the province's focus is on quality of delivery of education, as was launched by the then MEC of education, Ms Cronj, in Ulundi in March 2009. We are pleased to note the new trends in the budget estimates, and that the education outcomes will be improved by enrolling an increased number of Grade R pupils, or, rather, five-year-olds in the public schools, that number to increase from 701 740 to 800 000 by 2010. We applaud this, Madam. The growth in the public ordinary schools allocation is received with humility by the province of KwaZulu-Natal, since most of our schools need renovation and learning and teaching support materials, LTSM. Chairperson, we think this is in line with, or in the spirit of, the Freedom Charter, which states that the doors of learning and teaching shall be opened to all.
The improvement of school management is one fundamental issue that, as the province, we have identified and we want to support. This year we are saying, as the province, that we want to grant all our schools section 21 status and, however, put a clear monitoring tool in place so that this is not abused. In our definition, quality of education is a tripartite relationship model that encapsulates the role of parents and teachers, as well as learners; hence, our resolve to strengthen the relationship among the three main parties.
Teachers remain critical and very important in our task of ensuring quality education for all. When our people were faced with the oppressive impact of Bantu education, it was the teachers who stood up and ensured that we confounded the architects of apartheid by producing doctors, lawyers and engineers. Now that we are free, Madam Minister, we need a similar resolute commitment. Our teachers must commit to a set of non-negotiables: to be at school on time, in class, teaching, with no abuse of learners and no neglect of duty. This was also said by the President in his state of the nation address. As the KwaZulu-Natal province, we are very clear that people must be placed in influential positions because they are fit for a particular task at hand, not because they belong to a particular union.
We are also pleased that the Minister is engaging with the teacher unions to address educational challenges, which range from resources and accountability to curriculum deficiency. We are very fortunate to have the MEC, in the person of Comrade Senzo Mchunu, who has also declared, in the public fora, that we shall be meeting, as legislators, with teacher unions to enhance our working relationship and also curb unnecessary industrial action.
The province takes the issue of effective teaching and learning very seriously in that our MEC, together with the senior officials of the department, have visited a few schools, just to get a feel for what is happening there. We also note, with humility, in the Estimates of Public Expenditure, EPE, that the department will focus on monitoring and evaluation of the management of schools. Without prioritising that, we shall forever be pumping money into something that doesn't yield the expected fruits. The Minister is correct, Chairperson, that all performing schools have good managers, and this is our conviction, as well, in KwaZulu- Natal.
Hence we are gearing ourselves to ensure that the state resources do not go to waste unnecessarily as the President has made a call that every cent spent should be accounted for. The further focus on the development of teacher competence, by ensuring that teacher qualifications and continuing professional development programmes are of an acceptable standard, receives undivided attention from the province of KwaZulu-Natal, since it is an imperative central to the maximisation of educational outputs. We are very humbled by the Minister's commitment to accountability and confrontation of all dysfunctional schools, as well as dysfunctional Department of Basic Education offices.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal undertakes to particularly focus on developing the capacity of our teachers, improving the capabilities of our existing educators while training a new generation of teachers, equipped with enthusiasm, values and skills that will be needed to build a new education system. The capacity of teachers teaching mathematics, science and technology remains a big challenge that we think needs strategic co- ordination from this level of government. Programme 4 of the budget estimates talks about this point in that the focus is on 500 Dinaledi schools in 2009. However, we feel that this is too few, if we are to deal with the challenge ahead.
We want to propose that for us to thoroughly deal with this challenge, we need to address the teaching methods and understand the context from which the teachers teach and also the context in which learners are taught. This will be of primary importance to change the disposition of learners towards mathematics and science. Again, it is not about developing content knowledge but is mainly about developing pedagogical knowledge that is appropriate to the school environment.
We are particularly grateful to the Minister for unequivocally emphasising the challenges faced by rural schools, especially with regard to our children who have to walk many kilometres before they arrive at school. Most of those children come from disadvantaged families where abject poverty is the order of the day. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]