Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, hon MECs and hon members, in 2008 learners across South Africa wrote the same National Curriculum Statement examination for the first time. This marked the completion of the radical curriculum change first introduced in 1997 as Curriculum 2005, and then the Revised Curriculum Statement in 2002.
So it is, therefore, in the interests of all South Africans that the ANC supports this budget as it seeks to ensure the effective implementation of the National Curriculum Statement, including the provision of quality education. Given the challenging postapartheid conditions as well as the short time for implementation, this is a staggering achievement of which South Africa's education system can justly be proud.
Indeed, the ANC-led government successfully championed this improved, globally competitive and locally responsive National Curriculum Statement. In addition, the National Curriculum Statement is the effective implementation of the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign and it is significant in ensuring success for learners in the system. This campaign gives practical expression to the task of building schools as thriving centres of excellence, as the President alluded to in the state of the nation address. Furthermore, an invariable commitment to the non- negotiables by all stakeholders is significant, as was identified in the ANC January 8 Statement for 2009, and the subsequent state of the nation address.
It is not only teachers and learners who should commit to being at school on time, in class, teaching and learning. There is also a need for education districts to be proactive and responsive to the needs of all the schools. I think the Deputy Minister has alluded to accountability, and if we have these processes in place and have accountability from the district, we are going to go far.
In support of the promotion of excellence, the strengthening of the integrated quality management system - now being externally moderated - and the establishment of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit contribute to the quest to improve the performance of schools and the system as a whole. Similarly, relationships between teachers and the state should be characterised by an inclusive national discourse that focuses on what support teachers need, and how to achieve quality improvement.
To my colleague from Cope I'd like to say that the integrated quality management system has elements of needs and skills audits and analysis, and with your problem of learners not having the vocabulary and the skills that are envisaged in this programme, that problem will be easily solved.
Furthermore, one of the most significant factors affecting learner performance is teacher quality, and the effect is greater for the poor. In this regard, the provision of formal training as a precondition for promoting teachers to principals and heads of departments is significant in developing sound management and leadership, as indicated by the President in the 2009 state of the nation address. We are happy to learn that the President will be meeting the principals in due course.
Again, I want to say to my colleague in the IFP that when it comes to the appointment of teachers who are qualified and to school governing bodies that you say are not well prepared for this, but if we all engage in the Kha Ri Gude campaign that is aimed at educating our adults we will not have a problem.
The medium of instruction is a critical issue. In the delivery of the curriculum the government is well aware that the attainment of initial literacy and numeracy in the home language for at least four years leads to improved literacy levels. However, the choice of the medium of instruction lies with the parents. It takes two to tango. We come with these policies but the parents keep on dragging their feet. So, it is our job - I say to my colleague from the IFP - to also encourage our parents and show them the need for our learners to be educated in their own languages, at least in lower classes.
Coming from Mpumalanga, the province being a rural area, we are reviewing the best models to deliver quality education to the remote farms and rural schools to ensure that we provide holistic support for learners in poor households. Among other things, we will be using the abandoned boarding facilities and extending the provision of transport to learners who cannot access school very easily. We need to strengthen the capacity of the further education and training colleges to respond to the needs of provincial economies. I am happy that this budget talks to that, and the Deputy Minister has also alluded to that.
Indeed, education is fundamental to the achievement of the society envisaged in the Freedom Charter. To this end, an educated and engaged youth are indispensable to present and future nation-building. Government must intensify the implementation of policies in the education and training sector in order to ensure that it is committed to increasing access to quality education so that quality education is realised. I hope my colleague from the ID realises that we see that policies need to be implemented and monitored.
As I conclude, I must say that we have to be able to support our own involvement in our oversight duties as we will indeed be working together and with communities, agencies and schools, and that we must develop effective plans to better protect the rights of the learner, particularly those of young girls, as well as the rights of teachers. Thank you. [Applause.]