Hon Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, I rise to support and thank you, President, for the leadership you gave in the state of the nation address. I must confess that I'm heartened by the way in which you demonstrated your firm commitment to bettering our education system. I think you referred to education many times - more than any other sector - and for that we are very grateful.
I agree with you, President, that education is the single most important tool for our people to develop our young children, and also for the future of our country. It is a tool that will help us as a country to confront the many challenges facing our beautiful and beloved country, which include, and are not limited to, poverty; unemployment; the burden of disease; class and gender imbalances; underdevelopment; the list goes on. We are confident, President, that if we get it right in education, most of our problems will be addressed.
First and foremost, again, I want to thank the President for establishing the Ministry of Basic Education, not only because this gave me a job, but also because I think it's a very useful Ministry that will help us focus and dedicate our attention to schooling. This kind of attention is required, given the size and the complexity of our education system, which is still recovering in many areas from the historic years of deliberate neglect. We will not shy away from the task and won't disappoint the nation. We will handle the task with the commitment and dedication it requires.
In the state of the nation address, the President charged us to ensure that we plan, implement and monitor our work and evaluate all our different activities. More importantly, he charged us to ensure that teachers teach, learners learn and parents parent their children, and that we go back to basics.
We were also challenged in that our most valuable resource in education, that is teachers, must conduct their business in the most ethical and exemplary manner and desist from any behaviour that harms their learners and the profession itself. Any form of ill discipline must be dealt with decisively.
We were also charged with making sure that our schools are made to be running schools. Again, we are committed to making sure that that happens. You charged us with doing our business with the utmost dedication and producing quality outcomes which ensure that our schools are nothing less than thriving centres of excellence.
The other challenge was around breaking the back of illiteracy. Again, we are committed to making sure that we do that. One of the most important points that the President has raised, even in other forums, is to ensure that all South African children from rural areas, farming areas and poor communities are provided access to quality education and are given an opportunity to really grow and develop their potential to the full.
I think what is more important, President, is to make sure that we - and I think the new Ministry enables us to do just that - redefine what we mean by "basic" in the country. "Basic" would be anything between Grade R and Grade 12, unlike in the past where "basic" would be interpreted as Grade 9 being an exit point. In that respect, we will make sure that all our learners who are drop-outs, that is, children who have not reached Grade 12, are assisted to complete matric, to make sure that indeed they have basic education, as required.
Hon member Wilmot James, I couldn't agree with you more; you are right, the bottom line in education is about getting the curriculum right. That is the core business. We must be able to transport our learners to school. We can keep them in safe structures, we can feed them and we can protect them, but, if there are still outstanding matters around the curriculum, then, I think, we are wasting our time and our resources. [Applause.]
Education is about pedagogy in the classroom. It is about the interaction between the learner and the teacher. It is about what they learn.
Our curriculum needs to be streamlined even further, and all other frills that tend to distract teachers from the core business of teaching and learning must be removed. We must go back to basics. The minimum requirement, which has been evading us in many of our schools, is to make sure that our learners can read, write and count as the bottom line.
Yes, the noble principles of the outcomes-based curriculum cannot be wished away and thus remain great and noble. Our children, as future citizens, need to be equipped with skills which will enable them to be well-rounded adults that can solve problems, that can think laterally and that can work as teams. However, the bottom line is that they have to be able to read and write in that context, and that we are committed to.
Mr President, when I was first appointed as an MEC of education in Gauteng, I undertook road shows to familiarise myself with the work that I was meant to do. I met a number of principals and some of your best educators, and all of them, without fail, raised issues about the curriculum. When I became a Minister, the first thing that I did in office was to say: Now I'm here; let's talk about the curriculum.
I was very excited to find that my predecessor had already set up processes and systems to make sure that indeed, Mr Wilmot James, we address the curriculum. We can assure the nation that I have told the committee the previous Minister set up that the urgency of the matter would start in July. Come 2010, we will be working on a streamlined curriculum that will make sure we have clear outcomes without any frills. [Applause.]
These initiatives are all intended to achieve one goal: an improvement in the quality of learning outcomes. We are now testing, as a department, Grades 3 and 6. Only Gauteng and the Western Cape ran these tests. Following the state of the nation address, I have given the instruction that all schools in the country run these tests - that we test our Grade 3s as an exit point, and Grades 6 and 9 to make sure that throughout the system we can assess our outcomes on an ongoing basis, and this will take place.
I can assure the member from the UCDP that the tasks that have been beating us as South Africans, come 2011, we will be ready for. We will have improved our outputs. [Applause.]
Again, President, we were instructed to make sure that by 2010 our children are tested for hearing and visual defects, and also have their teeth tested. When you see newspaper people running around, President, you must know that we are doing our work with Dr Motsoaledi. We have agreed to put a task team in place which will make sure that by 2010 - a ke re Ntate Motsoaledi? [Isn't it so, Mr Motsoaledi?] - we will be able to test all our Grade 1s before they start schooling. Mr Motsoaledi is looking at me - Re dumellane, a ke re? [We did agree, didn't we?]
The other issue, Mr President, was around making sure that we remove all the mud schools and dangerous structures. Again, regarding that task, President, we are in discussion with Minister Doidge. We will be putting together a team which will make sure that we work with our provincial structures and that indeed we give you a full plan by 30 June, to really give you a sense of how we are going to confront that.
Unlike many other departments that do not have counter departments, Education is one department which is blessed with many people to do the same work. So, we are confident that together with the different MECs, we will be able to pull it off.
During all our meetings, the Deputy President keeps on reminding us, especially as ANC cadres, that since Polokwane, the ANC has prioritised education as priorities one, two and three. We are quite confident that, together with all the able MECs that the ANC has deployed in different provinces, we will be able to pull it off.
We are also already involved with the Western Cape, which is one of the best-run education provincial departments. It was run by the ANC in the past. [Applause.] It was run by the DA before. But it is definitely the best-run provincial department. So, we are in discussions with them. [Interjections.] We will be visiting them to ask them not to reverse the good things we have left for them in that province. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
So, I will be visiting the Western Cape next week - we will also be visiting the different provinces - to make sure that indeed we align our forces in the province. We think that, as the education sector, we have the necessary muscle and force to pull it off. With the MECs deployed throughout the country, as I said, without exception, we are confident that we will pull it off.
You challenged us to expand our early-childhood education, and I agree with you, hon President, that the benefits of a structured pre-school year are enormous to both the child and the system. Again, we will make sure that we meet the deadlines.
We are putting in place an instrument to ensure that we can track our learners or track every child from the day they begin school to when they finish. This will enable us to manage the transfer between schools, identify slow progress and intervene where necessary.
At the same time, we have initiated a review of adult basic education. We are working very closely with the Minister of Higher Education and Training to streamline and, again, make sure that we are in line with the instruction to break the back of illiteracy.
Our schools do indeed need a lot of attention, especially those that continue to fail our communities. These are not limited to the urban or rural setting and often have little to do with the wealth of the school or its community.
A recent report by the Ministry of Education of schools at work showed conclusively that the issues were not complex and did not depend so much and solely on resources. A singular focus on teaching and learning is a prime ingredient of a successful school, with learners, teachers and parents recognising that this is very central to education. This recognition has brought about the Quality Learning and Teaching campaign of the department, which has brought all stakeholders under the umbrella of non-negotiables. This means, as you said, President, teachers being in class on time, teaching; learners being in class on time, learning; and parents doing their part.
Teachers are required to be in school for at least seven hours a day, as well as one extra day for preparation. In support of this, we will be strengthening the accountability and performance management system throughout the sector.
Apart from the Integrated Quality Management System which is now being externally moderated, we intend, this year, to begin with the establishment of the national education evaluation and development unit. It is a unit that our masses called for in the conference of the ruling party in Limpopo.
Qualified and committed teachers remain the mainstay of our system of education. In 2009, for the first time, we will be phasing in the allocation of grants to teacher unions to undertake developmental programmes for their members - Tat' Thulas Nxesi - to make sure that there is also professional development and professional engagement amongst our teachers.
The President has instructed us to convene a meeting of principals. I can assure you, President, that we have already made contact with them and there is great excitement about it. We are just waiting for the date. But, I can tell you that yesterday already, after the state of the nation address on Wednesday, we made contact with the national structure of principals and they are ready and they feel ...
... bawelwa yintoni lento befunwa ukubonwa ngumntu omdala kangaka. [... what a great opportunity it is that somebody of high calibre wants to meet them.]
They are very excited about it. So, we will be doing that. And I can assure you, principal - I mean President ... [Laughter.] ... that schools stand and fall on principals. When I used to visit schools, I could see them coming and would say, "Ae, Nna ha ho kwae komeng" ["Well, there isn't much one can expect from them."] ... just by the way they walked. But sometimes a good principal can turn things around and make a school work. So, I think it is a brilliant start, President, and we are looking forward to that meeting between you and the principals.
Let me conclude by indicating that we are deliberately called public schools and not state schools. This is a signal that we belong to the people and not to the government. The instrument through which the public has been given the right to run these schools is the school governing body, which has extensive powers and functions, including the recommendation of staff appointment, the development of the code of conduct, the raising of school fees, and the determination of language policy. I don't think there is any other system that concedes so many powers to the public as we do.
It is essential that all patriotic South Africans participate in these governing bodies. The opportunity is now; we are currently running school governing body elections. These are the second biggest elections outside national and provincial elections. During this period, we are looking for nearly more than 200 000 governors to run our schools. The elections are on, and we are calling our communities to participate in these elections.
Again, the President has tasked us to ensure that schools become centres of excellence. Our research shows that there are three elements to a successful school: Good and committed teachers; spending the proper amount of time on tasks; the support of decent textbooks - and that is why, again, when we meet with the provincial MECs, we'll be working with them and with Finance to make sure that indeed, come 2010, we resource our schools adequately. It doesn't help to say that teachers have to be in class, if there is nothing that they can use as their teaching support material.
So, we'll be resourcing all poor schools in 2010 to make sure that, indeed, there are basic resources for every child to be able to read. Again, we commit ourselves to working on this. If we can make these three things happen, we can claim that basic education will be on the road to success.
The next big task facing the education sector is ensuring that we build a post-school sector that will not only develop the technical skills needed for the economy, but also the social and other skills and attitudes required for a developmental state. Our FET colleges may well be the core of such a system, but we would want to expand these to ensure a diverse range of programmes offered in a variety of institutional settings across the country.
The linking of the skills development structure with education should ensure a much greater alignment of effort and provide a solid basis for the implementation of the national human resource development strategy.
The President asks us to ensure that poorer students are not denied access to higher education. Our primary instrument for this is the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFA, which allocates over R2 billion every year to poor and deserving students. Added to this is the amount that is now being recovered from students. We are paying back these loans, and that money is recycled into the system. Last year alone, the NSFAS was able to recover almost R300 million from learners who were paying back the loans that were given to them.
We know that there are still problems of access, and I can report on behalf of the Minister of Higher Education and Training that already he has initiated a review of the scheme and has committed himself to reporting back to Parliament as soon as this is concluded. Again, the linkages between NSFAS funds and the National Skills Fund, which will in future be under one roof, will be explored to ensure maximum benefit.
Let me finish with a good news story, following the President's wish for us to revive school sport. In the first half of this year, over 80 000 children participated in the Schools Confederation Cup. Each of the provinces participated as one of the countries in the Confederation Cup, including being able to render the national anthem of that country. The finals were held last week, with the Western Cape, representing Iraq, as the eventual winner.
The same competition will be held for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and I must encourage everyone to support their schools, where some very exciting sport is being played. Ke a leboga. [I thank you.] [Applause.]