MEDIA BRIEFING
Social Cluster 2: Education, Labour, Arts & Culture and Sport & Recreation
PARLIAMENTARY BY MINISTER OF EDUCATION Ms N PANDOR, MINISTER OF SPORT & RECREATION Mr M STOFILE, MINISTER OF ARTS & CULTURE Dr P JORDAN, DEPUTY MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Ms J BENJAMIN AND MINISTER OF LABOUR Mr M MDLADLANA
Documents: Minister of Education briefing notes (see Appendix)
Minister of Education Minister Pandor in her briefing noted that the policy formulation for education in SA was complete. The focus would now be on implementation and delivery. She mentioned that the President had in his state of the nation address identified those areas that should be the focus of Education. Minister Pandor placed emphasis on the strengthening of all sectors of education. It included the following:
∙ Improvement of skills
∙ Poverty alleviation
∙ improving quality of education
∙ decreasing the spread of AIDS and HIV in schools
∙ enhancing support structures
∙ increasing financial support for needy students.ie those who cannot afford to pay school fees.
∙ the establishment of a National Social Development Strategy by 2005
∙ decreasing fraud in the allocation of grants
∙ enhancing access of food etc to those individuals who were vulnerable ie children
Minister of Sport and Recreation Minister Stofile said that the past successes in sport needed to be consolidated. He felt that there was a greater need for sports development in SA and said that transformation in sport remained a challenge. In the past the focus had been on meeting quotas, the emphasis now was on having a grounded skills development strategy. Minister Stofile noted that Cabinet required the Department of Sport together with the Sports Commission to be restructured by the end of the current financial year.
Minister of Arts and Culture Minister Jordan noted that Arts and Culture had shifted its focus to an arts investment programme as opposed to the poverty alleviation programme followed in the past. The idea was to enhance skills in individuals and communities. Minister Jordan elaborated on attempts to facilitate the enhancement of skills not only in traditional crafts but also in the music, film, book publishing and the design industry.
Deputy Minister of Social Development Deputy Minister Benjamin mentioned that legislation was in the process of being enacted to address the plight of children, the aged and the weak.
Minister of Labour Minister Mdladlana pointed out that the broad focus of labour was on skills development in SA. He noted that the department had been tasked with preparing a master plan to accelerate the spending of funds that were held by SETAS. Minister Mdladlana noted that legislation had empowered him to take action against those SETAS that were not performing. He said that action would be taken by the end of June 2004.
See Ministers briefing notes for detail
Questions Q A journalist from the Beeld asked Minister Pandor for her thoughts about her predecessors having mentioned the possibility of reforming the matric sytem. He also asked about the reason why learners up until Grade 9 using an outcome based form of education had to switch to the old system when they got to Grade 10. He felt this to be especially relevant given the Minister’s emphasis on basic skills.
A Minister Pandor replied that the need for a new curriculum would imply that the current system needed reviewing. She said that research had shown that there was no logic in the distinction between higher and standard grade for various subjects. All learners should have access to high level education. Minister Pandor said that there would clearly be changes to the matric system and much of it was already in place.
Minister Pandor commented that there was a delay in the implementation of the switch from Grade 9 to Grade 10 as new materials had to be written with respect to the revised national curriculum statement. The Minister believed that there was not a significant switch. She said that it was rather an alteration in the implementation of curriculum 2005 by way of an alteration of the methodology and the range of areas that were taught. It was primarily a change in the approach used in the classroom. She could not comprehend why when learners had to work in groups they could not be taught how to read or to be numerate. Minister Pandor, having been a teacher herself was lost as to why the new methodology leads to poor educational practices which in turn lead to poor educational outcomes. The Minister said that there was no need for backtracking and for a new framework. She reiterated that the department would support teachers in the implementation of the new methodology.
Q A journalist asked the Minister of Education for targets on the roll out of classrooms. He remarked that she had promised 12000 classrooms. He was insistent for the Minister to elaborate on the targets.
A Minister Pandor answered that giving specific targets would be difficult as classrooms were refurbished or built as they were needed. She said that she would engage with other provincial departments on the issue and that comprehensive programmes would be put in place. The Minister noted that in the Limpopo province ninety five classrooms were being refurbished and she identified the KZN as an area where much work was needed in this regard. Minister Pandor promised that by the end of the year no child would receive schooling under a tree. She said that by the end of the year 2007 the backlog of broken classrooms, bad sanitation at schools etc would be taken care of.
Q A journalist from Business Day asked the Minister of Arts and Culture for more information on the BEE strategy intended for the publishing industry.
She also asked the Minister of Education for comment on the problems associated with the concurrency of powers between national government and the provinces and whether the possibility of it being reviewed in the future.
A Minister Jordan answered that the envisaged BEE strategy was aimed more towards book publishing. He noted that a great deal of heritage on indigenous SA languages had been lost over time. Minister Jordan pointed out that not many South Africans were aware that there were books published in the languages of Tswana, Xhosa and Sesotho etc long before there were books in Afrikaans. He was saddened by the fact that an invaluable part of our heritage had been lost and hoped that blacks in publishing would take up the challenge to revitalize an important part of SA’s heritage. Minister Jordan said that the BEE strategy would also spill over towards media publishing. In the past newspapers had been available in the traditional languages. This was however no longer the case. Minister Jordan felt it important that ordinary people should receive information in their mother tongues.
A Minister Pandor said that the review of concurrent powers lies within the domain of provincial and local government as well as with justice and constitutional development. She said it was an issue that Cabinet was to discuss. Minister Pandor said that she was aware that the Minister of Provincial and Local Government has been asked to make recommendations on Schedules 5 and 6 of the Constitution. This would allow an informed decision as to whether a review of concurrent powers was required. Minister Pandor emphasized the need for a proper liaison strategy between national government and the provinces. She felt that the role of provinces was vital and that ways should be found for national government to maximally interface with them.
Q A journalist from the Volksblad asked the Minister of Sport to elaborate on his earlier comments about the focus of transformation being shifted from the filling of quotas to skills development. He also asked for comment on government’s request for sports bodies to have a re-look at their codes of conduct.
A Minister Stofile reacted that quotas had been used in the past as a transitional mechanism towards the integration of persons into sport. He noted that when quotas were introduced at the time many misunderstood their objective. Minister Stofile said that provincial entities had not gone in search for talent but rather for players of colour to fill required quotas. He felt that it was time to move away from this approach as it hampered development. The emphasis should be on the talent and the nurturing thereof.
Minister Stofile said that in the past sports federations had agreed to transform the codes of conduct of their various disciplines. He however pointed out that whenever he asked for progress reports thereon, many of them said that they were unaware of what had been promised by their predecessors. Minister Stofile said that transforming codes of conduct was very important and he would continue to pursue the matter.
Q A journalist remarked that it seemed that the plight of the Bushmen in the Kalahari had been overlooked. He asked whether they were not also regarded as part of SA’s culture. The journalist also asked whether architecture was on the list of priorities of Arts and Culture.
A Minister Jordan said that architecture fell within the ambit of design and would therefore receive attention.
He said that the term bushmen was not used any longer. The proper term to use was ‘San’. The Minister noted that it was not the department’s intention to neglect any group of people. Minister Jordan pointed out that San poetry had already been recorded and translated. The Minister however pointed out that not many people understood San and that the area they lived in was so isolated. Having said this he nevertheless felt that no matter how insignificant a language might seem it still needed to be published.
Q The Business Day journalist remarked that the Minister of Labour had in the past alluded to a review of the skills development strategy. She asked whether it was still on the cards. She also asked how much funds remained unspent by the SETAS.
A Minister Mdladlana said that the review of the skills development strategy had taken place. He said that a draft was available for public comment.
Minister Mdladlana said that a total of R2.3bn remained unspent. He pointed out that audits were taking place at present and that by August a report would be available. He did however note that already half of the unspent monies had already been committed.
Q A question was asked over what government’s response was to the ever increases in the casualisation of labour on farms. He also asked what impact the UIF legislation has had on domestic and farm workers. He additionally asked how the department viewed the role of bargaining councils in the bargaining processes of wages for workers. He asked whether the department played a role in bargaining processes.
A Minister Mdladlana reacted that casualisation was not only taking place on farms. He said that casuals were even present in the briefing itself, that is, casual journalists. The President had requested that the issue of casualisation of labour needed to be looked into. He said that a report would be published in the near future. The root cause of problems over casualisation was labour brokers. Advantage was being taken of casuals because no benefits accrued to them. Minister Mdladlana said that a possible solution could be the regulation of labour brokers. He noted that there was no definite solution as yet but there will be one in the future.
Minister Mdladlana said that domestic workers had been included in the UIF legislation. He however was not willing to comment on the impact of the legislation on domestic workers as it was not too long ago that they were included. He said that only time will tell on the impact that the legislation would have on domestic workers. Minister Mdladlana did venture to say that problems had been experienced with regards to farm workers as often UIF contributions had to be collected from them or in other cases delays in payments were experienced.
The Minister said that his views on bargaining councils did not matter. Workers need to bargain for their wages and not beg for it. He said that there needs to be an employee-employer interaction.
He said that once agreement had been reached in bargaining chambers or bargaining council rooms the responsibility of the Minister was merely to sign those agreements. The fact that the Minister has discretion to intervene was of no consequence. Refusal by the Minister to sign would mean that the bargaining process would start afresh. The Minister felt it to be a very sensitive issue.
On the role of the department, the Minister said that bargaining reports were analysed and in some instances problems did occur. Minister Mdladlana stressed repeatedly that the biggest problem he had was that big business was crushing smaller businesses. He explained that the mechanism big business was using to do this was the bargaining system.
Minister Mdladlana was unhappy about the participation of members on the boards of SETAS. He was however angered by the fact that the department of labour was often blamed for the non-performance of SETAS. The Minister said that neither he nor the president sat on the boards of SETAS. It was the leadership of trade unions and business themselves that constituted these boards. He felt that it was therefore only fair that trade unions and business should hold their respective representatives responsible if they were unhappy.
Q Financial Mail asked both the Ministers of Labour and Education about the problems experienced over the last decade about education not meeting the needs of the labour market. There seemed to be a mismatch. What recommendations had they to correct it? The Minister of Education was asked what was intended to be done to improve the quality of education. Was the possibility of recruiting maths and science teachers from abroad an option?
A Minister Pandor answered that it was not only the needs of labour but also entrepeneurship that was not being met. She said that there needs to be a focus on the development of coherence between education and labour. The kinds of training offered and developed by SETAS were outside the public institutional sector and was therefore a problem. It was also important to look at the role that industries play in influencing the academic courses that were being offered. The Minister was concerned that interest in maths and science was lacking and that even though students passed these subjects at school, they did not pursue studies in them at universities or technikons. It was important to address the foundational aspect of education. The sciences especially at tertiary institutions needed much subsidisation. Minister Pandor felt that throughput was a necessary element of ensuring that SA had the correct human resources. She made a commitment that attempts would be made to ensure that education and labour would become more complementary.
Teacher development was critical to the improvement of the quality of education. Materials production needed to be on stream and that at grass roots level the proper skilled persons was needed to manage educators. Teachers need to be equipped with what was needed and must be given the space to teach.
The question was not about recruiting teachers from abroad but rather about the problem of SA teachers being recruited to teach abroad. SA had the ability to deliver a good complement of teachers and that the proper persons needed to be attracted to the teaching profession.
Q A journalist noted that Minister Pandor said that if it was correct that group work should not lead to a loss of literacy and numeracy skills. But would it not be difficult for students to be assessed?
A The Minister felt that there was nothing wrong with the methodology of the curriculum but that maybe there was an administrative overload on the educator in its implementation. She felt that the implementation of the curriculum needed to be far less complex.
The briefing was concluded.
Appendix:
SPEAKING NOTES BY MINISTER OF EDUCATION, NALEDI PANDOR, MP, AT PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFINGS INTRODUCING SOCIAL CLUSTER II (HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL SECURITY, Parliament, Cape Town
28 May 2004
Throughout the state of the nation speech on the 21 May 2004 the President addressed the matter of human resource development as an integral part of the government's response to poverty alleviation, and as the critical element in addressing the challenges of the two economies that exist in our country.
Our brief this morning is to provide an indication of our response to the tasks that have been outlined.
The ministers present here today (Labour, Social Development, Arts and Culture, and Sport and Recreation) represent the driving forces behind South Africa's human resource development strategy.
Although we will address matters relevant to our portfolios here, we are going to be working together in an integrated way to meet the challenges we face. The programmes we address in this statement must be seen in their totality as government's response to South Africa's human resource development needs.
Over the next five years the Department of Education will focus on consolidation. The education system has sound policies, from general education through to higher education. The hard work has been done and the challenges ahead mainly require the harnessing and consolidation of programmes that are already under way.
Quality improvement throughout the system will remain high on the agenda over the next five years. Our vision is of a quality education system in which all our people will have access to lifelong education and training. Implementation of this vision requires that all our children enjoy access to well-resourced schools run by enthusiastic teachers. It requires providing adults who need to achieve or improve qualifications the opportunity to pursue their aspirations. It also requires creating conditions for ensuring that South Africa has the high-level skills that will encourage innovation, creativity, and growth in our economy. It requires supporting and strengthening all sectors in education so that we create institutions of quality able to provide the intellectual leadership that our agenda of transformation through education requires. Our vision means that we must place the learning enterprise at the heart of our national project of change.
The Department's priorities are the following: improving skills; dealing with poverty, improving the quality of education, preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS among learners and educators, and enhancing support and development.
The Department of Labour is working closely with the Department of Education to address the issue of human resource and skills development. The Sector Education and Training Authorities are making inroads into addressing the question of scarce skills. The Ministry of Labour is currently re-establishing all the SETAs and the process will be complete by the end of March 2005 as required by the Skills Act.
In 2003 the Department of Labour injected about R100 million into the National Students Financial Aid Scheme to assist poor students who are unable to afford the costs of higher education.
The Department of Arts and Culture has a programme called "investing in culture". This programme will identify and harness existing skills within communities. This can become the single most significant intervention the department makes in the second economy.
The departments of Arts and Culture and Sport and Recreation will consider how to develop schools of focussed learning (schools of excellence) for children who excel in different fields, like arts, sports and music.
While addressing education and training, the provision of new employment opportunities and the creation and support of new cultural entrepreneurship, we must also not neglect the need to address poverty in our society.
The Department of Social Development will continue to expand on its many achievements: 8,1million beneficiaries of social grants; and over 1,5 million beneficiaries of the food emergency scheme. Its immediate key priorities are:
* The establishment of National Social Security Agency and Inspectorate by 2005 to improve effectiveness and efficiency; drastically reduce fraud and corruption in the management and administration for grants and enhance Batho-pele and better quality in the delivery of services to the poorest of the poor.
* Enhance access of the vulnerable to food security, including children, child headed households, and people with HIV and AIDS, through the food emergency scheme and the integrated food security and nutrition programme.
* Expanded Public Works Programme to create 185,000 jobs, enhance the creation of work through volunteer programmes especially within the Early Childhood Programmes and the Home and Community Based Care.
I fear that sport is going to mean football for the next six years. I only hope that the Minister will have due regard to the interests of women and that 2010 will not devolve into an all-male affair.
The possibilities opened by our successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup to expand the Public Works Programme are huge.
However, in addition to football, Sport and Recreation has to set its sights on the 2008 Olympics and the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This means new sporting skills opportunities for young South Africans. Thus, the Department of Sport and Recreation has a vital contribution to make to our human resource development strategy.