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The Constitution stipulates in section 28(2) that:"A child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child". The national department for basic education is neglecting a significant number of learners by not providing remedial education and services to them.

Minister Angie Motshekga's department has done away with educational aid centres at all its regions countrywide, as well as support classes and specialist teachers who were responsible for assisting and guiding learners with learning problems and learning disabilities in our schools. This step was to the detriment of many learners, and by ignoring their needs, the department not only ignored their "best interests", but also contributed to the high drop-out figures of learners who leave school before completing Grade 12.

In her oral reply last week to a question posed in Parliament, regarding the reasons for the low retention rate of learners in our schools, Motshekga tried to downplay the problem by focussing on the drop-out figures for Grades 10 to 12 individually. The truth is that the drop-out rate for the past three years (2007-2009) varied between 76% and 78%. At the end of 2009, only 335,000 (23%) of the 1,4 million learners who enrolled in 1997, successfully completed their Grade 12 year.

Many of the reasons Motshekga gave for the low retention rate, for instance learner absenteeism, discouraged repeaters, issues of criminality, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual activity at an early age, teenage pregnancies and other social reasons, can directly be linked to the negligence of providing remedial services to and in our schools. Learners with learning problems and disabilities develop behavioral and personality problems, if their learning needs are not addressed during their first four schooling years (Grade R to Grade 3).

During my follow up question on this issue, I reminded Motshekga that the lack of remedial services is mainly to be blamed for the shockingly high drop-out figures and that her department is yet again responsible for destroying invaluable structures and services in education. She was forced to agree with me in this regard, and thanked me for indicating to her what the main reason for the high drop-out figure is, but she still owes me an answer as to how she plans to deal with this huge problem in future.

Reference is often made to a lost generation of learners. The minister and her department are solely responsible for this state of affairs.

The DA will in future make the reinstatement of remedial services to all our schools one of its main priorities.