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The biggest battle Education Minister Kader Asmal had to fight during his tenure was with the Treasury, he said on Monday.

"Education has a very small budget," he told reporters in Pretoria. Much would not have been achieved without foreign donors.

At his last meeting with education MECs on Monday, it was noted that the European Union had granted euros 60 million (about R500 million) for the building of 150 new schools and the refurbishment of many others.

"This will be the major task for the incoming administration, who will need to find the R700 million necessary to complete this task," Asmal told reporters in Pretoria.

A report highlighted that 4216 schools were provided with water, 5239 schools had been connected to electricity and over 60,000 new toilets had been installed.

The report also indicated a steady increase in enrolment since 2001 and that 80 percent of pupils now enrolled for high school.

"The data shows a gross enrolment ratio of 95 percent, and that some 82 percent of pupils remain in school after the compulsory age of 15 -- an exceptional level of retention which is not achieved in even some developed countries," he said.

He said many foreign pupils were being attracted to both private and government schools in the country. Proof, he said that South African education was on the right track.

Looking back on his five-year term, which he described as one of the most exciting times of his life, Asmal said he had not "dumbed down" education but rather sought to achieve equal opportunity.

Explaining his sometimes unpopular stance he said education by its very nature was full of controversy and dispute.

Asmal used the opportunity to announce that Tamil, Gujarati, Hebrew and Latin would be included in the list of approved subjects at the further education and training level, meaning 13 non-official languages were now on offer.

Asmal said lawyers, magistrates, doctors and many other professionals would in the future have to speak at least one of the local languages.

"Without knowing the language of the area you are working in you won't be able to operate," he said. He warned that relying on translators would be a thing of the past.

Asmal also announced that the deadline for submissions to the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings (TRC) in Education had been postponed to the end of April due to the large number of submissions.

The hearings, seeking to establish restorative justice for those "who sacrificed their education in the interest of liberation", will commence hearings in May.

"People have a right to say how their careers were destroyed and their future's blocked by the system. I remember the psychological impact which caused me to break out in boils and pimples as I am sure many others did," he said.

He also promised to continue disseminating HIV/Aids awareness through schools.

He said research had shown that 80 percent of 15-to-24 years olds had learnt about HIV/Aids through school and that 14 percent of people over 55 also had school to thank for information about the disease.

Asmal said his term as education minister had been the most "invigorating and enjoyable" five years of his life -- an area of enormous controversy and dispute, which he said, reminded him of his years at university where he was surrounded by discussion and argument - Sapa.

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