Date: 10/06/2003
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: Jacobs: Gauteng Education Prov Budget Vote 2003/2004


BUDGET SPEECH BY THE GAUTENG MEC OF EDUCATION, MR IGNATIUS JACOBS, 10 June 2003

INTRODUCTION

Honourable Speaker, Members, Colleagues, it is indeed an honour and a privilege to present the Education Budget for the Financial Year 2003/2004.

I would like you and the house to acknowledge the presence of the key components that forms part of the well - oiled engine of education, namely, the educators, learners, parents, trade unions, business and departmental officials, who are all sitting in the gallery. To all of you, I salute you and value your contribution to ensure that we have an effective and efficient education system in Gauteng. Building relationship capital is what has become a key ingredient in the successful recipe for the achievements in Education.

Honourable speaker, the theme for this budget speech is called "celebrating our successes in pushing back the frontiers of poverty". The State President, President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address in February of this year, indicated the following:

Despite continuing improvement in the capacity of the economy to create new jobs, the issue of unemployment remains one of our major challenges.

Fundamentally, the solution to this problem is dependant on us achieving the necessary rates of economic growth and development. Accordingly everything we have said about the economy also relates directly to the issue of job creation.

In this context we must raise the critically important matter of human capital development. The human resource strategy that we developed covers the entire spectrum from ECD, primary and secondary education (GET), technical and vocational training (FETI) through to ABET.

With regard to the accomplishment of the task of ensuring a better life for all, we must make the observation that the government is perfectly conscious of the fact that there are many in our society who are unable to benefit directly from whatever our economy is able to offer. Obviously, this includes those on pension and the young.

Accordingly, the government must act to ensure that we reduce the number of people dependant on social welfare, increasing the numbers that rely for their livelihood on normal participation in the economy.

This Government has and always will provide quality services to the poor, through education, health, social services and empowerment of the most vulnerable groups in society. Education, Honourable speaker, is probably one of the most important political force to turn around the socio-political and economic situation of the poor to ensure A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL. As a further indicator the education spear is breaking through the barriers of poverty, Dr. Louis Crouch a well respected international education economist stated, "There is a dramatic reduction in inequality from the early 1990s, this is a remarkable and insufficiently-heralded achievement" when he compared the per capita per learner expenditure. In Gauteng the per capita per learner expenditure in 1991/92 was R2054, in 2003 the GDE will spend approximately R5300 per learner in this financial year. This, members, I am sure you will agree with me is indeed remarkable.

The sector with the largest increase in terms of its learner per capita expenditure is the ABET sector, followed by ordinary public schools and LSEN schools. The learner per capita of independent schools has also increased when compared to learner per capita in 1999.

Table 7a Total cost per learner (per capita expenditure)

1999/00
System per capita: 3,730
Per capita - public ordinary schools: 3,757
Per capita - ordinary schools: 3,564
Per capita - independent schools: 1,043
Per capita - LSEN: 10,137
Per capita - FET: 5,621
Per capita - ABET: 1,715
Per capita - public education: 3,919

2000/01
System per capita: 3,998
Per capita - public ordinary schools: 4, 061
Per capita - ordinary schools: 3,839
Per capita - independent schools: 1,125
Per capita - LSEN: 10,710
Per capita - FET: 5, 741
Per capita - ABET: 1,870
Per capita - public education: 4,212

2001/02
System per capita: 4,230
Per capita - public ordinary schools: 4, 251
Per capita - ordinary schools: 4,025
Per capita - independent schools: 1,330
Per capita - LSEN: 15,710
Per capita - FET: 6, 495
Per capita - ABET: 1,753
Per capita - public education: 4,451

2002/03
System per capita: 4,660
Per capita - public ordinary schools: 4,795
Per capita - ordinary schools: 4,510
Per capita - independent schools: 1,387
Per capita - LSEN: 13,289
Per capita - FET: 6,295
Per capita - ABET: 2,286
Per capita - public education: 4,935

Through dedicated educators, hard-working learners, fantastic parents and committed officials, the GDE has been able to turn the tide in terms of delivering qualitative public education. Since 1999 commitments were made by the GDE regarding various aspects of the entire education system. These commitments related to:

(a) The improvement of the quality of school education through the implementation of outcomes-based education and curriculum 2005;
(b) The allocation, distribution and utilisation of resources;
(c) The creation of a climate conducive to teaching, learning and service delivery;
(d) The setting of standards and quality assurance;
(e) Compliance with legislation;
(f) HIV/AIDS; and
(g) Focused Projects.

Honourable speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to inform you that the GDE and it's staff has not let the people of this Province down. I would therefore like to take a few minutes to inform you, the house and all stakeholders about our collective successes during this term.

The 2002 Grade 12 results have once again shown a tremendous improvement on previous years. In 1999, the Gauteng Department of Education set a target to attain a 73% pass rate by the year 2003. I am pleased to state that that was achieved in 2001, two years ahead of its realisation date. The pass rate has continued to rise to 78,1% in 2002, an increase of 21% since 1999.

This improved pass rate is indicative of the stability within the education system as well as the increased dedication on the part of both learners and educators towards excellence in teaching and learning. The province will however continue to strive to set and meet improved targets.

Provincial Matriculation Pass Rate

Furthermore, a total of 69 542 full-time candidates and 53 469 part-time candidates were registered for the 2002 Senior Certificate Examinations in Gauteng. It is indeed encouraging to note that of the total number of full-time candidates, 14 092 (21,91%) candidates passed the Senior Certificate Examinations with endorsement. This constitutes a 10,83% increase since 1999. This means an increase in the number of learners able to undertake Tertiary Studies in order to qualify for better job opportunities in the areas of Engineering, Medicine, Commerce and of course, Education.

The department will be redesigning the rural transport system to improve efficiency and to ensure greater access to schooling for learners living far from schools especially in rural areas and informal settlements. R32 million will be used to provide free scholar transport to learners in rural and informal settlements where there are non-educational services.

We will also ensure greater educational performance in the senior secondary sector of public schools. We will spend R12 million on the Senior Secondary Intervention Programme and the Role Model Intervention Programme.

The department will spend R17 million, a national grant, to promote greater HIV/AIDS education and awareness in schools through life skills programmes and school-based activities. The programme will focus on the following targets:

* Reduce infection and impact of HIV/AIDS on Youth
* Educators are appropriately trained and resourced
* Mainstreaming/ Integrated curricular Intervention
* Equipping learners with "soft skills" to facilitate behaviour development/ change
* Promoting Healthy Life Styles amongst youth
* Destigmatise, Care and Support PWAs

The national grant for Financial Management and Quality (Education Policy Reserve Fund) will focus on the regeneration projects in Alexandra and Kathlehong.

Programme 3: Independent Schools Education

We have made a provision of R132 million for subsidies to independent schools that qualify. The department is applying the norms for funding as per policy and will not fund schools that do not meet the criteria. We will however consider allowing some schools to continue serving communities where public schooling may not be available. We will also spend R1 million to improve the monitoring of schools as well as increasing the number of site visits for institutional audit purposes.

Programme 4: LSEN Schools

The department will spend over R420 million to provide education for learners with special education needs in special schools. The department will provide subsidies to the value of R67 million. The department will spend over R1, 7 million to improve curriculum and institutional support. We will also spend R1 million for in-service training and teacher development in the LSEN sector.

Programme 5: Further Education and Training

We will spend close to R306.6 million to subsidise this sector. The sector has been transformed in line with the FET Act and new funding models are being developed and will implemented over the next few years. Eight FET colleges have been established from the 33 technical colleges and new Chief Executive Officers has been appointed at director level to manage these institutions. We will also spend R3 million on curriculum and institutional support, spend R3 million on teacher development in this sector.

Programme 6: Adult Basic Education and Training

We will spend over R118 million to provide for adult education formal ABET programmes. The department has increased the allocation for resources by R9 million to R11 million. We will also spend R1 million to support and develop ABET educators. We will also spend close R1 million to support the curriculum and institutions to ensure greater learner performance in this sector. An ABET Agency will be established this year to facilitate the provincial literacy programme, the research into the institutional and funding arrangements have been completed.

Programme 7: Early Childhood Development

This programme has received phenomenal funding for the next three years from the Province. For the last two years the Province has received a conditional grant to introduce Grade R. The last trunche of the conditional grant of almost R11 million has been received for this year. In addition the province has made an additional R44 million available for the introduction of Grade R.

Programme 8: Auxiliary and Ancillary Services

We will spend over R74 million to provide the Senior Certificate Examinations, ABET exams and GETC exams in 2003.

The roll-out of Gautengonline will continue in 2003/4. A clear list of standards for hardware, software and networks has been finalised.

Approximately 1100 schools will be targeted this financial year. We will use R200 million to rollout the first phase of the project. The R200 million will also be used to leverage private sector resources to deliver the said targets.

Organisational/Structural Alignment

The department completed its restructuring in 2001. The new structure of the department consists of a Head Office, which is responsible for operational policy, monitoring and evaluation, and twelve districts that are responsible for all service to schools and educators. The districts are also wholly located within local government boundaries for the first time.

As a result of operating with the new organogram for over eighteen months, a number of changes are being effected to address gaps in service delivery and changes emanating from new functions or migration of functions.

As a result of Gautengonline the department has had to establish a new branch to deal with the educational use of IT and the maintenance of the IT infrastructure in schools. The full establishment of the Gauteng Shared Service Centre has resulted in the migration of functions and personnel to the Gauteng Shared Services Centre. Consequently, the department has had to redesign the remaining line structures in relation to the functions that have migrated. These changes have been consistent with the provisions of PSCBC Resolution 7 of 2003 on Public Sector Transformation.

The key changes to the organisational structure of the department are:

* The expansion of the Curriculum division by separating the functions related to FET and GET, the establishment of a directorate for Inclusion and Special Programmes.

* The expansion of the Institutional Development and Support division by creating a directorate for Educational Resourcing and ECD/ABET.

* The creation of directorates for School Nutrition, Social Plan, Special Projects and Strategic Policy and Research Development.

* Realignment of Human Resource Development Management and Support and the division Facilities Management and Administration under the branch Financial Resource Management.

* The establishment of the branch for all IT co-ordination, operational and maintenance needs as indicated above. This will be headed by the Chief Information Officer

CONCLUSION


The programmes and activities highlighted throughout my presentation will seek to improve on the overall performance of the system and impact on the grade 12 examinations.

Honourable speaker, this would not have been possible without dedicated officials in the education department including all its offices and schools.

I would also like to especially congratulate our learners, educators and school managers who have responded to the call to ensure an improvement in the quality of education that will guarantee a better life for all our learners in the future. I would also like to thank all our partners, teacher unions, business, NGOs and SGBs.

Finally, I would like to thank the Premier, my colleagues in the Executive Council for their support and both the Education and Finance Committees for their continued support and oversight over education in the Province.

I salute you all!

Issued by Gauteng Education
10 June 2003