Issued by: Minister of Education
A draft white paper is in an advanced stage of preparation to present the response of the Ministry of Education to the Report of the Committee to Review School Organisation, Governance and Funding (the Hunter Committee). This statement provides details of the process, and highlights from the draft which will be published for public comment soon.
The report
The Review Committee presented its report to me on 31 August 1995. At the time, I appealed for a full and fair debate on the findings and recommendations of the committee, which are profoundly important for the future of education in this country.
The Department of Education printed 20,000 copies of the original English version of the report, which have been widely distributed through provincial education departments and by private purchase.
Public response
I am well satisfied with the public response to the report. The issues are indeed being fairly and squarely debated. Members of the Review Committee continue to be in demand to speak or run workshops on their findings.
Almost 150 written submissions have been received from members of the public, organisations and institutions, and are being continuously evaluated. I thank all those who have contributed to our understanding of the issues in this way.
Consultation process
I have met in formal consultation on the Review Committee report with delegations from the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), the South African Association for State-Aided Schools (SAFSAS), and have engaged in a workshop of the African National Congress and allied organisations in the education field. The Department of Education has also met formally with the Interkerklike Kommissie vir Opvoeding en Onderwys (IKOO) to discuss their memorandum on the report.
I expect consultations of this nature to continue.
The Council of Education Ministers (CEM) and the Heads of Education Committee (HEDCOM) have both received formal briefings and undertaken preliminary discussions on the Review Committee report.
I am close touch on this matter with the Chairperson of the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, and the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education, Senator George Mashamba.
Expert opinion
The Department of Education has engaged two specialist teams, a team of lawyers and a team of economists, to assist it in analysing the highly complex legal and financial issues involved in creating a new pattern of school organisation, governance and funding.
A draft white paper
I informed Cabinet on the Review Committee report last month. Cabinet agreed with my proposal to issue a Draft White Paper on school organisation, governance and funding.
Highlights of the draft
Without foreclosing the drafting and consultative process, I wish to announce a few of the highlights from the draft white paper, most of which I have already communicated to my Cabinet colleagues.
I do so in the spirit of focusing the debate by tabling the issues which, I believe, can be resolved at the policy level without undue difficulty. Other issues will take a little longer.
(1) The Review Committee report should be broadly accepted as the basis on which new policy can be built.
(2) The draft white paper distinguishes between matters on which it is possible and necessary for the government to take a decision now, and other matters which must stand over for negotiation, legislation, and budgetary decisions next year.
(3) The new structure of school organisation should create the conditions for developing a coherent, integrated, flexible national system of schools. The new system must be capable of advancing redress, the equitable use of public resources, an improvement in educational quality across the system, and democratic governance.
(4) The new structure must be brought about through new legislation at national and provincial level, followed by a well-managed process of negotiated change.
(5) The new structure must be based on the understanding that each public school should embody a partnership between a provincial education department and a local community.
(6) There should be two categories of schools: public schools and independent privately-resoursced schools (including church schools and fomerly model C schools, mines).
(7) All public schools sng bodies which are represee learners (in secondary scdies should be endowed with a f responsibilities ("basic powers"). Governing bodies would be encouraged to apply for additional powers to the provincial education department ("negotiated powers"), which would be granted on the basis of capacity and commitment to sustain such responsibility.
(9) The content of the baskets of basic powers and negotiated powers need further legal advice and will be subject to negotiation.
(10) The process of BONA FIDE negotiation between governments and school governing bodies should take place next year on the basis of clearly-established national norms.
(11) The Review Committee's proposed three options for school financing need further legal and cost analysis, and discussion. Specifically, no decision has yet been taken on the committee's short-term proposal for a sliding scale of obligatory, income-related fees, from which poor parents would be exempt.
(12) A mayor programme of capacity-building in educational management and governance must be implemented by the national and provincial departments of education, so that school principals and members of governing bodies are equipped to prepare their new tasks well.
National-provincial co-operation
Schools are matters for provincial governments and legislatures. They are also fundamentally important matters for the nation as a whole, for which the national government and Parliament also have constitutional responsibility.
In the spirit of the National Education Policy Bill, which was passed in Parliament and is subject to a Constitutional Court ruling, the new policy for schools requires close co-operation between my Ministry and provincial MECs for Education.
The school system must be made whole. The Review Committee has performed an invaluable national service by giving the country a principled and realistic basis on which to construct our new system. We must grasp this opportunity decisively but responsibly, realising how close public schools are to people's hearts, and how deep are the expectations and anxieties about change.
The essence of the new policy is that ALL public schools will be governed by their school communities, responsible to their provincial education authorities. It will represent another great victory for democracy in this country.
For further information: Lincoln Mali: (012) 326 0126