Education Budget Vote 2007

Lance Greyling, MP

Independent Democrats

 

The Independent Democrats believes that education provides the fundamental building blocks for all of our nations’ aspirations and dreams. Education is supposed to be the great equaliser, giving all children an equal opportunity to succeed in life. Unfortunately in South Africa, 13 years after democracy, education is still perpetuating many of our society’s divides. An unequal education system translates into a divided future. The ID cannot accept this and believes that we need to institute drastic steps to bridge our educational divides.

 

To fix this, an ID Government would set up a national school infrastructure agency that would at the very least provide water, sanitation and electricity to all of our schools. It is a sad indictment that three years after the President made a firm commitment that no school will lack these basics, we still literally have thousands of schools in our country that do not have access to these services. Whether the problem is money or bureaucratic hurdles, somebody needs to take responsibility for this issue and ensure that infrastructure provision is driven through all of our schools.

 

The ID also believes that educational outcomes are in many ways determined by the social contexts of learners. The education department therefore needs to take on the responsibility of broadening the mandate of schools. They should become the centre of all our communities, providing for both the educational and social needs of our children. In this respect, the ID supports the pilot programmes around schools as nodes of support and care. We believe, however, that these programmes need to be up-scaled and that the burden of dealing with the social problems must not just fall on the shoulders of teachers. Every school should be provided with a social worker or at the very least a child and youth care worker that can identify and deal with any social problems children experience in their home environment. This would address many of the social problems that are currently afflicting our schools.

 

An ID Government would also expand the school nutrition programme. Firstly, plans must be put in place for children to be fed over weekends. We realise that this might fall out of the mandate of the education department, but it is clear that a child’s hunger does not magically disappear at the end of a week. If you have to, link up with the social development department, but let’s ensure that our children never have to go hungry again. The ID also believes that the programme should be extended to high schools. In order to do this, however, this programme needs to be properly resourced so that the feeding of one school does not mean that another school does not get food, as is currently happening in the Western Cape. The Eastern Cape is not even able to feed up to grade seven because of a lack of resources. How can we possibly not find enough money in our government’s overflowing coffers to feed our children?

 

In respect of no-fee schools, the ID believes that this policy was a welcome first step in addressing some of the financial barriers to education. Its implementation, however, has been fraught with a number of problems. Some schools in Gauteng continue to charge school fees even though they have been declared no-fee schools. This might be a result of them not receiving the promised extra funding from the department, which seems to be a common complaint around the country. Secondly, it is often unclear what criteria are used in determining the no-fee status. There are many schools in the Eastern Cape for instance, whose learners come from some of the poorest communities in the country, but for some inexplicable reason have not qualified. The ID believes that all schools in rural areas and in those coastal communities which have been devastated by the government’s fishing policies should automatically qualify for no-fee status.

 

Fees are not the only barrier though, and we need to put in measures to address other issues such as transport, textbooks and uniforms. The ID would therefore advocate for a child education grant which could address these other financial burdens and allow children to attend the school of their choice.

 

On a policy level we seem to finally be moving in the right direction and the ID welcomes recent shifts such as the reintroduction of the bursary scheme for teachers. Bridging the educational divides of the past is going to take more than just the right policy - it is going to take a concerted effort from all sectors of our society. The ID is determined to play its part in bridging these divides and creating a winning nation.