Basic Education Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga, MP tabled the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Education Budget Vote Debate for the 2018/19 Financial Year in the NCOP Chamber, Old Assembly Building, Parliament Precinct in Cape Town on 14 June 2018.

Minister Motshekga strongly condemned violence and vandalism in schools, saying “Surely, we can all agree that the current levels of vandalism and violence in schools cannot be condoned. We must heed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call on Thuma Mina, and collectively make it our business to protect our schools and our school communities – teachers and learners alike, so that we are able to deliver qualitatively so, on our children’s right to basic education, in an unhindered fashion”.

Minister Motshekga also reflected on the centenaries of Former President Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu during her speech, quoting President Cyril Ramaphosa: “We honour President Mandela and umama Sisulu in a year of change, a year of renewal, a year of hope. Through the centenary celebration of their lives, we are not merely honouring the past, but we are building the future – yes, a new dawn for South Africa”.

“Whilst we have made such good progress in our journey towards a democratic South Africa and its basic education system we desire, we are still striving for the foundational skills of reading, writing and counting (arithmetic), as well as having the basic necessities in place for quality teaching and learning to take place, especially in the early Grades,” Minister Motshekga added. The Minister highlighted a few strategic areas and ongoing programmes currently on the radar, which impact immensely on the education sector.

• The first focus area is the review of progression and promotion policies, especially in the lower Grades;
• The second focus area is Early Childhood Development (ECD);
• The third focus area is the internal efficiency of the system and quality basic education outcomes that can only be achieved through specific and deliberate interventions in the early Grades;
• The fourth focus area is that of strengthening the curriculum content, quality, and relevance in subject offerings, such as History; Mathematics, Science and Technology and Agriculture, especially in rural schools;
• The fifth focus area is the DBE’s response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution;
• The sixth focus area is that of improving the coordination and coherence of the sector;
• The seventh critical area is the refocusing of infrastructure planning, coordination and delivery;
• The eighth area is the tightening of human resource management in the basic education system, especially the recruitment, appointment and promotion of education specialists and teachers in our Provincial Education Departments and schools; and
• The ninth focus area is on social transformation and cohesion and the programmes through which we continue to promote national unity and pride, including school sport and school choral and indigenous music events, such as the ABC Motsepe South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod (SASCE).

The NCOP Budget Vote Debate was attended by MECs of Limpopo and the Western Cape Provinces, various NGOs from Nyanga and Khayelitsha, teacher unions, students from the University of Cape Town and learners.

Click on the below link for the full speech:

https://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/Speeches/tabid/950/ctl/Details/mid/7006/ItemID/5585/Default.aspx