Two vital education sectors were inexplicably overlooked in this year’s Budget and the national Department of Education should explain its thinking in these areas, according to an analysis of the education budget released this week by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).
Public further educa-tion and training (FET) colleges received no additional national funding, observes Idasa researcher Russell Wildeman. ”In the context of a national budget where increased spending is the norm … this decision is surprising.”
And the lack of a conditional grant for special needs education is equally surprising, he says. This sector includes schools for learners who are blind or deaf.
”We cannot interpret these ‘omissions’ from within government’s central objectives of poverty reduction and economic growth, because the inclusion of funding for these programmes would have supported national policy … There is a real need for the Department of Education to explain its thinking on the funding of these crucial provincial programmes.”
There are now 50 FET colleges (formerly technical colleges) after rationalisation. While the colleges are a provincial responsibility, ”expectations were raised that the restructuring process would [also] receive nationally directed allocations”.
The lack of additional funds here is ”surprising, especially in the light of the heightened importance of the [government’s] human resource development strategy and technical colleges’ crucial role in this regard”, Wildeman says.
”Both special needs education and public FET colleges are an integral part of the fight against poverty (and vulnerability) and attempts at growing the skills base of South Africa.”