Was it R50-million? Or R90-million? And whatever the public money allocated to it, what happened to the major adult literacy scheme, Ikhwelo?
The Department of Education’s attempts to explain Ikhwelo’s fate have sharpened scepticism about its capacity and will to tackle the country’s vast illiteracy problem.
The Mail & Guardian recently reported the view of experts that 10 years of democracy have done little to alleviate the crisis inherited in 1994 — between eight million and 10-million South African adults are still illiterate.
Ikhwelo — meaning ”the call” — was successfully piloted by the department, USAid and the NGO Project Literacy in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape from 2001 to 2003. USAid funded the pilot to the tune of R36-million, and Project Literacy managed adult learning programmes.
Aiming to tackle the link between illiteracy and poverty, the pilot focused on skills development, small business management, organisational development and resource mobilisation. It targeted unemployed adults in poor rural areas.
It exceeded its targets, reaching 52 adult learning centres (50 was the target), 464 educators (300 targeted) and 4 144 learners (3 000 targeted).
”We are proud of the skills acquired by learners of the Ikhwelo pilot project in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces,” then deputy minister of education Mosibudi Mangena said during International Literacy Day celebrations on September 6 2002.
The Treasury’s Budget Review 2002 committed funding for Ikhwelo’s national rollout to the tune of R25-million for 2001/02; R13-million for 2002/03; and R50-million for 2003/04.
But how much funding Ikhwelo had in total over three years was further confused this week when acting education Director General Duncan Hindle told the M&G: ”Treasury allocated an amount of R50-million for the national implementation of the Ikhwelo project by way of a conditional grant.”
Experts are puzzled, not just by the funding the department thinks the Treasury provided, but also by how it says it spent the money.
”Over a three-year period, the spending patterns are really poor,” Institute for Democracy in South Africa researcher Russell Wildeman wrote in his analysis of the 2004 national education budget. Spending on Ikhwelo, it appears, ”never really got off the ground”. But two months later Wildeman noted that 93% of the final R50-million had suddenly been allocated.
Several adult basic education and training experts question the quick pace of allocation, and suggest there was ”dumping” — money hurriedly allocated in ways not originally intended.
The M&G asked the department how many learners Ikhwelo had reached since the start of the national rollout in 2001. Hindle did not answer this, but focused rather on 2003, saying that ”an application was made” to the Treasury in that year to extend Ikhwelo ”to include skills-based programmes offered by Setas [sector education and training authorities]”.
Hindle also said that by the end of 2003, the department had contracted four Setas to train 7 800 learners ”in various skills programmes”, and R26,25-million was transferred to the training authorities.
The department said the project ”has been one of the most successful skills and community development projects” it has been involved in.