Education has been highlighted as a key priority for the new government under President Jacob Zuma, he said today.
Speaking in parliament during his maiden state of the nation address, he said that over the next five years the government will be working with teachers, learners and parents to turn schools into ‘thriving centres of excellence’.
“We reiterate our non-negotiables. Teachers should be in school, in class, on time, teaching, with no neglect of duty and no abuse of pupils!”, he said. “The children should be in class, on time, learning, be respectful of their teachers and each other, and do their homework.”
Zuma also warned that serious and decisive action would be taken against teachers who abused their authority by entering into inappropriate relationships with learners in their care.
Zuma went on to outline his plans for the entire education system, but was short on details on how exactly these ambitions would be realised.
“The early childhood development (ECD) programme will be beefed up to ensure the government reaches its goal to provide universal access to grade R learning. Government policy envisaged this target to be reached by next year, but this is unlikely. However, Zuma’s speech ensures that ECD remains a key priority. He also said the government wanted to double the number of children under the age of four receiving early childhood education by 2014.”
The president also called for the revival of school sport structures and hinted at a return of sport to the national curriculum.
Steps will also be taken to stabilise the school system through improved school management, and ‘formal training will be a pre-condition for promoting teachers to become principals or heads of department’.
The government will also be intensifying efforts to encourage more learners to complete their secondary education.
A ministerial report released by the national department of education in 2008 noted that between 11% and 15% of children leave school each year after grade nine, the last year of compulsory education. The retention rate up to grade nine is over 95%.
“The target is to increase enrolment rates in secondary schools to 95% by 2014. We are also looking at innovative measures to bring back into the system pupils who dropped out of school, and to provide support [to these learners].”
To promote lifelong learning, the Adult Basic Education and Training mass literacy campaign, Kha ri Gude, will be intensified, and the provision of skills development training will also be stepped up and tailored to the South African situation.
“We have to ensure that training and skills development initiatives in the country respond to the requirements of the economy. The Further Education and Training sector with its 50 colleges and 160 campuses nationally will be the primary site for skills development training.”
The perceived barriers to accessing higher education have been a thorny issue over the last decade and Zuma promised to make it easier for children from poor families to gain entry to higher education and ensure a sustainable funding structure for universities’.
“Attached to each commitment we make is a detailed project plan, with targets and critical milestones. This information will in due course be made public.”
However, Zuma was keen to make the public aware that the implementation of the programme will be hampered by the economic downturn, so government ‘will have to act prudently – no wastage, no rollovers of funds – every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully. We must cut our cloth according to our size’.