Honourable Speaker

Honourable Members

Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Honourable Speaker,

I thank you for the privilege to present our Budget Vote speech. This indeed affords the National Department of Basic Education a platform formerly to account for activities of 2011/12.

We will also present the Department’s policy priorities and strategic response to key government tasks as outlined by President Jacob Zuma in the 2012 State of the Nation Address.

Budget for 2012/13

Minister Blade Nzimande did remind this House during the Budget Vote Debate for Higher Education that: “Education now constitutes more than 21 per cent of Government’s total allocated expenditure for the 2012/13 financial year”.

The consolidated investment in the basic education sector, encompassing National Office and Provincial Education Departments, makes education an important driver of government’s transformation agenda. It is R179.834 billion.

The overall budget for 2012/13 for the Department of Basic Education – Vote 15 – has increased from R13.868 billion of 2011/12 to R16.344 billion. It’s an increase of R2.475 billion.

Umalusi is allocated R22 million for 2012/13 which will reach R83 million in 2014/15 to cover its expanded mandate.

On earmarked amounts, allocations for 2012/13 include R520.9 million for Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy campaign. This campaign has provided 1.6 million adults the chance to become numerate and literate in 1 of the eleven official languages. 648 522 learners were registered in 2011. Currently, 680 000 people are enrolled. The target is to reach 4.7 million adult learners by 2015/16.

This programme offers short-term work opportunities to 40 000 volunteers who are paid a stipend as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). For the EPWP: Kha Ri Gude, R51.5 million has been allocated in 2012/13 to contribute to job-creation, by recruiting and training volunteers.

Confidently we declare to the nation that further advances were made in pursuance of national educational goals. For 2012 and the 2nd half of the MTEF, we will continue to use as an anchor Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 to consolidate our advances in transforming education.

Midterm review

This being the midterm of our office, I must share with the people where we are in discharging our constitutional mandate. There’s progress in spite of challenges. We’ve become more equitable and more pro-poor post-apartheid.

We’ve moved from the margin to the centre of learning over 12 million learners in about 24 365 public schools. Responsibly we’ve supplied for these future leaders, for whom together we’re opening “the doors of learning and culture”, no less than 365 447 educators and we have doubled Grade R enrolment from 300 000 in 2003 to 705 000 in 2011.

We are very encouraged by the fact that more young people are completing Grade 9, an increase from 80% in 2003 to 88% in 2010, with more young people completing Grade 12.

School attendance is close to 100% for the basic compulsory band, in the 7-15 year age-range. Nonetheless, we’re concerned by the 2010 General Household Survey showing that just over 120 000 children in that band are out of school. We have requested provinces to look into this and address it.

On the other hand, the drop-out rate at Grade 10 and 11 is of great concern and we’re engaging as a sector on interventions for improving learner retention rates.

The percentage of Grade 12 learners who qualify for Bachelor’s studies has now increased to 24.3% placing us in good stead to meet the target of 175 000 by 2014. It was 23.5% in 2010, and 19.9% in 2009.

Given the link between poverty and education, free schooling and school meals are part of government’s pro-poor policies. The number of learners in no-fee schools exceeds our 60% target. This year, 69.3% of learners are in more than 20 000 no-fee schools. The threshold target allocation for no-fee schools for operational expenditure has increased to R880 per learner. The national per learner target amount for Quintile 1 schools is R960.

Total expenditure for school allocation on no-fee schools at the national target level is projected to be in excess of R7.7 billion. Informed by government’s anti-poverty strategy, the National School Nutrition Programme Conditional Grant has increased by R327.7 million in 2012/13, to R4.907 billion.

NSC exams

There is evidence of progress also in the pass rate of the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate.

We must celebrate our achievements on the target of improving the pass rate by 10% by 2014. This target we set after the alarming pass rate for 2009, which was 60.6%.

In November 2011, we surpassed 70%. The 2012 supplementary exams have been completed and the results have been released. The overall pass rate combining the November 2011 and March 2012 examinations is now 72.7%.

This 72.7% is an increase of 12.1% on 2009 results. It places us beyond the 10% target we set for 2014. For this we say ‘thank you’ to all persons and officials who made this possible. Preparations for the 2012 NSC exams are on track.

We remain concerned about both quality and quantity of passes in math and science.

Therefore we are implementing a new national strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education.

It reinforces Dinaledi Schools programme which has received a conditional grant of R99.7 million for 2012/13. This June, we will convene a Math and Science Indaba, with key education stakeholders involved in the teaching of math and science.

Concerns were raised about standards with the introduction of the new curriculum and we have given a fuller explanation on this matter in the packages given to members and our guests.

The high standards of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) can be attested to. Members, to obtain admission to university study for bachelors, with the old Senior Certificate, a candidate had to pass 4 subjects at 40% and 2 at 33.3%.

In the case of the NSC, admission to bachelor studies requires a pass in 4 subjects at 50% and the remaining subjects at 30%, provided that the home language is passed at 40% and the language of learning and teaching at 30%. The NSC requires a candidate to offer 7 subjects, while the old Senior Certificate requires only 6 subjects.

From the above minimum requirements, it is clear that pass requirements are now higher. And here we are telling no lies and are claiming no easy victories.

We benchmark our question papers as a credible mechanism for ensuring our national question papers are internationally comparable and are of the highest standard and quality.

In 2007, question papers for 10 major subjects were evaluated by three assessment bodies, namely, Cambridge International Examinations, Scottish Qualification Authority and Board of Studies New South Wales.

There is consensus among these institutions, and HESA, that by international standards our question papers are well designed and assess what they purport to assess.

Strategic interventions

We have identified 4 priority areas for 2012/13. They influence and are influenced by the strategic imperative to make schools work, to make principals manage the curriculum, teachers to teach, and learners to read, write and count.

It is these 4 strategic interventions making more critical the support of this august House for the Basic Education allocation.

In addition to our ongoing focus on the 3 Ts, we continue to focus on CAWI which stands for CAPS, ANA, Workbooks, and Infrastructure. Through these programmes, we want to maximize learner performance, school by school and classroom by classroom.

Curriculum

As affirmed last year, the 2012 focus is on the prudent implementation of revised Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS), starting with Grades 1 to 3 and 10.

We have oriented 130 000 teachers and 2 810 subject advisors  to the CAPS documents. Training will continue for the 2013 – 2014 implementation.

We’ve developed generic CAPS for languages which went for public comment and are currently used as a base document to version other official languages. The generic document will also be used for non-official languages.

In improving learner attainment, we have developed and are implementing: a National Strategy for Learner Attainment Framework for Grades R to 12; a Curriculum Coverage Monitoring Tool and a school-based Learner Attainment Improvement strategy.

A strategy on Early Childhood Development is in place. We are finalising the 0-4 curriculum for all ECD sites and realigning resource packs with CAPS for Grade R. An audit of Grade R enrolment at ECD centres is underway.

We are poised to meet the target of full coverage for Grade R by 2014.

ANA

Our Annual National Assessments (ANA) monitor performance of learners in the critical foundational skills of literacy and numeracy. Following the baseline ANA conducted in February 2011, we have provided feedback to teachers. This has taken the form of reports and high-quality test exemplars. They should strengthen school-based assessment and deepen children’s competencies and confidence in tackling their work.

An allocation of R75 million to strengthen the existing programme and expand assessments to include Grade 9 has been secured for 2013/14 and will reach R160 million in 2014/15. September 2012 is the date for the 2^nd round of ANA.

Workbooks

We will this year expand provision of Texts – a component of 3 Ts. In 2011 we have provided high-quality workbooks to 6 million learners. We have also conducted a survey of workbook utilisation.

This year, we have extended the National Workbook Programme to cover Grades 7, 8 and 9. The allocation for the 2012/13 financial year amounts to R811 million for expanding distribution of workbooks to Grade 9 learners.

In 2012, we are providing 54 million books to learners, at no cost to the parent or learner. This is history in the making and we are very proud of this achievement.

In line with our commitment to inclusive education, workbooks for Grades 1 to 6 were adapted and are currently being brailled. Grade 7 to 9 workbooks are also being adapted for Brailling.

We’re attending to concerns raised, including on thorny matters around packaging, delivery and quantities.

Again Chair, because concerns have been raised about this programme, we have provided a detailed response on its management.

With regard to textbooks, a national catalogue for Grades 1 – 3 and Grade 10 has been developed and distributed to provinces for procurement of core materials for schools.

A national catalogue for Grades 4 – 6 and Grade 11 is being developed and will be finalised in June and July 2012. The development of a National Catalogue for Grades 7 – 9 and Grade 12 will be finalised during the current financial year.

We have distributed 4 424 500 Physical Science and Mathematics supplementary textbooks to all Grades 10-12 learners in partnership with the Shuttleworth Foundation.

Infrastructure

Through the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI), we continue to do more to fast-track provision and improvement of school infrastructure. This programme has been given a further boost by being included in the work of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Committee.

The total Education Infrastructure Grant allocation for the 2011/12 financial year was R5, 498, 300 billion. During adjustments, this budget was increased to R 5, 729, 183 billion. Total spending on the adjusted budget as at the end of March 2012 is R5, 254, 316 billion or 92%. This spending is 12% higher than the 80% spending reported in 2010/11.

The total budget allocation for the Education Infrastructure Grant in the 2012/13 financial year is R 5, 822, 398 billion. This budget is R 93, 215 million more than the adjusted budget of 2011/12 and R324, 098 million more than the original budget.

Department has the following targets to meet through ASIDI: Eradication of 496 inappropriate structures; Provision of basic water to 1257 schools; Provision of basic sanitation to 868 schools and electrification of 878 schools.

Currently, 50 inappropriate schools are in construction for completion by end of this year and will be ready for occupation in 2013.

In 2011/12, 55 schools were provided with water, 115 with sanitation and 48 with electrification. Capacity challenges among our Implementing Agents and contractors have resulted in programme delays and these are being rigorously tackled.

We’re in the process of putting together framework agreements that are intended to provide to the sector more Implementing Agents, built environment professionals and contractors.

94+ Schools Infrastructure Project

In partnership with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and other partners in education, on 10 April 2012 we launched the 94+ Schools Infrastructure Project as part of International Mandela Day.

We invite everybody to make this a success by supporting  schools of their choice. Together we will and must unleash the greatest birthday wish for Madiba and sing in unity in celebration of this great icon of our time, come 18 July. “Take Action. Inspire Change. Make Every Day Mandela Day!” In this unique way, we will preserve his towering legacy.

Other key areas of focus

For 2012/13, and until 2014, we will invest more energy also on those critical areas influencing successful implementation of CAPS, ANA, Workbooks and Infrastructure and other priorities, including the following:

Teachers

Our system is as good as its teachers. Teachers are at the heart of curriculum delivery. Good teaching is the key to unlocking excellence in learner performance. Continuous teacher professional development continues to be critical. Our call to teachers to be in school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day remains fundamental.

At national, we’re overseeing implementation of the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development that we launched in April 2011.

For 2012/13, provinces have set aside over R3 billion for teacher development.

An audit process to support functionality of teacher resource centres will be conducted in 2012/13. This will include a scoping for the development of new centres. There are currently 144 teacher centres in the country.

In the period under review, including 2012, a total of 5 962 principals and deputies have been through the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership and Management.

We are excited to announce that we’ve entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with teacher unions to strengthen their capacity in teacher development so as to complement our efforts. To improve our work in this area, we will attend to structural issues impacting on performance in the sector, like teacher supply and utilisation.

The overall vacancy rates over the selected months of reporting (January, May, July and October 2011 and January 2012) averaged 8.7%, 10.2% and 8.7% for principals, HODs and teachers, respectively. With colleagues from provinces, we are working hard to ensure that all vacant posts in schools are timeously filled.

Accountability across the system is key. A process is underway at the Education Labour Relations Council to streamline the Integrated Quality Management System, to improve evaluation of educators’ performance. This is done as part of a broad accountability process for the sector. An integrated assessment instrument to improve performance of principals, deputy principals and teachers is in its final stages of negotiation.

NEEDU

NEEDU (National Education Evaluation and Development Unit) is another element of our accountability system.

We gazetted the NEEDU Bill  in December 2011. We thank you for valuable comments received.

NEEDU is a very useful agency meant to help us evaluate the quality of support schools receive and more important, assess and report on the state of schools – in particular, the quality of school leadership and teaching and learning.

Dr Nick Taylor, former CEO of JET Education Services and current member of UMALUSI Standards Committee, became new CEO on 1 May 2012. He replaces Prof John Volmink.

For 2012/13, NEEDU has been allocated R12.5 million.

Other allocations in the 2012/13 financial year on earmarked amounts include R37.0 million for the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and R21.7 million for Systemic Evaluation.

For 2012/13, the Funza Lushaka scheme has been allocated R671.9 million. We invite all South Africans to encourage young South Africans to select teaching as a profession of first choice.

ICT 

Implementation of the Teacher Laptop Initiative is back on track with more teachers enabled to access this resource. Work on a new funding model, procurement and administration processes to strengthen the initiative is going very well and during the latter part of the year we will be making what we think is a very exciting announcement.

The good news is that broader plans on using ICT to enhance learning and teaching are gathering steam. Our Department has developed, with the Department of Communication, a connectivity plan providing a comprehensive framework for achieving cost effective and efficient connectivity for all schools.

DGs of the two Departments and provincial HODs have signed the Telkom Masters Services Agreement on 27 March 2012 for Phase 1 Implementation of the Connectivity Plan for schools. The first phase will provide connectivity to 1650 schools.

In 2011, 2 334 schools were connected to the Internet for the purpose of teaching and learning, while 7 008 schools were using the Internet for administration purposes. The establishment of 9 ICT resource centres, one per province, and sponsored by the Vodacom Foundation, is expected to accelerate training of teachers in the use of ICT to support teaching and learning.

Planning and Delivery Oversight Unit

As promised last year, we have established a Planning and Delivery Oversight Unit. With its strategic positioning, we were able to prioritise support for underperforming districts targeting schools and classrooms. By the end of the 2^nd quarter of 2011 we had reached 4612 schools.

Under its first head, Mr Ronald Swartz, and later Mrs Palesa Tyobeka, the Unit is working with provinces to support the 18 underperforming districts in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. It is also monitoring implementation of District Improvement and School Improvement Plans.

To further improve district support to schools, in March 2012 we published for comment a Policy on the Organisation, Roles and Responsibilities of Education Districts.

Provinces

One of major projects we have initiated is alignment of Provincial Annual Performance Plans to the Action Plan.

We are hard at work to restore stability and service delivery in provinces under Section 100 (1)(b) of the Constitution. These are Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

Learner wellness

Honourable speaker,

In order to reduce health and social barriers to learning, we’re working with the Department of Health to expand and strengthen school health services. The HIV and Aids Life Skill Education Conditional Grant for 2012/13 is R208.7 million.

Through the Integrated School Health Programme, we aim to incrementally provide school health services to all learners over the next 5 years.

We continue to be concerned by different acts of violence affecting our children both inside and outside our schools and are very hopeful that through the Inter-Ministerial Committee established by Cabinet, work in this very important area will improve. More than 9000 schools are linked to police stations. This year we aim to link an additional 9 000 schools.

There is great excitement within the sector with the renewed focus on school sports. In November 2011, we launched a new initiative on sport in education.

We’re receiving positive reports on sport taking place on Wednesdays as part of the Magnificent Wednesday that we launched in March 2012. Our children are being encouraged to develop in a holistic manner.

To infuse more life into the South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod, we have trained a total of 359 adjudicators, 509 conductors, 82 data capturers and 15 programme directors, the majority of whom are educators.

The 2012 National Choral Eisteddfod will take place in July. About 230 school choirs are expected to take part. Members of the public are encouraged to attend this great event.

Social compact

We will devote more time and energy to stakeholder mobilisation – a pillar of our transformation agenda.

A vital component of our strategy is working with partners in the private sector, higher education, NGOs, traditional leadership, interfaith organizations and broader society.

We will be using as a rallying point the April 2012 NEDLAC Accord on Basic Education and Partnership with Schools. This Accord, which was signed by government, organised labour, business and community constituencies constitutes yet another fundamental development in improving education.

Conclusion

In conclusion, education is rightly one of our greatest priorities. It is not a panacea for all social ills, but a public good with economic and social benefits. Centuries of inequality and neglect of schooling for black people in South Africa have had extremely negative effects. Not to acknowledge this is to be party to what Aubrey Matshiqi has recently called ‘apartheid denialism.’

This denialism erases the inheritance of inequality and highlights only the failures and sins of the new government. We build in this budget on significant gains in equity, efficiency and access to improve the education of all our people. But we do not for a moment underestimate the distance we still have to walk.

We take very seriously the resolutions taken at the conclusion of the ANC Education Policy Summit held on 12-13 April (2012). Among other things, it has noted systemic barriers, which I have alluded to, inhibiting the implementation of key strategic programmes for the betterment of the learning and teaching environment.

The Summit identified as outstanding barriers:

• Monitoring and evaluation of performance of all officials, including educators, and the associated incentives regime;
• Post Provisioning Norms, employment and deployment of educators;
• Conditions of Service and annual bargaining processes;
• Resourcing of Education (including infrastructure, capacitating governance structures, LRC and SGBs); and
• The preparedness and capacity of government officials to effectively implement policies and applicable legislation aimed at maintaining a stable human resources and labour relations environment in the education sector.

I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to Deputy Minister Surty, Chairpersons of the Basic Education Portfolio and Select Committees and their respective members for their hands-on approach, education MECs, our Director-General and HoDs.

I would like to acknowledge Mr Mmipe George Mokgehle, winner of the National Teaching Awards (NTA) Lifetime Award, and Mr Nemduzivhadi Elias Mkhangeni, winner of the NTA Kader Asmal Award.

I thank all champions of Batho Pele in the system: teachers and their unions, principals and their associations, parents and School Governing Bodies and their associations, Learners and their Councils, and broader society. The young must learn and learn how to learn. They must be supported by all of us. Again we say: ‘Don’t point a finger, raise a finger up for education!’

Education is a societal issue!

I thank you.

LOWERING THE BAR?

Matric results continue to be a source of heated debate. One of the issues currently doing the rounds is the pass mark. Prominent academics such as Professor Jonathan Jansen (a sage man but also one who revels in controversy) and Dr Ramphele Mamphele have weighed in on the fray.

Professor Jansen, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, has described the 30% pass mark as a ‘political football for politicians’, while Dr Mamphele said the pass mark degraded education standards and was used for political purposes. There have been others who have contributed to the debate through letters to the newspapers.

The trouble with their arguments is their contention that this constitutes a lowering of the pass mark – which is not entirely true. Professor Jansen, commenting on the 2012 Senior Certificate results, said the following: ‘You no longer need 50% to pass certain subjects, which means that you can be completely ignorant of more than half of the subject matter content and still pass.’ Now this may be a reasonable argument, but at no time certainly since my own matric year (1965) have there been any subjects that needed 50% to pass; so Professor Jansen, along with the others who have propagated the same view, is basing his argument on incorrect facts. The highest that has ever been required is 40%. Furthermore, it is forgotten that, in the days of Higher Grade and Standard Grade, it was possible to pass a Higher Grade subject on the Standard Grade with only 25% – 5% lower than the slated 30%, which, incidentally, is only 3.3% lower than the mark that was required to pass Standard Grade.

The implication, too, that all subjects can be passed with 30% is also wrong. In fact, only 3 subjects may be passed with 30% – to pass the other 3, the candidate must obtain a mark of 40%. So all the hype about 30% is based on a distorted – deliberate ? ignorant? – view.

What has changed the scene is the removal of the requirement to achieve an aggregate of 40%, which prevented a candidate from passing if he/she passed too many subjects at 33.3% or 25%.

So what do we have? A pass mark for 3 subjects at the same level as the old Higher Grade; and a pass mark for the remaining 3 at 3.3% lower than the old Standard Grade, but 5% more than the conversion pass mark for subjects failed on the Higher Grade.

The suggestion, then, that the pass mark has been drastically lowered is simply not true, and unfortunately feeds into the tendency on the part of many to believe that all in the New South Africa is bad.

The question remains: Should the pass mark be as low as this, irrespective of whether or not it constitutes a lowering of the bar? Some say it is a disgrace; others, such as education analyst Professor Graeme Bloch, disagree. He believes – and I think I concur – that he would rather see a larger cohort of candidates attain a Senior Certificate, even with a 30% pass. ‘Better marks do not guarantee jobs, and there is limited entry to tertiary education. A higher pass mark might perhaps raise achievement and aspiration … but would not solve quality problems in the system (such as) poor teaching, poor management from principals and officials, resource backlogs and poverty,’ he says.

If we had a system of vocational education as is the case in many other countries, we could argue that the bar be raised for the general qualification; but until then, I believe that one would be requiring a higher pass rate from people who do not need a general qualification for the kind of job they would do one day. Raising the bar would simply prevent them from entering the job market at all because they failed an examination which is largely irrelevant to the kind of market they plan to enter.

This month I have some ‘bits and pieces’ about things that have cropped up:

Independence

By this time in the year, your Grade 2 child can walk themselves to their line, carrying their own bag! The other morning we were all gathered in our lines, all teachers present, giving morning announcements, and I actually had to pause while a mommy conferred with her child in the line, as I didn’t want the child to miss out on notices. If it was a once-off, then we would not have minded, but this mommy has lingered every morning well after the bell has rung. One or two still march upstairs with the line of children.

Now, some might ask, what is wrong with this? Sometimes it seems the mommies need the security more than the children, and they somehow transfer this anxiety onto their children by hovering. There is nothing wrong with seeing your child to their line in the morning (with them carrying their own bag), giving them a kiss and a hug, and bidding them a good day. But hovering until the bell rings and watching them walk away in their line, sets a scene for a lack of trust and assumes that they will not be okay. They are then also not ‘free’ to play with their friends in their own private space. Children turn to their hovering parents instead of solving their own issues or making entertainment for themselves. Some even become tearful at the thought of mommy leaving and tend to cling if you haven’t had a firm, matter-of-fact goodbye. There is also no reason that you need to speak to the teacher every morning, particularly as children get older.

Once the bell rings, teachers start work

On that note, if you do need to speak to the teacher, it cannot be after the bell rings. Now, if something crops up that is a real emergency, exceptions can be made, even if you have to walk with the class as they lead off. But you cannot take up a full 5-10 minutes while a class is waiting. If you know the day before that you have to let the teacher know something, write a note for the homework book, or write a note to ask the teacher to phone you when she has a moment.

We have a difficult family this year, who have odd requests and ideas, so when we saw the whole family waiting at lines when the bell rang, we carried on as normal, doing morning greetings and announcements. As we led off, they asked my colleague if they could speak to her. She replied that she didn’t have time to step aside for a meeting, as the day had begun, but they could walk with her as they led inside. (The “emergency” was that the child would be fetched early – again- to see dad off later in the day for a business trip. A note in the homework book would have covered this.) They were obviously unhappy that they had not been given a meeting time (while the class stood waiting, getting rowdy outside the assembly hall where the older children were assembling) so they made an impromptu call in at my classroom to complain that my colleague did not seem to have time to see them. With my class becoming rowdy in the morning chaos of notice-collection, homework-writing, money-collection, etc, I had to explain that I, too, did not have time right now for a conversation. They walked away swearing. I am sure that you are not like these types of parents, but some parents are oblivious to what a teacher’s morning is like.

Upon the bell ringing, those 30 children are in our care, demanding our attention – often all at the same time! And, would you be able to walk into your doctor’s office at any time of day and demand a 2-minute meeting? Even a lovely, sensible mom that I know explained that she was initially quite put out that her child’s Grade R teacher said that she must make an appointment instead of expecting a daily fetching-time rundown of her child’s day and progress. But when her husband explained to her that one would not expect that of, say, your banker, she understood that the teacher didn’t have 5×20-something minutes for each parent, and that there is a time for progress reports, and that if there is a problem, we WILL contact you.

Medication?

And, just a note on the amount of children on medication these days. I do have a previous 2-installment article on medication which is far more detailed, but a quick address of that question on many parents’ lips: why does it seem that every second child is on medication? Aside from those few teachers who DO push medication for lazy reasons, or where doctors hand it out too easily, there ARE more children on medication these days than ever before. This is because a) There were no diagnosable education-hindering conditions “back in our day”. Children were labelled naughty or lazy and got hidings to ‘sort them out’.

Many people who look back on their school days say “I was bright but I underachieved. I didn’t apply myself at school”. These days we are able to diagnose and help those people. b) Children of today ARE different from when “we were kids”. These are children of technology, not children of backyard ballgames and bike-riding through the neighbourhood all afternoon. Their schedules are packed and they unwind with fast-paced computer or digital games (even good educational ones) which, I believe, have altered their brain make-up. Their brains are bombarded with new imagery, shiny lights, explosions and ever-changing pictures every few seconds from computers, TV, Wii, playstation, etc. In my day we only got a video machine when I was 10. How much imagery did I see in my formative years compared to children of today? Even educational programmes are more visually-stimulating than books and old-fashioned games like Lego.

Now, I am not denouncing technology. This is the new generation, no use fighting it. But when these children are faced with a teacher’s voice for 5 hours, a blackboard, paper and books, it is just not as attention-sustaining as what they are used to, or what they have been accustomed to needing, in order to for them to maintain focus. Brain-wiring has been geared for imagery-bombardment. Many cannot cope in a classroom. This is why “today’s children” have different concentration levels to “our day”.

Also, more parents work longer hours, more families have been split, there is less quality time being spent nurturing skills like work ethic. I am not saying this is right or wrong, just that it is how it is, and there have been consequences. I am just happy that medication means that these children are not left defenseless in a changed world – there is help where it is needed. I hope that answers that question in my limited non-doctory capacity, as I know many parents have wondered about it.

That’s all for this month. Just some musings for you to ponder!

Article written by Johnny Modipa

I am sitting in a sparsely-furnished office at a local township school, engaged in a conversation with the Head of Department for the Humanities, to join me for a scheduled “one-on-one”. My eyes dart around. Files and books and papers here, flip charts and pictures there. Okay, no surprises here. Except the famed picture on the wall depicting Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying the dying Hector Peterson, with the crying Antoinette Sithole alongside him. Upon seeing this picture, a thought strikes my mind. The “Born Free” generation and their current educational challenges. Who is failing these young minds? I broach the subject to this teacher. The tirade began.

“Let me be frank with you Johnny. The truth of the matter is that we as teachers try by all means to do our best, even though we always get flack for lack of good results. I think it’s high time that the department stops looking at teachers and start sniffing within their own ranks because that’s where the heart of the problem lies, we are expected to produce miracles in the face of unbearable challenges, Johnny.”

“Firstly, you as a teacher are expected to be more than a teacher and move beyond the call of duty: you deal with issues that are not necessarily educational in nature. You are expected to be an academic, a parent, a psychologist, a pastor, a trauma counselor and a good Samaritan in one. Otherwise, how would you be expected to teach a learner who just woke up in the arms of a “sugar daddy” who is the same age as the oldest teacher at the school, simply because that “sugar daddy” is able to buy her food and stuff? How Johnny? And how would you teach someone who sees no point in you teaching them because all they see around them is broken dreams and delinquent parents? Then you blame them when they steep themselves in drugs as a means of coping with their situation, and then they become rebellious and guess who has to deal with that too … You see Johnny, I have no problem going beyond the call of duty. I even have one of the learners staying at my house because his uncle beat the hell out of him! But it’s hard to go beyond the call of duty when there’s so much to deal with and no support structure to keep the momentum going! That’s apart from some of our own colleagues who are busy dismantling what we build by sleeping with these learners for a pass.”

“Secondly, the injustice that these poor learners get does not start with us at secondary level. Excuse my French, but the fact that FET schools are measured in terms of their Grade 12 results is pure bull, because the (nonsense) starts earlier than that. I don’t understand why a Grade 9 learner cannot speak basic English or get his grammar in order in their own home languages! Before teaching them anything worthwhile like Maths or Accounting, you first have to train them things that they should have learned at Grade 1 or something, it’s terrible! And some of those who end up passing to the next grade are not really supposed to pass because they have been so inadequately prepared that some of them can’t even spell properly; but the school has to show progress so that we don’t end up falling in the category of under-performing schools. So we end up giving these learners subjects that do not even relate to each other so that they can be pushed through- it’s not our fault, they show more progress in those subjects and we are trying to make the most out of the ugly hand with which we are dealt! The logical outcome is that some of these learners fall through the cracks when they get to matric: they either fail dismally or pass in such a way that they can’t be admitted at any other institution beyond matric, that is the low road. The high road is not better either: even if they do perform and pass their matric with flying colours, some still end up not qualifying for certain fields or have to enroll for some bridging programmes because their subject combinations are just a mess and therefore not compatible with the requirements of specialized fields.”

“Most of the time, I look at the Minister giving a press conference about the ‘improved’ matric results and think to myself: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ ”

“Solutions? I have no solutions Johnny. All I can tell you is that I am prepared to do my best. If my best is not good enough, then it’s fine. My long term objective is to get more experience that will take me out of this profession. I’m not being pessimistic here, don’t get me wrong. But it’s time I look out for my own well-being before I go crazy. I’m sure the corporate world will appreciate me more than the pseudo-appreciation that I get in my current profession.”

“So, if you are pouncing the school yards looking for the identity of the culprit who failed the so-called “Born Free” generation, you are looking in the wrong places. The first place to start your search is the offices of the department. That’s where the first portion of the blame lies. While at it, please tell them to start treating us like professionals, and tell them to increase these demoralizing salaries! Oh, and if you cannot get assistance because the officials are attending some political rally somewhere, then don’t say I didn’t warn you beforehand. And you are lucky that you found me, by the way. My colleagues have all gone to a trade union meeting. You see, our principal is the chairman, so he asked me to collect his daughter from her school, her daughter studies at (names the prominent private school in town) … ”

All I could do was sigh.

Chalkboards, paper workbooks and manual marking could become obsolete in the next few decades if predictions are anything to go by. This is an exciting prospect for teachers who have embraced technological advances. Conversely, many educators still remain apprehensive about these drastic changes.
No matter what your thoughts are on this topic, the digital revolution in education is already happening. In many private schools across South Africa, a laptop is compulsory for every learner in attendance and interactive white boards are becoming a classroom staple. This is not to say that there isn’t a vast digital divide. Many South African schools are forced to survive on the bare essentials, let alone think about the prospect of utilising technology. Despite this sobering reality, digital tools are revolutionising the classroom environment, as well as saving teachers time and money. A wealth of information, including image rich content and videos, is now available at the click of a few buttons.
Government, in conjunction with the Department of Education, have seen the immense value that digital tools offer educators and learners alike. In 2009, government rolled out a five-year plan to provide permanently employed state teachers with laptops. More recently, several local and international ICT companies teamed up with the Department of Basic Education to launch the Vodacom Mobile Education Programme. As part of this initiative, an ICT resource centre has been established in each province to allow educators access to quality educational resources.
Educators who are uneasy about the fast-paced changes in education need only look at the ways that some of these digital tools can enhance their teaching to be convinced of the overarching benefit of e-learning. Here are five teaching tools that are transforming the face of education.

Twitter (www.twitter.com)
It’s fast paced, accessible, and a ground-breaking resource for educators. A tweet is composed of just 140 characters or less, and yet so much is being said on this dynamic platform. High school educators in particular are discovering that Twitter is a very useful high-order thinking tool, as learners have to summarise and discuss concepts as succinctly as possible. Educators are able to share links to insightful content, interact with their students, and draw on the knowledge of other educators in their network.

Edmodo (www.edmodo.com)
This free, secure social learning tool is useful for teachers, learners and schools. The Edmodo platform allows teachers and learners to post classroom material, share links to interesting content and videos, as well as access homework and school notices. With special institutional features for schools administrators, Edmodo is becoming one of the most innovative ways to incorporate tech in the classroom.

Slideshare (www.slideshare.net)
Recently voted one of the World’s top ten tools for education, this presentation-sharing platform allows educators to share their work and draw from the work of others. For teachers interested in the move towards open education, this is a tool that shouldn’t be ignored.

YouTube (www.youtube.com)
One of the best ways to engage learners of all ages is through the use of video content. YouTube has become an educational favourite, providing a wealth of informative video content to enrich lessons. With tools like Silentube it! (www.silentube.com), it is even possible to remove the distracting advertisements that are not always appropriate for the classroom environment.

Blogs and e-learning content
In addition to the abundance of educational applications available online, the internet as a resource in itself should not be ignored. Search engines like Google offer infinite research possibilities, and Google images have become a firm favourite among educators in the earlier grades. Many teachers now share their lesson plans and ideas on blogs and e-learning websites. No educator need feel alone anymore – there is a vast global network of educational professional who are always accessible.
For many educators, these advances in the field of education are as intimidating as they are exciting. If you’re a teacher, why not take the leap of faith and dive into the digital world of education? Enhance your lessons with digital tools and witness how dynamic and engaging these technological instruments can be for the learners in your class.
Consider attending the University of Cape Town Internet Super-User course, presented part-time entirely online throughout South Africa by online education company GetSmarter. For more information, contact Tamsin on 021 447 7565 or tamsin@getsmarter.co.za. Alternatively, visit www.GetSmarter.co.za.

Are children who play violent computer games more aggressive than others who don’t?

André van der Westhuizen

Are children who play violent computer games more aggressive than others who don’t?  The answer to the question is – yes. Children who play violent computer games tend to be more aggressive than children who don’t play violent-related computerized games.

The reason is that children tend to to live themselves into this so-called fantasy world which creates space for things such as imaginary friends, imaginary enemies, etc. This develops from a somewhat innocent scenario to a more serious matter in real-life situations.

The child creates this fantasy world around the games they play, and after a period of time starts to live in this game-play fantasy world and this sometimes develop into a problematic web.

Children adopt behaviour at a vast pace and in most of the cases they do tend to adopt negative behaviour much faster and easier than positive behaviour. They reinforce violence as as a defence mechanism, to protect themselves from similar situations to those of the games they play.

This is simply to protect themslves without knowing that they may or can hurt other children around them.

It creates the problem where the negative behaviour is difficult to change and the child restrains from cooperating or re-implementing positive behaviour. It is clear from the “Monkey see, monkey do-act”, where they see something happen and tend to re-do or repeat such behaviour. Thus adoptive behaviour is visible and in most cases difficult to change.

It is good for children to adopt skills and strategies from past experienced situations, as long as they do understand the consequences when enforcing these skills learned from adoptive behaviour in current situations.

Children normally tend to not fully understand the consequences of their acts and need to learn from this. This might indicate that a child needs to change these so called “innocent” adopted behaviour styles and reinforce new ones.

Parents have the responsibility to guide their children to buy and play age-appropriate computerized games to ensure that the child is emotionally stable enough to deal with the events experienced in the games.  One must not be prejudiced and regard all computerized games as evil and inappropriate.

Furthermore, children should also be guided in exploring new things as long as parental guidance and assistance are present at all times to guide and assist their children in answering questions and explain scenarios when they arise.

Computerized games most definitely help with the child’s development –  especially their cognitive development – as long as they are within the boundaries of their capacity to process these events and behaviours in a positive manner.

Media Statement

The Governing Body Foundation

28 March 2012

The Governing Body Foundation has come out in support of proposed competency testing and performance agreements for school principals.  This comes in the wake of the weekend decision of SADTU, the largest teacher union in the country, to reject the measures announced by the Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga.

Approached for comment in the wake of the SADTU conference, Tim Gordon, CEO of the Governing Body Foundation, pointed to credible research which places the principal and teachers central to the performance of schools.  “Anything which is educationally and administratively well founded and which can lead to an improvement of the outcomes in our schools is to be welcomed,” he said.  “Obviously one would expect the content of the agreements to be carefully considered and researched, and the implementation of the measure to be properly negotiated and sensitively handled.  Clear recognition also needs to be given to the vastly differing circumstances which pertain in different schools and communities.”

Pointing to the large proportion of the budget spent on education in South Africa, Gordon said that South African society was not getting a good return on its investment.  “We would like to see the situation where really good schools are to be found in every sector of society, and where parents can happily place their children at the neighbourhood school, confident that they will receive a quality education.”  He said that it was of real concern that learners had to be transported across our cities on a daily basis, with all the attendant time-wasting and the danger that this entails, simply in order to enjoy an acceptable school experience.

“Clearly a performance agreement on its own will do little to bring about a turnaround in educational practice,” said Gordon, “but where such an agreement is accompanied by meaningful guidance and professional support, it could prove to be an important catalyst for a change in mindset.  This in turn could lead to a real improvement in outputs and outcomes.”

On the matter of competency testing, Gordon said that it would be supported if it was built around a professionally created, properly tested and proven battery of credible psychometric measures.  A mere desk exercise of the old in-basket type would not measure up, he said.

Turning to the statement attributed to Motshekga that it would be considered whether the heads of education departments should appoint principals or whether governing bodies should be allowed to do so, Gordon said that the law made clear provision for the nomination of staff, including principals, by Governing Bodies.  He did not believe that there was any justifiable reason for the blanket withdrawal or alteration of this legal provision.  Where governing bodies had clearly demonstrated an inability to fulfil the function, the authorities could consider withdrawing it from that governing body, he suggested.  “However, many governing bodies have demonstrated an ability to make very good decisions in this regard, and should continue to be able to exercise their rights in this area,” he commented.  He also suggested that there was also little evidence to show that the organs of state had achieved greater success than governors in making appointments.

“It would be a retrograde step and a very sad day if communities were denied the right to have a say in who would manage the education of the children in that community,” he said.

As the world moves online, so too does education. In the modern world, information is freely and widely available to everyone with a basic computer and a modem, or even a cellphone. However, quantity of information rarely equates to quality. As ever more raw data becomes available, people are required to sort, filter, correct and link it. This process, known as curation, is the domain of teachers – subject experts who can harness the vast quantities of information available and transform it into accurate, reliable and useful knowledge.

What is online education?
Online education is any process that involves teaching or sharing curated information online. It can take many forms – anything from a simple list of links to an in-depth, up-to-date structured learning program with notes, videos and assignments. Courses can be structured or freeform, timed or unlimited, long or short – there are few constraints, and almost anything can be taught online.
Online education programs can be created by anyone with knowledge to share. However, due to the considerable time and resources required to create excellent learning materials, the best courses are usually created by universities, like Harvard in the US, and dedicated learning organisations, like GetSmarter in South Africa.

How does it work?
Online education is a super-charged, interactive and convenient upgrade of traditional correspondence courses. Students from anywhere in the world merely need an internet connection to access the course. They don’t need to be in a set place at a set time, meaning that learning happens conveniently and at the individual’s own pace. The teacher can repurpose content used in the classroom, and can boost it with links, videos, slideshows and other resources found online.
Some courses are provided free, while others have a set fee or require registration. Often, just the content is provided, though in some cases the teacher also actively instructs students or answers questions. When it comes to assignments, there are many options – interactive quizzes, practical puzzles, written assignments that are marked by a teacher or assistant (usually for a fee) or self-assessed group exercises.

What’s changing?
Online educators are quick to pick up on general internet trends and adapt them to fit their learning models. For example, online courses are becoming ever more community based as social media tools become inherent to the learning platforms. Students can connect and chat on Facebook, share links under a dedicated hashtag on Twitter, blog about their experiences, or discuss complex problems on forums.
Another important new development is the drive, mainly by universities, to make content accessible to all, for the benefit of those who cannot afford or travel to universities. The open content movement has resulted in universities like MIT, Berkeley University, Yale, Oxford and even the University of Cape Town offering a wide range of valuable learning material to the public free of charge. In some cases this is merely lecture slides or notes, while in others entire courses – including video lectures, textbooks and assignments – are provided. These resources are vital and much sought after in countries like India, where the drive for higher education is so strong, but the financial and social means are still lacking.

Visit www.GetSmarter.co.za for more information on online courses.

Schools across South Africa are currently engaged in their triennial governing body elections. The elections were announced with much fanfare by the Minister of Basic Education and then by the premiers of the nine provinces. One may be tempted to ask: Why all the fuss?

There are several reasons why so much attention is focussed on these elections. For one, they involve a huge number of people. Writing in her Saturday Letter of 27 February, Helen Zille says the following:

 This week, the third largest public elections kick off at every school across the country. Over five million parents will have the opportunity, between 1 and 23 March, to vote for the School Governing Body (SGB) at their child’s school.

But the question still remains: What difference can they make? Traditionally one thinks in terms of the more sophisticated schools, where literate and informed parents are involved, through their SGBs, in determining important policies (e.g. admission, language, religion), in appointing teachers and in setting schools fees and managing the school’s finances.

At a recent seminar in Cape Town, Professor Jan Heystek of the University of Stellenbosch, however, turned the spotlight on the less sophisticated schools, where, by some estimates, up to 80% of the SGBs are not functioning. Does this mean that they are incapable, because of their poverty, illiteracy, etc, not capable of making a difference? No, said Professor Heystek; they can and, in some cases, do, make a difference.

This resonates with the statement made in early February by Gwede Manatashe regarding the appalling malaise in the education system of the Eastern Cape: The mess, he said, would only be fixed when parents in that province woke up to the fact that the education of their children was their responsibility.

Passing the buck?  Maybe, to some extent; but not entirely. Parents can play a role, and not only at home.

So what can they do? Here are just a few of the ways in which they can make a difference at school level:

• They can take action regarding latecoming – and early departure – on the part of teachers. Mantashe cited the case of Tembisa, where parents stepped in to deal with teachers who arrived at 10am and left at 1200. ‘That community went there and beat them up and said: ‘If you don’t want to work, disappear’.” Since then, says Mantashe, things have changed. ‘The Matric results reflect that.’  While one would certainly not support the beating up of teachers – or even aggressive confrontation – one cannot but agree that parents should not tolerate this kind of behaviour on the part of those paid to teach their children. Professor Heystek cited the example of a school where the parents would get reports from their children about latecoming on the part of teachers and then take this to the principal or raise the issue at an SGB meeting. And if that does not help, they can take the matter to the District Office.
• The same could be said of teachers being in class and teaching when they are there, and indeed of principals being on the property rather than going off to pursue other business interests.
• Parents are also entitled to be informed of the school’s academic results, both internal and external, and be encouraged to engage with the school’s management about these. This does not mean that they should be tackling individual teachers, but rather that they should know what management is doing to improve the results.
• Parents can be trained to participate in the financial management of the school even if they are illiterate or not au fait with financial matters by teaching them what questions to ask about allocation of funds and expenditure against budget.
• When it comes to interviewing and nominating teachers, parents can be empowered by training them to ask the right questions. In this way, they could counter some of the political and financial shenanigans that go on regarding this important process in some schools.
• The non-delivery of learning material need not be passively accepted as a given. Parents could be encouraged to ask the school why they have not arrived, and if the fault lies at the district level, they could confront the officials there.

Writing in the Cape Times of 29 February 2012, Mosibudi Mangena, sums up the role that parents could be playing in their children’s schools:

It appears that unless parents in the majority of schools in SA get better organised through the school governing body mechanism, putting themselves in a better position to interact with both the teachers and the Education Department, the mess in our schools is not likely to be resolved. Better organised parents would be able to restrain injurious teachers’ union actions, call to order departmental officials who do not deliver books or release funds to schools on time, or the corrupt ones who fiddle with education resources.

But this will not happen automatically. Mangena hits the nail on the head when he concludes his article with the following statement:

Holding school governing body elections without strengthening the governing bodies will see the maladies of our education system continue unabated.

Which raises a further question:  What kind of training should SGBs receive? That’s another story, but suffice it to say that, unless they receive training which is specific to the background of the parents and the schools where they are involved, their impact will be limited. A one-size-fits-all approach, which emphasises the sophisticated technical and legal aspects of school governance will go nowhere towards achieving the goal of empowered, active SGBs in the majority of our schools.

My 92 year old father-in-law recently fell and broke his femur. Not being on medical aid, he was admitted to Johannesburg General Hospital. In the days which followed this old, but fit and very strong man – he played soccer for Iuventus in his youth – was nearly murdered by lack of nursing, and opposition to the family coming in to do the job that wasn’t being done by the nurses. Family was told they could only see him during visiting hours between 3 and 5pm every day. The nurses told security not to allow us in.

They did not operate on the leg for five days, left him without a drip for prolonged periods of time and used morphine for the pain, which caused him massive added confusion, and was, I understand medically not very sound. What we observed, and the stories that have been told to us of similar cases across the country are horrifying in the extreme. The family forced its way in and made sure that the drip was kept in, but only after he was left nearly dead from de-hydration in the first 48 hours when he was on standby for an operation that never materialised, and was left nil by mouth and drip-less! A 92 year old man was effectively left without water for two days. In a hospital.

Nurses seldom checked the wards, and seemed preoccupied with having tea and chatting at the nurses’ station rather than tending to the sick. After the family occupied the ward to make sure my father-in-law did not die, they were openly hostile. This is a story many of us have heard before. I am not even mentioning the lack of equipment in the hospital or the appalling food and lack of cleanliness. My wife’s Facebook page has carried all those photos and they have elicited a massive response. The story ended fairly well for us. We used what connections we could muster, and a highly influential surgeon instigated a shake-down in the ward and put him on the operation list. The operation went well, and I have to say that the doctors at the hospital were excellent. Unfortunately the doctors only see the patient for a few seconds, and then those who are unfortunate enough to be ill, are left in the care of a nursing staff who appear ill-trained, ill-motivated and incapable or unwilling to do their job.

It is a similar situation in our schools – not as shocking, because fewer people actually die, but lack of adequate education may represent a slow death of equally horrific proportions. Every day in our schools students remain untaught for prolonged periods of time while teachers sit in the staffroom. Ill-trained, ill-motivated and unable or unwilling to do their jobs, they are killing our nation’s health as surely as the nurses are!

It is surely time that we did something about this. It is 2012, and we cannot blame the inequalities of the past anymore. We have had nearly twenty years in which to put things right, and only ourselves to blame for not having done so. Our leaders have failed. We have been sold down the river by the politicians – it’s time to take matters into our own hands and do it ourselves. We have the capacity to do it. We have the means. My father-in-law didn’t nearly die because of shortages of equipment. He nearly died because nurses didn’t care.

Our education system is under-resourced, but good teaching only needs someone who cares. You could throw away the text-books and even the school itself. The crucial difference is the teacher, and the passion and commitment they bring to work with them every morning.

This column is about Information Technology and why it matters, and it does, but even more, it is about why it matters to be a teacher. In the early 1990s the students I taught were highly politicized. They had received very short-shrift from Bantu Education. And yet they seemed to care. Before school, when teachers never emerged from the staffroom, they sat in groups helping each other learn. Those were days of enormous promise. We could take our schools and make them into something special.

The teachers where I taught, at a People’s Education project school called Phambili were also highly politicized. I saw teachers of enormous creativity over-coming shortages: we were often not paid for starters. Neighbouring township schools were horrified when we refused to play them at soccer during the teaching day, and insisted that the match could only happen after school! There were about seventy students in my class, sitting at roughly made benches. The room was so packed you could hardly get to the students in the corners. It was fiercely hot and there was no electricity in the room. The blackboard itself had lost its ability to hold the chalk in places. But on the door to 12B, my form class, someone, possibly me, had posted a newspaper article about how Chris Hani read Shakespeare, and you could have heard a pin drop as we struggled our way though unfamiliar diction to reach at ideas which inspired the minds of students hungry for education.

Those were days when I was young, idealistic and full of hope. I saw the problems, sure. There were teachers who didn’t go to class. There were students who went to the shebeens around the school. All this, though, seemed surmountable. We had to get education right. My colleagues in SADTU shared these aims. We would soon be in power and could do something about it.

What went wrong? Why has all this promise been betrayed? I don’t want to discuss politics, but power is the nub of the issue. Too many were not interested in education, merely in power. Our Health System has collapsed, our Education System has also collapsed. In some cases the problem is Unions protecting unproductive members, in others it is corruption, in most cases it is that teachers, nurses, nobody seems to care.

What can we do to put it right? We need to turn up for school on Monday morning with a new spirit, a new motivation. We need to start caring again. We need to occupy our schools with all our being, our mind, body and most of all spirit. Education is just too important to accept failure. And we don’t have to fail, or accept failure. We just need to do whatever we can to make things better. If everyone made things just a little better, imagine what a difference it would make.