Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma says government will focus this year on the three "Ts" - teachers, textbooks and time.
"We reiterate our call that teachers must be at school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day. The administration must ensure that every child has a textbook on time, and that we assist our teachers to create the right working environment for quality teaching to take place," said Zuma in his third State of the Nation Address.
He said government will continue investing in teacher training, especially in mathematics and science. "We will pay special attention to the training of principals, particularly those in underperforming schools," Zuma said.
To track progress, this year, government began the annual national assessments in literacy and numeracy that are internationally benchmarked, for Grades 3, 6 and 9.
These tests will be written at the beginning of every year, to test the levels of performance based on what the pupil should have reached at the end of the previous grade.
Through these tests, the Basic Education Department is hoping that teachers will use the individual results to inform their lessons and give them a clear picture of where each individual child needs more attention.
In the past, the assessment tests were set provincially and administered at any time of the year. But from this year, all pupils in each grade will write the same paper countrywide in Grades 1 to 9.
Zuma said government will expand access to especially children of the poor. "This includes the conversion of loans into bursaries for qualifying final year students. Students in Further Education and Training Colleges who qualify for financial aid will be exempted from paying fees," said the President.
Student bodies like Sasco have been calling for free and expanded access to education, especially in rural provinces Mpumalanga and in the Northern Cape.
Zuma also went on to urge state owned enterprises to play a key role in skills development saying it provide much needed technical skills needed by the economy.
