Cape Town - Government will spend an additional R1.4 billion on Further Education and Training over the next three years, bringing the total allocation to the sector to R14.3 billion over the period.
In his Budget Speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, said about R9.5 billion was being allocated to the sector in the new financial year.
The additional allocation is expected to increase FET colleges enrolment from about 198 000 recorded in 2010 to 315 000 in 2011. The State Bursary Scheme for FET college students also increases to R5 billion with a further R3.9 billion being pumped in over the medium term period to enable an additional 120 600 underprivileged learners to access college opportunities.
Other interventions will be aimed at improving the performance of students in vocational programmes offered at FET colleges across the country.
Education, which is one of government's five priorities, takes up the largest share of the national budget with about 21 percent allocated to the sector.
On Wednesday, Gordhan said up to R24.3 billion would be added towards the remuneration of teachers over the next three years, rising from R190 billion next year to R215 billion in the following year.
"Minister (Blade) Nzimande and Minister (Angie) Motshekga exercise stewardship over the largest network of service providers in our economy, and the most important programme of investment in future growth and redistribution," said Gordhan.
Government also plans to increase access to tertiary education, especially universities with the Department of Higher Education and Training receiving an additional R8.1 billion over the next three years.
More than R26 billion is budgeted for the new financial year with an additional R3.6 billion with an additional initial allocation of R300 million available for the establishment of new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape.
To improve access to universities for poor students, about R3.6 billion has been allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), bringing the scheme's available funds for bursaries and loans to R9.7 billion. Statistics show that some 154 890 students received financial aid from NSFAS in 2010. Of the number, 57 300 were final year students.
