Pretoria - The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) has commended government's determination to prioritise education as a key tool to addressing the country's problem of skills' shortages.
Delivering his Budget Speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced an allocation of more than R189 billion to the education sector, up by 9.7 percent compared to last year.
An amount of R8.3 billion was allocated to the Department of Basic Education to be used to address the challenge of school infrastructure, while R1 billon goes towards Funza Lushaka teacher bursaries and bursaries for top students in natural science.
Gordhan said more than R24 billion will be added to education and skills spending over the next three years and this is expected to rise from R190 billion next year to R215 billion in 2014.
Commenting on the R9.5 billion allotted to Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, SADTU General Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said this was an absolute necessity. The union wants to see an investment in the quality of lecturers in FET colleges.
"We call for the establishment of a think-tank between the Departments of Basic and Higher Education, which will do extensive research on new methodologies for teaching, in particular Maths and Science," Maluleke said.
SADTU also called on the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation to monitor progress made in the eradication of mud schools and provide feedback on a six-monthly basis.
"We call for the Department of Basic Education not to allow provincial departments to divert this money to fund political administration by creating unnecessary directorship positions."
Although the union welcomed the R1 billion added for Funza Lushaka teacher bursaries, it reiterated its call for the reopening of colleges of education, as it believes universities are not enough to train the teachers needed to close the backlog.
"The reopening of these colleges is long overdue. The department must not beat about the bush but should state categorically whether they are prepared to reopen these colleges or not," said Maluleke, adding that they can "no longer afford to listen to lip service."
Education specialist Graeme Bloch said the emphasis on jobs for the young, and on vocational support, FET and higher education spend was crucial, but emphasised that the lion's share of the budget would still go to education as it is the number one national priority and the best route out of poverty for individuals and the country.
"It helps build the foundations and the higher order skills that will help the economy grow. The issue is the effective use of the funds, thus proper systems of monitoring and accountability (are needed) ... How will teachers, officials, principals and learners deliver on their promises and responsibilities?" Bloch said.
He also emphasised the need for a plan to address infrastructure backlogs. "This means proper norms and standards and a detailed plan for libraries, labs, staffrooms and so on, even while the infrastructure spend on schools is welcome."
