Chairperson, 

Education is the bedrock of any society's development and the Inkatha Freedom Party acknowledges that the Minister of Education and her Department have good intentions, which look very good on paper; but unfortunately the sad truth is that many of their good intentions are nowhere to been seen in the South African education system today. 

And as we all know - the road to hell is also paved with good intentions. 

In the fight for quality education, we would like to highlight some critical issues that need urgent attention. 

We are NOT getting VALUE for money 

Each year we have seen an increase in the Education budget and this year is no exception with R16 billion allocated to Education - yet the system continues to be dysfunctional in many ways and on many levels. Districts, for instance, remain the weakest points in the Educational chain, lacking both accountability and resources. 

Distribution of teachers 

The distribution of educators to schools remains problematic with equity and equality becoming causalities in the process. Part of the problem is to be found in the distribution of teachers as prescribed by the distribution model which the Department has adopted. 

It is also important to remember that balance is needed between unionism and professionalism in the appointment of teachers. It has become very clear to the IFP that professional appointments have taken a back seat to political appointments, which are not acceptable.  

Education system in crisis  

The IFP have stressed for a very long time now that we believe that the education system in South Africa is in a state of revolving crisis.  

The government, having inherited an education system based on racial discrimination, continues to fail to provide an education that prepares our students for university and the job market. The country presently lacks highly qualified and highly motivated educators. Under the present system there is a scarcity and uneven or erratic distribution of resources. The management of the whole education system is structurally dysfunctional. 

Many of our educational institutions have become havens of drug abuse, violence, teenage pregnancies, ill-discipline and immoral behaviour. Our school grounds have become war zones and not places of safety and learning. 

All in all, education is in a sorry state.  

The IFP believes that the only way we can turn around this dismal state of affairs within our education system is to realise that South Africa needs a diversified education system that properly caters for the vocational, technical and academic needs of the country.  

We must bring back a culture of accountability throughout the system, at both teacher and management level.  

The IFP believes that the Safer Schools Programme, introduced at the beginning of 2007 by the education department in partnership with the police, is having no noticeable impact and little is being done to help schools implement their safety plans. 

We would like to see more money invested into the Safer Schools project and we call on parents and educators to redouble their efforts to help implement the safety measures outlined by this programme. 

The IFP believes that school violence is a reflection of a sick society. We need to urgently restore the values of ubuntu, which has gradually eroded over the years.  

Chairperson, 

Teacher Training Colleges 

The IFP is not in the habit of saying: "I told you so!" but the IFP has always questioned the reasoning behind the closure of teacher training colleagues by the ANC-led government. 

We argued then that the ANC's desire to destroy what it wrongly regarded as apartheid creations should not blind them to the education realities facing South Africa. One of these undeniable realties is the need for the continuous training of teachers at specialised institutions. 

The shortage of teachers in South Africa has been amplified by the high rate of teacher attrition due to amongst other things HIV and Aids. 

The IFP strongly agrees with the ANC President that the re-opening of teacher training colleges will go a long way in addressing our critical needs. 

Mangosuthu University of Technology 

The Inkatha Freedom Party would like to repeat our call upon the Minister of Education to intervene at the Mangosuthu University of Technology where sixteen Sadesmo affiliated students were suspended. 

It is very disconcerting that the Minister kept quiet while the University was rocked by protests and violence. 

Furthermore, we are concerned that the management of the University acted unfairly and showed that they were clearly biased by blaming the violence solely on Sadesmo.  

The protests were planned by the Student Representative Council of the University, of which some members are not Sadesmo affiliated, but only those affiliated to Sadesmo were suspended.  

The IFP is extremely worried about these students who are awaiting a disciplinary hearing, but in the meantime they are losing out on valuable class time. It is going to be very difficult for these students to catch-up on their class work, which might have dire consequences on their marks at the end of the year. 

If the Minister is serious about her Department's mission - which is to build a South Africa in which all our people have access to lifelong education and training opportunities - then she is obliged to intervene immediately so that these students can go back to class and make the most of their tertiary education. We cannot allow politics and prejudice to stand in the way of the future of these young students. 

History Book 

We in the IFP readily acknowledge the right of the new generation of South African schoolchildren to an education free of residual bias which defined the segregated education system in South Africa prior to 1994 and which stemmed directly from a history of colonialism and apartheid. 

We believe that the universal civic freedoms embedded in our democratic dispensation should be mirrored in a modern and progressive school curriculum free of ulterior motives and narrow political agendas. 

The IFP maintains that such contentious school subjects as history must be approached by the compilers of study materials and educators alike with a spirit of impartiality and a commitment to an objective presentation of our troubled history.  

We uphold the view that school textbooks should disseminate factual information and stimulate independent thinking, not forge strong political opinions based on a lopsided presentation of past events. 

Sadly, one particular school textbook titled In Search of History, designed for Grade 12 pupils and published by Oxford University Press Southern Africa is an example of vintage pre-1994 study material. The textbook features a cartoon in which IFP President Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi is seen 'signing on' to the new South Africa using the spilt blood of victims of political violence as ink. 

We in the IFP contend that the textbook uses the cartoon to depict a biased account of the low intensity civil war which claimed the lives of many IFP and ANC supporters in the run-up to South Africa's first democratic elections. We maintain that a cartoonist's viewpoint is being offered to Grade 12 pupils as a historical fact and the truth about South Africa's history without any attempt at an objective commentary. 

The IFP cannot help but view this textbook as an obstacle on the path towards an education befitting our new dispensation based on the precepts of tolerance and multi-party democracy. Similarly, we cannot help but wonder whether the timing of the textbook's distribution in early 2008 may have been set to affect the IFP's electoral fortunes in the 2009 elections. 

We therefore urge the Minister of Education:  

1.    to immediately halt the use and further distribution of this contentious school textbook in the interest of an education free of bias and political manipulation to which the Ministry of Education formally subscribes; 

2.    to review, for future reference, the current process governing the compilation of school textbooks which allows narrow political agendas to infiltrate taxpayer-funded study materials; and 

3.    to encourage a school curriculum that genuinely reflects the multiplicity of views that co-exist in the South African society. 

We must heed the call by revered past President Nelson Mandela to stay away from destructive divisiveness. 

Chairperson, 

In conclusion, the IFP welcomes the increased Education budget in general terms, but our concerns spelt out earlier should be heeded by government if it is genuinely committed to providing education to our children and young adults that will properly prepare them for tertiary education or the job market. 

South Africa is already falling behind our peers in the developing world in terms of the quality of education we provide. We have to close this widening gap as quickly as possible if our own development as an emerging economy and country is not to be stifled. 

Thank you

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Mr Narend Singh MP: 083 788 5954