ZINGISA MKHUMA
DELIVERING his first budget speech as Gauteng MEC for Education, Matome Chiloane said he wanted to highlight efforts made in closing the gap in education quality between the fee-paying and no-fee paying schools as well as the achievement of universal access to schooling.
Chiloane was presenting the Department’s 2023/24 Budget of R 63,4 billion on Friday 6 May which shows an increase of 6.2% from a main appropriation of R59.7 billion in 2022/23 to the current R63,4 billion allocation – a Rand value increase of R3,6 billion.
He said over R46 billion or 72.6% of the 2023/24 budget is spent on the compensation of employees, over R7,89 billion accounts for transfers and subsidies, infrastructure development is allocated R2,46 billion, leaving more than R7 billion for programmes, nutrition, transport and other goods and services.
“I am proud to present a budget plan that aims to focus on the consolidation of our Five-Year Strategic Plan with special emphasis on the Premier’s Elevated Priorities to build on the successes achieved to date and to adjust our focus to achieve and make an even greater impact for the citizens in Gauteng.
“As such, our approach to education transformation in Gauteng is multi-faceted and is directed to address the quality of learning through quality improvement strategies that will improve the classroom performance of teachers and the active learning of children in classrooms across all schools in the province.
“Simultaneously we are introducing interventions that compensate for poor family literacy level and the impact of poverty affecting a large percentage of our communities in Gauteng. It is for this reason that we wholly support the focus on Townships, Informal Settlements and Hostels,” Chiloane said.
Chiloane spoke about the Elevated Priorities that are in line with Gauteng’s vision that the Premier
Panyaza Lesufi delivered at the State of the Province Address as priorities elevated for accelerated
implementation for the remainder of the Sixth Administration.
In education the elevated priorities are:
- Improving Grade 12 results, measuring progress and educational outcomes must be a priority.
- Expanding access of ECD sites across poor and marginalised communities including residential
hostels - ICT schools’ role in the Townships must continue investing in skills of the future by Continuing to
open Schools of Specialisation to reach 35 schools by the end of the term, introduce a system of
multi-certification - Modernisation, investing in school infrastructure and online admissions by investing in school
infrastructure in townships, ensuring accelerated delivery of smart public infrastructure to meet the
demand identified through the online admissions remains a critical priority - Integration and incorporation of wellness programmes, and rehabilitation of children in conflict
with the law into the education system by assessing those in care centres and rehabilitation centres
ready for schooling and ensure they are reintegrated into the schooling system. - School Safety must be a priority to ensure learner and teachers safety.
- Youth Development must be redefined to increase youth employability and employment.
Chiloane emphasised the Department’s priority in improving the Grade 12 performance in what he
called Reclaiming the ‘crown’ – continuing the improvement of quality learning in the FET Band.
He said the Matric Class for 2022 did a sterling job by achieving a pass rate of 84.4% which represents an improvement of 1.6% as compared to the 82.8% pass rate that was obtained in 2021.
In 2022 there were a total of 43 298 distinctions, which saw over 20 769 distinctions from township schools – a monumental achievement!’, adding that the GDE pass rate has consistently been higher than the National pass rate and this trend continues.
“A great achievement to note is the progress made by Gauteng in closing the gap between former model C and township schools’ pass rate from 12% to 9%. In the 2022 NCS examination, 24 learners from township schools received total marks in Mathematics, Business Economics and Economics.
“In 2023, the Department endeavour to improve the matric pass rate for Gauteng to 90% and the Bachelor Pass Rate to 50%, with specific emphasis in reducing the difference in NSC Pass rate between township and ex-Model C schools to 7%. Further emphasis will be placed on increasing learner participation in Mathematics and Science and ensuring that 21.5% of learners are achieving 60% and above in Physical Sciences and 17.5% of learners are achieving 60% and above in Mathematics”.
Furthermore, The Department will again offer additional support for Matric candidates that failed the exams and who have registered to write Supplementary Examinations. The enhanced SSIP Broadcast Project will continue as a means of support to all learners.
Additional intervention programmes will be given in respect of All other Grades, which includes District support for all schools, monitoring the Curriculum and Assessment standards, access to e- content and Early Grade Reading Assessments (Grades 1-3).
The Introduction to African Languages and Maths, Science and Technology intervention programmes across all grades will be ongoing.
Responding to the challenges of scarce skills development, Chiloane said as outlined in GGT 2030, the province is implementing a strategy to reorganise and turnaround our schools, particularly schools in the township.
“We are investing millions of rands to improve the quality of education in the townships and to turn around what were historically labour reservoirs for unskilled labour, into zones of hope, development, and transformation”.
INSIDE EDUCATION
