Budget speech: Minister of Basic Education
Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 25 Mar, 2010Here's a link to the budget vote speech delivered by Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education on 23 March 2010.
In the budget speech, she acknowledges that " South Africa’s learning outcomes continue to be unsatisfactory. All local and international assessments are agreed that far too many of our learners, especially African learners, do not perform at the required level. We have identified the underlying factors and we are determined to work systematically to resolve them."These are the targets that need to be achieved by 2014 in order to meet the challenges:-
The number of Grade 12 learners who pass the national examinations and qualify to enter a Bachelor's programme at a university will increase from 105 000 to 175 000
· The number of Grade 12 learners who pass mathematics and physical science will be 225 000 and 165 000 respectively;
· The percentage of learners in Grades 3, 6 and 9 in public schools who obtain the minimum acceptable mark in the national assessments for language and mathematics (or numeracy) will improve from between 27% and 38% to at least 60%.
In order to support the achievement of our targets for the education system, Basic Education has set out the following priorities:
· By 2014, there will be universal access to Grade R for all age appropriate children;
· Adequate learning and teaching materials will be developed and distributed particularly to those schools we have identified; and
· Standardised national assessments of the quality of learning will take place in Grades 3, 6 and 9 on an annual basis.