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Gauteng opens school doors wide
29/02/2008 08:06 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Gauteng's no-fee school policy will cover about 49% of pupils in the province - more than 865 000 pupils in over 1 000 schools, said finance MEC Paul Mashatile when tabling his budget for 2008/'09 on Thursday.
He said this was a significant achievement as it meant that more and more pupils from poor communities in Gauteng now could gain access to basic education.
"Most importantly, this achievement takes us even closer to the realisation of our vision to ensure that by 2009, 60% of all public schools reach the no-fee school status."
Collectively, these efforts would pave the way for the provision of free education up to under-graduate level for poor pupils, he said.
A total of 80 000 pupils across Gauteng also were receiving free school uniforms, he said, and a "growing number" were benefiting from the school nutrition programme and the provision of free transport.
To increase the number of no-fee schools in the province, an additional R173.6m was allocated to the Department of Education in the medium-term expenditure framework.
The government also would allocate R1.7bn to improve levels of remuneration for teachers, increasing clerical staff in schools and districts, employing teaching assistants, especially in the foundation phase of schooling, and providing incentives to teachers in critical subjects.
The National School Nutrition Programme grant baseline was revised upwards to R172.1m in the 2008/'09 financial year.
This would allow for the consolidation of this programme in the primary school phase by covering all eligible pupils up to Grade 7.
The allocation for the programme increases to R197.6m in 2009/'10 and rises to R255.6m in 2010/'11.
Electricity usage rises
The total budget for the Department of Education for 2008/'09 is R16.6b00bn, increasing to R18.4bn in 2009/'10 and to R19.8bn in 2010/'11.
It would also enable the rollout of wireless local area network and improve information communication technology at further education and training colleges.
"Attention also will be paid to the provision of ongoing hands-on support for underperforming schools with particular emphasis on the education of the African child," he said.
According to the socio-economic Review Report published by the Gauteng treasury, the percentage of households using electricity increased from 72.4% in 2001 to 81.4% in 2007.
The percentage of households with access to water also increased from 97.1% to 97.9% during the same period.
The 12 332 bucket toilets that were identified before 1994, were eradicated by November 2007, he said, and had been replaced with either water-borne toilets or ventilated pit latrines.
- SAPA
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