MEC for education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi delivered his budget speech for the 2015/16 financial year at the Gauteng Legislature on 19 June.
The details of the budget were the first Lesufi delivered against the province’s 2020 strategic plan. The MEC for finance, Barbara Creecy allocated R36 billion toward education for the financial year.
“The largest portion of the budget is allocated to public ordinary school education. The increase in this category came as a result of increases in budgets for pupil support material and transportation costs for monitoring the implementation of programmes in schools,” Lesufi added.
The MEC for education said the department was committed to building an inclusive education system where crucial services would be available in a system for special schools.
There are key elements to make this work:
• Firstly, a continuum of placements, support and services should be made available for all pupils. It is always assumed that every pupil’s first placement is in regular education than in a special school.
• Secondly, recruit sufficiently licenced educators and practitioners to address the social, emotional, and cognitive needs of all pupils.
• Thirdly, extensive development of educators and non-educator professionals must be prioritised as a part of every teacher’s and para-professional’s workday.
• Lastly, involve parents and pupils as partners in the decision-making process.
The teacher and support staff development programme would issue training programmes in South African sign language and would be conducted for staff at schools for the disabled. “This will include improving Braille competencies for teachers and support staff at schools for the blind,” the MEC continued.
Lesufi said several stakeholders and NGOs had approached his office for the plight of children with autism. He said the turnaround plan for special schools would be funded through the existing budget. R104 million will go toward implementation and more than R1 billion is set to be spent on special education.
On the subject of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the classrooms, the MEC said the department would introduce tech-based learning by 2019. Tech-based learning is based on the systematic use of boards and digital lessons. More than R800 billion has been pumped into E-learning in 2015/16.
