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Thank you for joining us this morning for the Social Protection, Community
and Human Development Cluster media briefing. Today we are outlining
progress relating to the implementation of the key priorities as announced
by President Jacob Zuma during the State of the Nation Address in June this
year.

We will highlight the Cluster’s achievements with respect to the following
outcomes:

·        Outcome 1: Quality of basic education

·        Outcome 2: A long and healthy life for all South Africans

·        Outcome 5: A skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive
growth path

·        Outcome 7: Vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities
contributing towards food security for all

·        Outcome 8: Sustainable human settlements and improved quality of
household life

·        Outcome 10: Protect and enhance our environmental assets and
natural resources

·        Outcome 13: A comprehensive, responsive and sustainable social
protection system

·        Outcome 14: A diverse and socially cohesive society with a common
national identity.

The Cluster is today reporting on the first quarter of the new
administration giving highlights of the achievements of the fifth democratic
government:

BASIC EDUCATION

School Governing Body (SGB) elections are the largest in the country taking
place in over 25 000 polling stations (schools) with over 250 000 governors
elected every three years to serve in our public schools. Preparations for
these elections are already at an advanced stage. For the first time, the
provinces are ahead with preparations with five month left to the elections
taking place from 6 to 28 March 2015. This demonstrates the maturing of the
sector in applying business processes. Government encourages all parents to
support the SGB elections by standing as candidates or by participating as
voters because without parental and community support, education can never
be a societal issue as envisaged by government.

South Africa is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
of Literacy and Early Childhood Development (ECD). This includes achieving
universal primary education with a focus on both access and completion of
primary education as well as gender. Furthermore, there is near universal
participation in one year of pre-school, reported at 84.6% in the 2012
General Household Survey. The publicly funded Grade R is a significant
contributor to the high rate of early childhood participation.

We are also pleased to report that extensive programmes were implemented to
improve access to learning and teaching support materials with over 150
million textbooks and workbooks now in the hands of learners.

Interventions to mitigate inequities in access to education include the
National School Nutrition Programme that now caters for around 9.2 million
school-going children. In addition, scholar transport and no fee schooling
is provided to 78% of learners (over eight million learners) in about 81% of
public schools (over 20 000 schools) which do not charge fees.

The Funza Lushaka graduates allocations to provinces and districts for 2015
have been sent to provinces for proactive placements. About 75% of teachers
have been profiled in terms of their professional information, subjects
taught and subjects qualified to teach.

Teacher resource centres are being revitalised with technology resourcing
and digital material to provide district-level support for teachers. Forty
(40) teacher resource centres were activated nationally and 168 staff of
such centres trained in a five day training programme during the first three
months of this administration.

An international comparative study is currently under way focusing on
countries offering History as a compulsory subject and the requirements for
provision.

The pilot project onIncremental Introduction of African Languages is being
implemented in 228 schools in all provinces except the Free State, with
plans to roll-out to 3738 schools in Grade 1 in 2015.

Collaboration in the cluster and with sector partners resulted in
commitments to fund resourcing for school libraries. A Book Flood campaign
was launched on Mandela Day to enhance the culture of reading by putting a
book in every child’s hand. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) in
collaboration with the Vodacom Foundation has set up an Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) centre in one targeted district in every
province. The ICT centre is equipped with a computer room and also has
thirty (30) laptops loaded with curriculum contention, and a mobile trolley
which can be moved to training venues. Some100 000 books were donated to 800
schools through the National Education Collaboration Trust initiative.The
DBE has put in place a strategy to advance reading across the curriculum in
all subjects and grades.

The DBE is working on improving participation, performance in Mathematics,
Science and Technology. For instance, interventions for improving Grade 9
Mathematics are being implemented at provinces, monitoring by the DBE –
using information from disappointing Annual National Assessment (ANA)
performance in the last two years.

Matric recovery interventions (including supplementary and alternative
sitting of examinations) have been strengthened to include separate
intensive arrangements thereby minimising disruption to schooling in the
Northern Cape by parents fighting for roads in the province.

The DBE provided all provinces with the 2014 Educational Digital content
which includes Grade 4 – 6 Natural Science and Technology (CAPS), Grade 7 –
9 Mathematics and Technology (CAPS), Grade 7 – 9 Natural Science (CAPS) and
Grade 10 – 12 Mathematics, physical Science (CAPS). It has further
facilitated the connectivity of 15 schools, including 10 schools from
Mpumalanga-Balfour and five schools from Limpopo (TV Whitespace project) and
a list of about 400 special schools has been submitted to the Communications
Authority of South Africa to be considered for connectivity under the
licence obligation project.

Thutong Portal: A new learning space has been created on the portal, which
is accessible from the DBE’s website, for Home Based Education. As agreed in
the national  strategic framework for professional development we have
launched an ICT platform USUFUNDA through which 8 000 devices can link to
information, books, data on learner well-being, analyses and exemplars of
ANA , past paper, maths quizzes, and assessment tasks. The platform creates
a virtual school which you can carry in your pocket.

About 12 school structures were completed to replace inappropriate
structures, 33 schools provide with sanitation and 22schools provided with
electrification.These are schools that had no form of sanitation or
electrification.

The Kha Ri Gude (KRG) Mass Literacy Campaign which caters for adult literacy
learners has been very successful and the country is well on the way to
achieving global literacy targets. Some 800 ECD volunteers have been
training on 0-4 year stimulation. Certificates issued to blind and deaf
volunteers that received the training, during the disability sector training
session held from 4-6 July 2014.Registration of the 619 000 learners is in
progress. Classes for the learners with disabilities started on 1 August
2014. Classes for the able-bodied group began on 1 September 2014.

ARTS AND CULTURE

As part of heritage promotion and preservation programmes, more than 5 000
schools now have South African flags. Further booklets and posters on South
African national symbols and orders have been produced and disseminated to
schools, including the Passport of Patriotism. This booklet was launched on
Heritage Day in Orkney, North West.

The department has set up an interim committee for the SA Creative
Industries Federation and provided a R5-million grant to help the sector get
organised. The sector faces various challenges and needs help dealing
effectively with them. These include funding, piracy, exploitation, lack of
social security and lack of recognition as workers.

This Liberation Heritage Route identifies and develops precincts on the
sites of historical and heritage significance. It reflects the supreme
sacrifice for the freedom of South Africans. It is about the recognition of
people, communities, events, places, icons and recording of epoch-making
stories which had a significant impact on the South African struggle for
liberation.

As part of restoring the dignity of our people and telling the South African
Story, the remains of esteemed author and intellectual, Nat Nakasa, were
repatriated to South Africa from New York and was reburied in Heroes Acre in
Chesterville, Durban on 13 September 2014. There were also debate
competitions for high schools students and essay competitions involving
students at tertiary institutions to pay tribute to and popularise the
legacy of Nat Nakasa.

Negotiations have already begun on the repatriation of South African leaders
Moses Kotane and JB Marks from Russia to be reburied in Rustenburg and
Ventersdorp in December this year.

In order to nurture nation-building and a more united people, the launch of
the Social Cohesion Community Conversations was held at Bram Fischer Hall,
Nelson Mandela Drive, Bloemfontein on 5 September 2014. Since then more than
10 Community Conversations have been conducted in various parts of the
country focusing on Social Cohesion. A further 20 conversations will be held
before the end of the year.

National Youth Day was held in Kimberley this year, in the Northern Cape in
partnership with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). Youth were
exposed to dialogues and conversations about the economic empowerment of
youth. The Nelson Mandela Day took place at three main sites: Mvezo, Qunu
and Mahikeng; with supporting activities implemented countrywide. Many
people participated in donating 67 minutes of their time to serve
communities and making a difference in people’s lives. The Women’s day event
took place at King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi in conjunction with the
Ministry of Women. The Heritage Day National Event took place at the James
Motlatsi Stadium, Orkney, North West Province. Highlights of this event
included a cultural parade consisting of performance groups dressed in
traditional dress.

The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) has been promoting National Book
Week annually since 2010 in the first week of September. Literacy underpins
development in various aspects of life and a heightened culture of reading
is a fundamental ingredient in the creation of a prosperous society. The
importance of books as sources of knowledge and information makes reading a
vital ingredient in the development of a progressive society. The theme for
this year’s National Book Week, “Going Places”, resonates with the national
imperatives of taking South Africa forward. In pursuit of a culture of
reading and writing, four libraries have been opened (Eastern Cape, Gauteng
and Mpumalanga) and four more are being built in different provinces. Next
week a library will be launched in Shiluvane, Mopani in Limpopo.

The Launch of the African Cultural Renaissance Charter took place on 2 and 3
October. South Africa is one of the nine African countries this far to
ratify the Charter. The African Union (AU) is encouraging the entire
continent to do so and work towards Agenda 2063, The Agenda consists of 7
Aspirations that speak about the Africa we want and have to work towards.
The DAC has announced that the entire May 2015 will celebrate Africa through
music, dance, literature, conferences, debates, visual arts, crafts and
exhibitions and be a festival of ideas.

The 11th Annual Oral History Conference organised by the Oral History
Association of South Africa in collaboration with the DAC (National Archives
of South Africa) and hosted by Gauteng’s Department of Sports, Arts, Culture
and Recreation (Provincial Archives), will take place at Cedar Park
Conference Centre in Woodmead from the 14 – 17 October 2014. The theme for
this year’s conference is, Celebrating 20 years of democracy: “Oral History
and the Politics of Transformation”. Learners will also participate in this.

The DAC is working towards the launch of the Mzansi Golden Market (Sourcing
Enterprise) and we have initiated the Art Bank pilot project. Plans are
advanced for the piloting of arts and cultural incubators and hubs. The DAC,
as part of its support for national festivals, is supporting Macufe
currently underway in Bloemfontein and in particular promoting a Public
Visual Arts Programme throughout this festival.

A Central East Rand Male Choir known as Cenestra will be performing at the
Royal Albert Hall Male Choir Festival in London in a few days’ time. It is
the first African male choir to participate in this festival. This group is
a beneficiary of the DAC’s Mzansi Golden Economy funding.

HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

One of the top priorities of the Department of Higher Education and Training
(DHET) is the strengthening of transformation in the Post-School Education
and Training System (PSET), focusing on: Race; Class; Disability; Gender;
HIV and AIDS; Age; Geography and Citizenship.

The Department has received inputs from various organisations and
individuals in response to its Draft Policy Framework on Social Inclusion,
which was gazetted on 21 August 2014. The framework maintains that the
educational system should adequately respond to the National Development
Plan, the Human Resource Development Strategy, the National Skills
Development Strategy and the Industrial Policy of government. It recognises
the complex and dynamic challenges facing the PSET and young South Africans
and recommends well-planned career guidance intervention strategies and
appropriate resources for institutions of learning to reduce student
dropout, lack of skills and general alienation. It further calls for the
strengthening of Disability Units, the development of institutional
disability policies and functional Transformation Offices. The Department
will work closely with institutions in ensuring that all forms of
discrimination are eradicated in our public educational institutions.

The rollout of construction for the new universities – University of
Mpumalanga and Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape - must be seen in
the context of a range of initiatives to expand the university system in
South Africa in order to accommodate greater numbers of qualifying school
leavers. Over the past 20 years university enrolment has almost doubled from
495 356 in 1994 to 953 373 in 2012. Enrolments are expected to grow to
approximately 1.1 million in 2019 and 1.6 million students by 2030 as
envisaged in the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training. It is
critically important that this expansion be supported by quality
infrastructure. A total construction value of R28.8m was recorded and 457
jobs were created. Work is continuing at both universities on the renovation
and upgrading of existing facilities to accommodate planned enrolment for
the 2015 academic year. The project has now reached an exciting milestone,
with the appointment of contractors to commence with the building of new
infrastructure for the 2016 academic year onwards.

In March 2014, the Department launched the Decade of the Artisan, under the
theme: It is cool to be an Artisan. As part of this programme’s
implementation plan, the Department immediately started hosting provincial
outreach activities. The last provincial event was held in Mpumalanga on 8
August 2014. Employers from both the private and public sectors were
encouraged to open workplaces for artisan students to obtain practical
training.

The Department places great emphasis on linking education and the workplace
and has a dedicated Work Integrated Learning and Partnerships unit, which
directly deals with the placement of graduates and continuously updates a
database of all graduates who need to be placed. A Work-Integrated Learning
framework to enhance the employability of Technical and Vocational Education
and Training College graduates has been recently finalized to provide a
standardised approach and to support colleges in finding suitable workplaces
to provide experiential learning to college graduates.

SPORTS AND RECREATION

The cluster, through the Departments of Sport and Recreation; and Arts and
Culture drives a campaign to promote social cohesion; nation building and
patriotism under the campaign called UNITE. Through the power of sport and
arts & culture to promote these ideals that underpin the kind of society we
seek to create in South Africa.

With regard to sport and recreation promotion campaigns, 289 People
participated in a Move for Health event hosted in Hammanskraal. 793 People
were reached in Ministerial Outreach Programmes that were conducted in De
Doorn, Gugulethu, and New Eersterus. 20 Schools were provided with sports
equipment and apparel.

The department hosted EKhaya at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The
fundamental purpose of Ekhaya was to provide support to Team South Africa
when they participate in various sporting events. The activities at Ekhaya
included daily exhibitions, a film festival, a lunch music programme and
nightly evening concerts, networking/ lobbying sessions, medal celebrations,
meeting venues. During the same time approximately 6 000 people visited
Ekhaya

Issued by Socila Protection, Communuity and Human Development Cluster