Business Day
*Teaching as an essential service 'has not fallen flat', says Motshekga* *Karl Gernetzky, Business Day, Johannesburg, 29 June 2012*THE African National Congress (ANC) did not reach resolution at its policy conference this week on making teaching an essential service, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, a member of the party's education and health commission, said on Friday.
However, she said, the issue had "not fallen flat" and discussions would continue.
Calls from several quarters to make teaching an essential service in order to fast-track improvements in teaching and learning have been criticised by teachers' unions concerned that it would remove their ability to strike.
Addressing the media on resolutions made by the education and health commission at the conference in Midrand, Ms Motshekga said there had instead been consensus on the need to examine conditions of employment and professional development for teachers.
This could lead to multiyear agreements with unions, she said, to pre-empt the yearly risk of teacher go-slows or strikes.
Ms Motshekga said although "we have lots of difficulty maintaining relationships with stakeholders", unions should not be singled out for blame. Constant public scrutiny of unions, particularly the South African Democratic Teachers' Union, was "unfair", she said.
There were numerous issues involved, including school infrastructure and resource provision, and ultimately the government was responsible for education delivery, she said.
Ms Motshekga also said agreement had been reached on the need for new regulations to guide national interventions in provinces, made possible by the constitution.
The Department of Basic Education has faced court action this year over progress made in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, two provinces whose education departments are under national administration.
She said there was, however, no certainty that such regulations would be finalised by December, when policy resolutions made by this week's conference would be ratified or rejected at the ANC's elective conference in Mangaung.
Ms Motshekga said the commission tasked with refining the regulations would have to be led by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, adding that teams from that department were already involved in the interventions in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Ms Motshekga said there had been no resolution by the commission on the issue of making education an essential service.
Speaking on the issue of higher education and training, commission member and South African Communist Party secretary-general Blade Nzimande said the ANC had resolved to support the Department of Higher Education and Training's plans to expand post-school education.
The department's Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training has projected the need to double university enrolment and increase the number of further education and training (FET) students sixfold by 2040.
Mr Nzimande, who is also minister of higher education and training, said the commission had resolved that five new universities, 20 new teachers' colleges and 55 FET colleges be built to address the issue of infrastructure.
There was not yet an indication of the potential cost, but according to a recent departmental report on university accommodation, addressing the issue of quality housing for most students would cost R147bn over five years, he said.
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