TRUST US TO EQUIP AND EMPOWER YOU
South Africa’s education system needs to be rebuilt. It is harming our children’s future and the future of our country. Many of our children have no desks or books or toilets, and their education is held to ransom by unions who seem to be accountable to only themselves. The matric pass mark has been lowered to 30%. It is no surprise therefore that the economy is underperforming due to a lack of skills. The IFP believes in free, equitable and quality basic education for all, and state-sponsored higher education for poor and low-income families to address the inequalities of the past. Inclusivity is a central tenet of the IFP’s educational vision.
AN IFP GOVERNMENT WILL:
- Implement free basic education and state-sponsored higher education for poor and low-income families as a fundamental component of our education policy.
- Enhance teaching and learning standards while providing adequate resources.
- Roll out free scholar transport and efficiently run nutrition schemes in all public schools.
- Implement comprehensive school transport policies that prioritise safety.
- Ensure that strict regulations are enforced to prevent unsafe conditions like overcrowding.
- Roll out alternative transportation methods, like bicycles, particularly in rural areas.
- Promote a strong family structure and the values of respect and ubuntu as the cornerstone to a functional education system.
- Promote the involvement of engaged parents, empowered school principals, and well-trained and motivated teachers.
- Enforce discipline in schools through school codes of conduct.
- Foster a culture of teaching and learning excellence.
- Raise standards. The pass mark must be set at 50%.
- Replace Life Orientation, introducing compulsory financial and entrepreneurial literacy training and portable skills training modules into the school curriculum.
- Ensure better pay and better working conditions for all teachers, including Grade R teachers.
- Address underfunding by restructuring the education budget to improve infrastructure and resources in schools.
- Re-evaluate and capacitate rural and township schools that were previously closed due to non-viability or non-performance.
- Prioritise Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes for a strong foundation, ensuring that all children have access to ECD programmes.
- Enhance access to quality education for learners with disabilities or special educational needs.
- Ensure the development of high-tech classrooms-of-the-future by promoting the use of technology (e-books and eLearning) while ensuring that all schools have access to the Internet.
- Invest in in-service teacher training, support and development programmes, and reopen closed teacher training colleges.
- Provide teacher accommodation, particularly in rural areas, as an incentive in attracting the required skills to schools.
- Minimise political interference in education operations and in the appointment of teachers.
- Ensure concurrence of powers and functions between the national and provincial spheres of Government. Provinces and local communities should be allowed to develop an education dispensation and school model best suited to their own needs.
- Reform NSFAS by moving its administration and management back to tertiary institutions, which would ensure greater efficiency, transparency and responsiveness.
- Increase investment in TVET colleges to offer relevant and marketable skills and training for the job market.
