Cape Town, Feb. 7, 2006 (THE_HERALD) – EDUCATION Minister Naledi Pandor believes that maths and science teachers should be paid more because “if you have a scarce skill you must recognise it as such”.

Addressing a media briefing, Pandor said in the drive to recruit more maths and science teachers “that is part of what we will proceed with”.

The minister said the possibility of “full service bursaries” to recruit more teachers in scarce skills areas such as maths, science and African languages was being explored.

Pandor said the number of schools receiving special attention in maths and science would be increased from 102 to 400, and to 529 by January next year.

Over the following three years, the number would increase to 1?000.

The aim, she spelled out, was “to double the number of learners passing higher grade maths and science in Grade 12 by 2008 through targeted interventions and investment”.

Pandor said there was a need to identify the education needs, one of which was maths, and to ask which schools did not have properly qualified maths teachers, after which a recruitment strategy to address the problem could be developed.

The minister said Government had allocated R1,9-billion over the next three years for the recapitalisation of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges – “the most exciting part of government’s human resource strategy”.

The department, she added, had identified skills that were in short supply as part of the recapitalisation of FET colleges.

“As a result of this a programme to address immediate needs – in civil engineering construction, information technology, financial management, marketing, tourism, manufacturing and assembly, fabrication and extraction, and primary agriculture – has been developed and will be offered at FET colleges.”

With regard to higher education, Pandor said the restructuring process was proceeding relatively smoothly and within the agreed timeframes, adding that nine of the 10 mergers had already taken place, resulting in new institutions.

She said the department had allocated R50-million to the faculty of Veterinary Sciences at Pretoria University “to support operations at the hospital as a national strategic asset”. She said the faculty had lost a lot of expertise and the country could not afford this.

[ENDS]