Mr. Chairman, I want to pay tribute briefly to the memory of the Rev. M. L. de Villiers, composer of the Call of South Africa. He passed away this morning at the age of 91 years. The Rev. De Villiers was a quiet and humble man. His legacy to the people of South Africa is a rich one. The composition of our national anthem, the Call of South Africa, is a fine legacy to have left us.

We as a people will always think of him with gratitude because of the fine, exceptional and inspiring legacy he left us.

At thy call we shall not falter, firm and steadfast we shall stand,

At thy will to live or perish,

O South Africa, dear land.

Those are the words that have resounded across our mountains and our valleys, words which will resound for many years yet across our plains and our seas. A grateful nation pays tribute to this man, and to his next of kin we express a word of sincere condolence. God’s richest blessings on them all.

Mr. Chairman, I request the privilege of the half-hour. I immediately want to associate myself with the tribute paid to the late Rev. De Villiers by the hon. the Minister. It is a good thing that we could honour the Rev. De Villiers in his lifetime, also by means of speeches made by members on this side of the House, requesting that the House where Die Stem was set to music, be declared a national monument.

I also want to congratulate the hon. member for Hercules on his appointment as chairman of the education group of the NP. I want to wish him every success for the future. I hope that if he receives further promotion, it will be something better than merely a Commissioner-Generalship, as happened in the case of his two predecessors. [Interjections.]

†Mr. Chairman, last year I drew the attention of the House to the fact that the hon. the Minister of Finance in his budget speech stated that preferential treatment was to be given to education. I queried the statement at that time. A year has passed, and for the record I want to say that despite all the promises, we have had very little evidence during the year that education was going to receive preferential treatment. I only have to remind the House that teachers, for instance, received exactly the same treatment as any other civil servant.

An analysis of this year’s budget shows very little evidence of education being lifted out. It is true that for universities there is an increase of approximately 15% over and above the amount for the previous year. However, with the inflation rate running into double figures, that increase is no longer so great. We are grateful for the fact that the amount for Colleges for Advanced Technical Education has increased considerably, but unfortunately it is not of a recurring nature, but purely on account of some loan capital.

The first problem that I would like to discuss with the hon. the Minister is, once again, the matter of teacher shortages. Earlier this year the hon. the Minister in reply to questions indicated that except for Transvaal, where 104 unfilled posts existed, the rest of the provinces hardly had a shortage of teachers. Understandably this information was hailed in many quarters as if South Africa had solved the teacher shortage problem. But I must warn the hon. the Minister, and in particular the Administrators, that they should not be lulled into a false sense of security. It would be fatal if they should. What are the real facts? The present improved situation is entirely an artificial one. Ironically as it seems to be, this improvement is a very temporary by-product of the poor economic situation in the country. When one finds that architects become geometrical drawing teachers, as I am told is happening today, then one must realize that they are doing it not because they want to be teachers or intend to make it their career, but as a result of extreme personal necessity.

A far more reassuring fact is that all four provinces reported that there were more applicants this year for the teacher training colleges and that they could therefore apply a better method of selection. This, I believe, is encouraging. But once again one should be realistic. If one looks at the situation in the Transvaal where there is only one English-language teachers’ training college and one English-language university one should not sit back and feel contented. After all, that college and university are full; one should rather act timeously and establish additional ones. From time to time one hears quite justifiable complaints that the English-speaking section does not avail itself of the teaching profession. In the Transvaal nothing is being done to create convenient additional training facilities for this section of the population. With one university and one College of Education I maintain that perhaps the fault lies somewhere else.

*Mr. Chairman, I want to say a few words about the aspect and promises of improved salary scales and of a more realistic posts structure for teachers. I doubt whether the hon. the Minister fully realizes the frustrating effect his tactics had. I refer to the announcement and ultimate implementation of the policy with regard to some people in the profession, especially the younger teachers. I sincerely hope that no other Minister ever makes use of this type of tactics again.

It was not a tactic.

The hon. the Minister says that it was not a tactic. Let us look at it for a moment and then decide. When the hon. the Minister took over the portfolio, he soon admitted—unlike his predecessor—that a real problem existed in this regard. The hon. the Minister made fine speeches and I agreed with him. He said amongst other things that teaching was the mother profession and that it should come into its own. That is correct. Teachers were told that a new dispensation was being worked out and that it would be implemented as soon as the economy had improved. That was the first phase. Now we have reached the second phase. It was said that finality had been reached and that the Government had agreed to the new dispensation in principle. This new dispensation, however, was going to be introduced in stages as the economy allowed. This is not good enough. It will be possible for the hon. the Minister to maintain that the teaching profession was consulted about the principles on which the new dispensation is based, but he must realize that the ordinary teacher does not realize and does not know to what extent they were accepted. The irony of the matter is—and this is what I am afraid of—that when the new dispensation is introduced, the economic situation may be so good that the teacher does not need this dispensation so badly any more, or that when the system is ultimately implemented, it will already be an outdated system and as such will be useless.

†I wish to pay particular attention to the problem of technical education in South Africa. We on this side of the House regard it as very important. Several members will speak on this topic. In this technological age we live in South Africa should award a very high priority to education in general. Within that educational structure top priority should be awarded to the tertiary as well as to high school technical education. I say this for one reason, and that is that in all the fields of education—not only for Whites, but also for Blacks—the leeway which has to be made up is greatest in the technical field. I want to give the Committee some basic facts. It is not good enough that one finds for example in the Cape Province, according to information supplied in November 1976, out of approximately 100 000 pupils attending high schools only 6 000 followed a technical field of study. This represents approximately 6%. I am not referring to the odd one who takes metalwork or woodwork as a course. Judging from this fact, there is just one conclusion one can arrive at, and that is that South Africa is totally unprepared for the demand of a technological age. This is the challenge which lies ahead of us and this is the reality we must accept.

When one looks at the Colleges for Advanced Technical Education, one finds that there is a sincere desire to enhance the status of these technical schools. The hon. the Minister should realize that there are a number of aspects concerning these colleges which are giving rise to dissatisfaction and even resentment amongst the staff. I wish to mention some. In many quarters there appears to be confusion about the evaluation of technical qualifications.

*It is no wonder that Dr. A. P. Burger said in Die Transvaler of 10 March 1977 that a veritable confusion existed with regard to the appellations and qualifications acquired at Colleges for Advanced Technical Education.

†This is a contemporary problem and has to be looked at in depth. Another problem is the evaluation of qualifications of teaching staff for salary purposes. This gives rise to continued dissatisfaction. I am not going to repeat what I said last year, because I gave the hon. the Minister some examples then.

There is a third problem, and that is that teaching staff, as in the case of ordinary teachers, are dissatisfied with the present post structure. However, they too have been promised that there will be a new deal. What worries them are the principles on which the present dispensation is based and they have no proof that these principles will be replaced by others. In other words, they know the existing situation and they are scared that that situation will be perpetuated. The hon. the Minister should realize that a College for Advanced Technical Education cannot be regarded as just another school. The Colleges for Advanced Technical Education are not prepared to regard themselves as being equivalent to a teachers’ training college. Evidence of the first aspect is that with the exception of one, the Colleges for Advanced Technical Education no longer belong to the S.A. Association for Technical or Vocational Education. They found their own organization although it necessitated the termination of membership of the Federal Council of Teachers Associations. My point is that a step like that is taken only when people are either highly motivated or when they are highly dissatisfied with the existing order. To be fair to the hon. the Minister I shall give him examples of matters which have caused concern. At present a head of a department in the Cape is on the same salary scale as a head of a department at a teachers’ training college. This is the accepted principle at the moment. There is, however, very little correlation between the managerial responsibility of the two posts. The head of a department of, for example, technology at a College for Advanced Technical Education, has anything between 30 to 35 lecturers under him and these deal with a vast variety of disciplines. In the case of a technical teachers’ training college, the head of a department might have half a dozen, 10 or 12 lecturers under him and these do not deal with a great variety of disciplines.

I now want to deal with another matter, i.e. the differentiation in the salary scale for promotion posts on the basis of academic qualifications. There cannot be any objection, to differentiated scales in respect of teaching posts where the emphasis is on competency in your subject. There is, of course, resentment when this principle is carried forward into promotion posts. In promotion posts the emphasis should fall also on managerial ability. Competency in one’s subject is merely part of the overall situation. Someone in a promotion post, for instance a head of a department, spends only 10% to 15% of his time actually teaching. The answer to this might well be that all he should do is to improve his qualifications. If one deals with a teachers’ training college it is a possibility. In the technical field, it is, however, not always possible for a person to improve his qualifications in his specific discipline, because the universities are academically orientated, they have an orthodox approach and there are therefore no available avenues for these people to qualify further. I am rather disturbed to see mention being made in the annual report that a one-year full-time national teacher’s diploma—workshop—and a two-year part-time national teacher’s diploma—technical—are being phased out. My question is: Are alternative facilities made available to these people? Experience has proved that when such steps are taken from time to time, one finds that there are not sufficient alternative avenues for these people in which they can qualify. We must face the fact that in the Cape alone we do not have such a large number of technical teachers. Last year there were 54 uncertified teachers in the Cape and surely they need avenues like this to improve their professional qualifications.

I would like to see that a thorough investigation is conducted into the whole field of technical education in South Africa in order to eliminate weaknesses and in order to eliminate present-day problems. That is my appeal to the hon. the Minister.

*Another aspect which I want to discuss briefly is the National Film Board. On 28 April this year the chairman of the Select Committee on Public Accounts reported to this House as follows—

I should like to know what is being done about this. Last year, during the Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, the UP predicted that the National Film Board would face bankruptcy. That Bill made provision for the write-off of a loan in excess of R3 million to relieve the burden of interest of the Film Board. We voted against that, because it was very clear to us that the real problems being experienced by the Film Board, would not be solved in that way. Now we are pleased to see the Select Committee supporting the misgivings we expressed at that time. The Film Board definitely operates according to unsound financial practices. I leave the matter at that, because other hon. members on this side of the House will discuss it in greater detail. What I want to know, is what is going to be done about it. We should like to know this from the hon. the Minister.

With regard to the SABC and television, I want to congratulate them on the presentation of their awards a week or so ago. It was definitely encouraging to see how many young people are involved in television. Virtually all the nominees and winners of the awards were young people. With the advent of television, the SABC became a multimillion rand business enterprise. Apart from its role as a medium of communication, of entertainment and of political indoctrination, television also plays a major role in the economy of the country.

The income and expenditure account shows that the SABC became a business enterprise with a turnover of R89 million last year. Barely a year before, the turnover was still only R43 million. I should also like to know whether the SABC is doing something to fight inflation. The S.A. Railways and Harbours postponed some of their capital works with a view to fighting inflation. Does the SABC intend doing the same? Do they envisage cutting down in this way with a view to adjusting to the present economic situation in South Africa?

With regard to policy, just the following: What is the control board of the SABC going to do about the recommendation of the Erika Theron Commission that Coloureds should be used, inter alia, as announcers and newsreaders? I notice in the White Paper that the Government stated its point of view in this regard very nicely. It reads that the Government is sympathetic towards the recommendation and is referring the matter to the control board for a decision. I should like to know whether the control board is going to do anything positive about it and not only with regard to Coloureds, but also as far as the Indians are concerned. We should not forget that the recommendation reads that there should be greater participation for the Coloureds in radio and television broadcasts. In the same breath I add the Indians. A Radio Coloured or Radio Indian is not being envisaged for the Coloureds and Indians similar to the existing Radio Bantu and an envisaged Bantu TV service. For the Coloureds and the Indians there is merely a radio programme of 45 minutes and that is broadcast only on Saturday mornings. I think one may say that of the Coloureds two million are Brown Afrikaners, and in my opinion they definitely have the same right to the cultural treasures as have the two million White Afrikaners. [Interjections.]

The hon. Minister said on a previous occasion that the Government had not yet decided on the use of television by the political parties. I think he said they still had to decide on the policy. The hon. the Minister should really not try and bluff us in this respect. I believe that a decision has already been taken de facto, because on the occasion of the latest parliamentary by-election it was proved that it was a question of 99,9% publicity for the NP candidate …

Hear, hear!

The hon. the Deputy Minister of Information says “hear, hear”, but I think it is a shame that the other candidate, irrespective of his party affiliation, should get only 0,1% of the publicity. [Interjections.] We as the Opposition evidently have to accept that that is the position with which we shall have to live. We shall have to have due regard to this state of affairs.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the hon. member for Durban Central for congratulating me on my election as chairman of the education group on this side. I also thank him for the good wishes he expressed.

I should like to reply to the last issue the hon. member raised. He should at least remember that the party to which I belong, is the governing party. Consequently, it is the party that does the policy making. Apart from that, it is also the party which the world takes notice of. The world has to take notice of what is and is not being done in the country.

I should like to say something about the new dispensation. It seems to me that the hon. member for Durban Central does not know the teachers as well as I do. When one looks at the teacher’s philosophy of life, one finds that teaching has always been a vocation to him, that compassion has always been his aim in life and that he has always considered religion to be a necessity of life. Because this is so, it is a feeling of idealism and not materialism, that we find amongst the teachers in this country. Because this is so. I am grateful to be able to say here today that our teachers accept that they are being placed on a path they have never before trodden, that there is a new dispensation for them, and that there is a new dispensation awaiting them.

The factor of salaries is not the only one involved. They accept the economic position of the country as we see it today. They accept that it is not possible to give full effect to the new dispensation at the moment. They know and realize that it cannot be fully implemented now. Once again—and this is in keeping with their temperament—it is they who have to make sacrifices. They are happy to make those sacrifices. Perhaps those sacrifices are all the greater in view of the fact that those people had certain expectations. We also had our expectations but from time to time the priorities of a country have to be determined in the light of changes in the international and national situation. That had to be done in this case as well.

The new dispensation covers a much wider field than a mere increase in salaries. Inter alia, more numerous and higher posts have been created in order to establish more numerous and better promotion possibilities. The establishment of the post of department head, for example, which is vested with special status, means that the teacher who loves his subject and the class-room need not seek a more administratively oriented post. In the same way, the title of educational adviser is a far truer reflection of the important work that inspectors of education do. In this way, the minimum requirements relating to years of actual educational experience before one can qualify for certain promotional posts, are now being reduced and altered considerably. For the teacher of the necessary merit, the more awkward requirement of educational experience will no longer be a factor. Administrative assistance is being rendered so that more attention may be devoted to the professional task. Classes are being made smaller by the expansion possibilities of a larger staff. Provision has also been made for the payment of removal expenses in certain cases and for reimbursement for official expenditure. I shall leave it at that, except to say with much gratitude that the joint task of the employer and the employee is now being realized universally. In-depth work is done by employer and employee as a team. This is particularly essential these days. Nowadays joint planning is carried out and there is joint responsibility. The interests of education as a whole are being looked after jointly. Education in our country has definitely acquired a new dimension.

I now turn to the next matter and in that regard I agree with the hon. member for Durban Central. Technical education in our country has to be expanded far more and every one of us must give much more attention to this matter. In the field of tertiary education and as far as technical training in particular is concerned, we in South Africa have a very long way to go in preparing our people industrially and economically to perform the tasks awaiting our country in the economic field. Great challenges are being set to our parents, the students, the staff and the State to deal with the backlog. Too many people who are not university material are still being admitted to universities, with disastrous consequences. If we look at the university results, we feel very concerned. If we look at the shortages in the technical and industrial world, we feel even more concerned. Too much emphasis is still being placed on education as an instrument for the spiritual, social and cultural development of our human material. There are still too many people who are not making use of this wonderful opportunity to undergo industrial and economic training. Today more than ever, the country needs people with a reasonably good knowledge of science and technology. The country also needs practising people who can put their knowledge into practice. Far more attention will have to be devoted to education as an instrument for giving our people industrial and economic training. In the interests of our country, it is imperative that more purposiveness be displayed and more attention devoted to training our people in the practical field. Virtually all the modern industrial countries in the world accept that standpoint and that is why engineering schools and colleges and, in some countries, technological universities are being established.

I have no doubt that our colleges for advanced technical education are in a position to develop. In establishing the colleges for advanced technical education in terms of Act 40 of 1967, we made a breakthrough in the right direction. Whether we have made the progress we ought to have made, however, particularly when one thinks of the major backlog, is doubtful. Of course, there is reason to be thankful for the progress which has in fact been made. In our attempt to comply with the requirements, however, some thought and work will have to be devoted inter alia to the following factors: greater enthusiasm will have to be engendered amongst our people to undergo training at these colleges in order to qualify them for the more practical field. More use will have to be made of vocational education and guidance. It will have to be pointed out that that training is at the tertiary level, as in the case of the university, and that the admission requirements are therefore the same. Only courses at the tertiary level should be provided at these colleges. It is most essential that this be so if these colleges are to be accorded the necessary status. The selection of students for university admission will require greater attention and certain students with the necessary aptitude and ability will have to be channelled into the colleges for advanced technical education. As far as that is concerned, there will also have to be closer liaison and co-operation between universities and colleges for advanced technical education.

Order! The hon. member’s time has expired.

Mr. Chairman, I am rising merely to give the hon. member an opportunity to complete his speech.

Thank you very much. It must be made as easy as possible for those students who want to obtain a degree, to do so at a university. I am thinking particularly of those people who mature a little later in life. Since these institutions offer tertiary education, more attention will have to be devoted to modern buildings and grounds. Educational institutions that are fully-fledged in all respects, will have to be established. Wherever there is limited accommodation, that problem must be eliminated as quickly as possible. The names of these colleges will have to be changed in order to avert any prejudices there may be against such colleges. The appellations of people who have completed their studies at colleges for advanced technical education will also have to be given special attention in order to avoid confusion. You would be amazed, Mr. Chairman, at the amount of confusion that exists in relation to the diplomas that are conferred. The teaching staff will to an increasing extent have to be drawn from those people who received their education at these colleges. We must help and encourage those people who have the ability to go to universities and obtain degrees after they have completed their courses.

I now turn to another matter. I should like to talk a little about the policy and ideology of the various parties. I am sorry that the hon. member for Durban Central has not told us what his party’s policy is in respect of integration or segregation of the various departments’ responsibilities towards the various peoples in our country. This is a matter which is left hanging in the air to a certain extent these days. We had this from the hon. member for Pinelands when he replied to the hon. member for Kimberley North. The hon. member for Kimberley North explained to the Opposition—the PRP in particular—why school integration would not work in this country. In a previous debate he produced various pieces of evidence to show that the policy the PRP was advocating, would not work and that it would be in the interests of neither the country nor the various peoples in this country. Now we get the impression that the PRP does not want to create opportunities as they allege. After all, they ought to know better, viz. that education has to have a national character, that education takes place from within, from within a people—not from outside—and that certain peoples grow at a certain rate as far as their education is concerned; they want to grow at a certain rate. That people itself regulates its education however it wants to. It is a sound policy that every people should develop its own education. Now I do not want to say that we should not be of assistance; that we should not even give financial assistance. There has to be research on the part of the Whites in order to help people to expand their education, in order to help them to help themselves do this, because otherwise it will be a warped people that develops from this.

That is why, inter alia, I want to mention with great thanks this afternoon one case that I want to single out. I am referring to the extremely good work being done at the University of the Orange Free State. Prof. Vermaak is in charge there. This unit at the University of the Orange Free State is doing tremendous work in regard to assistance and advice to other peoples. It is a research unit concerned with planning educational systems for developing countries, and more specifically directed at Southern Africa, those countries and those people that are in our midst and around us. Cognizance must be taken of what the research unit for educational systems planning is doing in the field of educational planning with special attention to developing countries in South Africa. This unit was established in 1975 at the UOFS with the aim of conducting research into the theory and practice of educational systems planning, as well as rendering assistance in this field to developing countries, particularly to the homelands, as I have said, and also to Southern Africa. Research is being conducted into factors influencing an educational system, for example politics, the ethnological set-up, the medium of education and language planning, economic factors and manpower requirements. Research is also being conducted into the educational system as such, for example, bottle-necks such as loss of pupils, primary school drop-outs, farm schools, distribution and situation of schools, continuous and adult education, technical and professional education, teacher training, the role of universities, etc. Moreover, there is education in Africa. In that regard, liaison is also taking place with various countries in Africa, as far away as Nigeria. There is also documentation and retrieval of specialized research material, incorporation with national and international networks and the training of educational planners. Positive relationships with Black leaders are cultivated and so it is that leaders from Black countries have already visited this unit at the University of the Orange Free State. For example, I might mention Mr. Jonas from Transkei, the then Minister of Education, Chief Minister Sebe of Ciskei and his Minister of Education, and various other educationists as well. Then I could also mention the Chief Minister of Qwaqwa, Mr. Mopeli, and his Minister of Education as well as other educationists from Qwaqwa. Moreover there is Chief Minister Mangope from Bophuthatswana, his Minister of Education, Mr. Setlogelo and other educationists. Two educationists from Lebowa, viz. Messrs. Kganane and Motloitsi, also paid a visit. Then I also want to refer to the rendering of services over the long term, the scientific analysis of the country’s educational system, the drawing of guidelines and the planning of a system of macro-education in a developing country, and short-term courses—I am referring, for example, to in-service training for teachers in physics and chemistry in Qwaqwa and in the Ciskei.

The scope of this unit is very wide and covers a very wide field in relation to the rendering of assistance to these people in their educational planning. By so doing, we can also assist in preserving the national character of the education of the various peoples in this country and in expanding it according to existing needs.

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of hon. members in these benches, I would also like to associate ourselves with the tribute paid to the late Rev. De Villiers, co-creator of our national anthem. We join in what has been said by the hon. the Minister in that regard.

If I may, I would also like to congratulate the hon. member for Hercules on his appointment as chairman of his party’s education group. I listened with great interest—unlike what he is doing at the moment—to what he said. He is not listening at all. I particularly listened to the technical part of his speech, a part which, I thought, was worth listening to. Unfortunately, when he went on to the political part of his speech, he found himself in very deep water.

One of the interesting things is that he concentrates his thinking entirely on what he calls: “’n Volk moet sy eie onderwys beplan. Dit is die rigting van ’n volk, die volk self, wat die uiteindelike tendens van sy onderwys moet bepaal.” [Interjections.] I found this quite fascinating, because the interesting thing about the hon. the Minister is that he went to what is perhaps one of greatest centres of learning in the world. It is a great centre of learning because of its international connection. It was created in the true spirit of what universities are about—the search for the truth. What is remarkable about the hon. the Minister and his search for the truth, is that the truth which he found at that university, and part of which he recorded in his thesis at the time, is what he is coming back to today. It has taken him a long road, but he is coming back to it today.

On the light of that whole concept the hon. the Minister should look again at what should be the national education policy of this country. I ask the hon. the Minister whether he should not look at the education policy of this country as being not education merely in the spirit of what is national, but as what this country is all about: Education in the concept of growth for South Africa, education in the concept of prosperity for South Africa, and education for the survival of South Africa. With great respect, my question to the hon. the Minister is whether the time has not come when more attention should be paid to the whole concept of race relations vis-à-vis the concept of what is needed for South Africa. Is it not necessary to have, as part of the concept of what education should be in South Africa, the acceptance of certain fundamental principles on which, I believe, there is no difference between the hon. the Minister and ourselves? That is the concept of the fact that we should belong to a non-discriminatory society, that we should belong to a society with equality of opportunity.

These are the essential ingredients for education of survival in the South Africa of tomorrow. That is why the hon. the Minister should pay attention to this.

I also want to deal with the concept of the separateness of education. With great respect to the hon. member for Hercules and his maiden speech as chairman of his group, I want to say that what he does not appreciate is that one of the reasons for the problems in South Africa today is the lack of contact between the various race groups in South Africa. This is not the tradition of South Africa. There has never been such a tradition in South Africa. If one goes back into the history of South Africa one will see that there has been contact between people at all levels of their age development and at all levels of their position in society. However, approximately 30 years ago the concept that one must separate was introduce and developed with the advent of the NP to power. Today we are reaping the whirlwind of that policy, because people have been separated in educational institutions as between English and Afrikaans and as between Black and White. It exists from the top to the bottom. Contact does not exist. The hon. members on that side cannot understand why people cannot understand each other and why they do not communicate with each other. But the themselves created that situation in South Africa. It is a responsibility that they have to bear today. There is no tradition in South Africa of no contact between the races and the ethnic groups. The concept of, for example, separate universities is contrary to the whole tradition of South African education. [Interjections.] The hon. members should go back and look at the universities as they existed. The whole concept that separateness is supposed to be tradition is based upon a false premise, an incorrect interpretation of historical facts. I would like to tell the hon. the Minister what he should do today. I grant him that he is trying in many respects. Lately there have been more people of different races at the various universities. I think the hon. the Minister is trying. The permit system has been relaxed a little. But if the hon. the Minister wants to solve the situation in South Africa in regard to contact at Leadership level for the future he has to allow universities the freedom of choice as to whom they should admit into the South African universities. The sooner he does it, the better.

I want to come to the issue of private schools. Should there not be a choice in South Africa? It is not a question of forcing people, but I ask the hon. the Minister: Should he not allow private schools to admit whom they like? Should the hon. the Minister, furthermore, not allow the schools who want to play interracial sport, to play it? What is so terrible about it if a high school for White pupils wants to play against a high school for Black pupils? That is how it all started in his sports policy. The same thing can be done in the educational system. I am sure this matter will be debated further in this debate and also when the hon. the Minister’s Sport Vote comes up. With great respect to the hon. the Minister, I want to say that he has a responsibility as to whether there is going to be communication between the various groups in South Africa. That communication has to start with the educational system of South Africa. Communication is essential because when people do not know each other, they do not understand each other and begin to dislike each other. The tradgedy of South Africa is that we have created this kind of system and now will have to demolish it because the future of South Africa requires inter-racial communication.

If I may, I would like to touch upon two other things in the very short time still available to me. The first is the General Botha. I would ask the hon. the Minister that the General Botha should go back to sea. I would like to see South Africa own a sailing ship that can go around the world spreading goodwill. Our young men can be trained in that sailing ship. There are other examples as to the kind of goodwill that can be spread by this. I would like to ask the hon. the Minister to apply his mind to the General Botha going back to sea in the true sense of the word.

A second point that I would like to deal with is the question of the Colleges of Art, and particularly the College of Art in Johannesburg. I do not believe that we provide adequate facilities for that institution or for that type of tuition in South Africa. In a materialistic society I think it is essential that this type of tuition should be fostered. As we know, this has now moved to some temporary premises. There are all sorts of things involved. With great respect to the hon. the Minister, I want to say that the demand for learning in that field is great. The contribution that the College of Arts in Johannesburg has made to art in South Africa is one that we can all be proud of.

The third and last issue under this heading I want to deal with is special education, and today I should specifically like to make a plea for more money for special education. The school for epileptics is just one example we can look at. There are not enough facilities available to the under-privileged in our society. We have a special responsibility towards handicapped children, whether they be physically or mentally handicapped. A society is often judged by the way in which it treats its under-privileged, particularly those who through no fault of their own are prejudiced against. I appeal to the hon. the Minister that when savings are to be made, he must not make them at the expense of those who perhaps need help most. In particular I want to make a plea today that something should be done to improve the facilities for children who are in need of attendance at schools for children who are in need of attendance at schools for children who are handicapped by epilepsy.

Mr. Chairman, I doubt whether I need to refer to the speech of the hon. member for Yeoville. However, I shall do so nevertheless by making two or three statements briefly. The first statement which I want to make, is that I find it amazing—when I think of the religious group to which the hon. member belongs—that he can express misgivings here about education with a national character, because there are several Jewish schools in the Republic of South Africa which only admit children who belong to the Jewish faith. Indeed, there are also nursery schools, specifically for children who belong to the Jewish faith only.

There is a second matter which I should like to point out to the hon. member. I remember that during his party’s most recent congress, the hon. member did not agree with their policy on education. That is why I should like to know whether he regaled us with the policy of the PRP or with his own personal policy on education today.

There is a third statement which I should like to make. The hon. member for Yeoville can rant and rave and argue as much as he likes, but I say that educationists throughout the whole world who are more proficient than the hon. member may possibly consider himself to be, accept the standpoint that education has a national character. It does not matter what the hon. member for Yeoville says. The more he says about it, the more he displays his absolute ignorance of the essence of education.

I should also like to refer to the speech of the hon. member for Durban Central. It amazes me that he wants to misuse the teaching corps for the sake of a little political gain. I have already said this on a previous occasion in a debate. The hon. member for Durban Central is trying once again today to make a case for higher salaries in teaching. He is also trying to make much of the question of the so-called shortage of teachers. All I can conclude from that is that the hon. member is simply making mischief, because surely he cannot be so uninformed about the shortage of teachers. I refer to reports which appeared in Die Volksblad and Die Burger this year and I quote the following from a report which appeared in Die Volksblad—

That is not all. Mr. T. J. Cornelissen, acting rector of the Paarl Teachers’ College, says that 400 applications were turned away there. Mr. Terblanche, who is on the staff of the Pretoria Normal College says that they originally planned for an intake of 825 first years, but that about 1 015 had to be accommodated eventually while 300 had to be turned away. We have the same trend at the Potchefstroom Teachers’ College as well as at the Wellington Teachers’ College. What does the hon. member gain here by making out that there is still a shortage of teachers?

I discussed it in my speech.

I want to leave the matter at that.

I should like to focus the attention of the House on the necessity of creating an integrated teachers’ degree for secondary teachers. I hope that I shall not be misunderstood if I make the statement that a secondary teacher definitely has enough academic knowledge, but that he does not have sufficient professional knowledge about the methodology of his subject and educational methodology in general. I do not think that the beginner teacher has enough experience of the classroom situation and the school situation, because he is not given sufficient opportunity during his training process to learn about it. He does receive the necessary academic training, but during his year of professional training he does not have sufficient opportunity of becoming acquainted with what he is going to meet with in practice in school. What is the result of this? It has been proved in practice that many teachers who have the potential to become extremely proficient become so frustrated in their first and second year of teaching, that they simply leave the teaching profession. The reason is that they are suddenly given a responsibility which they have not been trained for and are not ready for. That is not all. During the period which the teacher spends with the children, the children are the ones who suffer if we think of the progress which they could have made under the guidance of a teacher who had already been trained in classroom practice as such.

Now if we compare the teaching profession with other professions, what do we find? In all other professions we find that people who have already received their academic training, first have to receive the necessary practical training before they can practise their profession. An example of this is medical training, which consists these days of five years of study at university and two years of practical work in a hospital after that someone who has a B.A. LL.B. degree and wants to practise as an advocate, must first work under a senior advocate for four months. The attorney who has a B.Proc. degree, must undergo a period of articles of two or three years before he may start his own firm. The same holds true for the architectural and accounting professions. While he is studying, an architecture student must register at an architects’ firm and do practical work there.

What is the solution to the problem? I think that the solution can only be found in training the teacher more thoroughly in teaching as such, and secondly, in giving him the opportunity to make more contact with the practical classroom and school situation while still undergoing his training. This can be done by introducing an integrated teachers’ degree according to which future teachers can be given the opportunity of making a more in-depth study of teaching as such. This can possibly be done by creating a degree which requires education to be one major subject and a teaching subject the other. The course must last four years so that the potential teacher therefore receives four years of training in education and four years training in his particular teaching subject. I think it is also essential for a degree like this to have a specific name so that it can be distinguished from any other Baccalaureus degree. As an example I can mention an ordinary B.Sc. degree and a B.Sc. education degree. It is not at all necessary for the standard of an education degree like this to be lower than that of any other Baccalaureus degree. Indeed, it will be precisely the same because an intensive study of education over three years compares well with a study of any other subject, as well as the compulsory teaching subject. It will perhaps also be necessary to offer one or two other school subjects at a first-year or second-year level. Then the road to further study is not closed either, because the more in-depth study of education during the period of four years will do away with the necessity of studying for a B.Ed. degree. After the student has attained his education degree, he will be able to study further with a view to attaining the degrees B.Ed. (Hons.), M.Ed. and eventually D.Ed.

As far as practical training is concerned, I believe that during the four years which he spends on qualifying himself to be a teacher, the student should be offered the opportunity of making contact with the actual problems concerning the methodology of his subject in the classroom situation for at least two months, but preferably three months per year under the guidance of a competent headmaster and a departmental head. I believe that this is possible, because if we have a period of four years and we compel the student to undergo practical training at a school under the supervision of competent people for at least two months per year, he will undergo eight months of practical training at a school during the course of his studies. I should naturally prefer him to undergo this type of practical training for three months a year because this will amount to undergoing a total of a year’s training at a school.

It is quite a different matter to study education and to have the knowledge than it is to learn the methodology and have the ability to convey the knowledge to those who must receive it. When we give the future teacher the opportunity of listening to how a skilled teacher applies methodology in the classroom, when we give the prospective teacher the opportunity to talk to the headmaster about the administration which will be his responsibility when he accepts a post at a school, and when we give the prospective teacher the opportunity to clarify to himself what his relationship towards the pupils will be when he is involved with them on the sports field or at the cultural level, we give the prospective teacher the maturity for his task, so that, when he enters the teaching profession and is faced with the classroom situation, he can convey his knowledge at once and can fulfil the educational task.

Mr. Chairman, my apologies to the hon. member for Virginia since I shall not react on his speech. I have a very few minutes allotted to me in this debate and I want to deal with a matter which has already been raised by the hon. member for Durban Central. It is a matter which I regard in an extremely serious light. I refer to the financial position of the National Film Board, a matter on which the chairman of the Select Committee on Public Accounts has already, in words quoted by the hon. member for Durban Central, reported to the House.

During last year’s debate on the Finance Bill when an amount of nearly R3,5 million in the form of State loans to the National Film Board was written off in order to relieve its financial position, we on this side of the House opposed such a step and we made it very clear that we did not think that that step was the solution to the financial problems of the Film Board. Despite that, the hon. the Minister assured the House at that time that the whole situation of the Film Board had been thoroughly investigated. The implication of what he had to say was that the steps which had been taken would solve the main difficulties which the board was facing.

Now, Mr. Chairman, the Select Committee on Public Accounts has reported to this House calling for a further investigation because it is disturbed about the financial position of this board. The evidence given to that Select Committee clearly revealed very unsatisfactory features about the operation of the board. I want to mention a few of them in the short time available to me. In the first place the board’s present overdraft, an overdraft with the commercial bank Volkskas, has, in the year since its accounts were last published, increased from R600 000 to R1 200 000. This clearly indicates not only a very illiquid and difficult position for the board, but also points very strongly to the possibility that the board has been incurring further very substantial operating losses in the past year. In the second place, the board has been paying an overdraft rate of 14% to Volkskas on a large part of its overdraft. It has been paying this high rate at a time when the prime overdraft rate granted by commercial banks has been 12½%. I find it inexplicable that a Government-backed body such as the Film Board should have to pay such a high rate for its borrowing, even though it is moving in the direction of insolvency. Being a Government body, it should be enjoying the best overdraft rates. The losses which the Film Board has incurred seemed to have to coincided with its building programme during which a building costing some R3½ million was erected. The loans granted to the board to finance this building were mostly written off in last year’s Finance Bill. The difficulties of the board seemed to coincide with the building and occupation of this building. In addition to this, the Film Board has property under its control, which includes a large studio which is costing it R370 per day and which is not even being used. This appears to me to be a prime example of extravagance in public spending by a public body. It is a prime example of empire building, about which we on this side of the House have been continually complaining. It is a trend that has been responsible for much of the country’s present economic ills. The final point I wish to make in regard to the operation of the Film Board is that it is admitted by the board that costs could be reduced by as much as R100 000 per annum if the personnel of the board were put to better use. I believe that that is a terrible admission to make. I believe that this whole question requires a very thorough investigation. I question whether even the continuance of the board is justified, whether the work it is doing could not be done better by private enterprise, and I would like to hear from the hon. the Minister what he proposes to do in this connection.

Mr. Chairman, when the hon. member for Constantia rose to participate in this debate, I really did not know what to expect. We have a great deal of appreciation for his knowledge in the world of finance, but I should like to assure him that he would have made a class of children extremely nervous with this type of inflammatory speech. I am sorry that the hon. member for Yeoville is not in the House at the moment, because he also made a very interesting contribution to today’s debate. I should have liked to have put a few questions to him, but I shall leave them at that. Earlier this year I moved a private member’s motion as a token of appreciation to the teaching corps.

The official Opposition participated in this and made a good contribution. On the other hand, the hon. member for Pinelands, as the principal speaker for the PRP, made a contribution which ended in a very interesting way, on the note that we should guard against propaganda instead of education being provided in the teaching process. I think that that concluding paragraph of his was potentially dangerous. After that, we discovered that an academic in Pretoria found fault with my statement to the effect that there was no gap between ourselves and our young people; that our young people were not alienated; that our young people wanted to be with us and together with us; that they wanted to be involved in our activities; that we understood them and their idiom and that they understood us; and that there was mutual respect and a need for one another. Fault was found with that statement. People are quite entitled to differ from us so that we can debate the subject.

The PRP issues a publication called Deurbraak. In the April edition they reprinted the article exactly as it was written by the academic, but they disclaimed any responsibility in anticipation by saying beforehand that they as a party dissociated themselves from this propaganda which was being presented. Nevertheless they added their own headings, their own sub-headings to this article. They coloured it with their own tint. We must rectify this matter because these people are insulting our youth. Amongst other things, they referred to a report which had appeared earlier in Rapport as if Rapport gave an image of our young people which was totally different. I quote a few phrases from this article in Deurbraak—

What do the Afrikaners who are sitting here today look like? Do they look like anything but our own people? Just look at our young people and then look at our people! I met a group of students tonight, but I want to say that many of the hon. members sitting in the back benches on the other side, really look like “wildewragtigs”, as we would have said as children.

Order!

Mr. Chairman, I withdraw it if I may not use that word. I quote again—

It is alleged that the young people will not be able to accept certain concepts. The report in Rapport is not quoted fully. What I have quoted, is diametrically opposed to our religious conviction. The report in Rapport states emphatically that—

What is wrong with young people like this? In what respect do they differ from us? They do not differ at all. Those people are propagating a distorted impression and creating a rift by means of this publication and this article which is being wrested out of context. I repeat what we said earlier on: Those hon. members are placing a lie in the mouths of our youth so that they will think that we differ from them and are alienated from them. In this article it is stated that they have to be weaned in a different world. Look at how the young people acted at Westdene. Look at the spirit in which they participated in what happened there on 11 May.

But those were the UP supporters.

I just want to rectify that matter.

It does not help us as adults and educators in the country to be filled with loathing when certain occurrences come up in court or are reported in our newspapers, especially when our young people are involved in them. The urbanization of people throughout the world, but particularly of our people in South Africa, has created a very unique youth problem for us. What does the sphere of activity, the world of the young people in the city consist of? It consists chiefly of a concrete jungle. It consists of tarred roads and alleyways, of neon lights and pop music. The young individual loses his identity. He loses his own uniqueness. He becomes part of the masses, and in that mass situation he becomes lonely. This leads to many warped concepts and customs. It leads to promiscuity and delinquency. Allow me to refer to a few reports which have appeared in the Press recently. At the moment there are hundreds of thousands of people walking around Europe, people with wounds in their arms from injecting themselves with unhygienic hypodermic needles. A Swedish heroin addict told doctors at a clinic: “Just finding a place to insert the needle, is sheer hell already. My arms are riddled with needle-marks. Now I roll down my socks and use a vein on my foot.”

In another newspaper we recently read about a group of young schoolboys who stole motor-cars. In another newspaper we read about a young woman, Jennifer Lee Mostert, and a young man—actually still a young boy—William Rogers. One of the reports in connection with this couple was headed: “The pick-handle murder.” We read about youthful rapists. What is forcing the young people into this? It does not help us merely to be filled with loathing. Nor does it help us to be indifferent witnesses to the penalties which are doled out to youthful criminals.

If we read what Mr. Bothma wrote in his doctoral thesis about the world of experience of the young criminal, and we want to delve deeper in order to arrive at the cause, the reasons for the behaviour of these people, we find that there is one great, real requirement amongst all of them, that they all show one real deficiency.

We ask the young men and women in our university hostels what their basic problem is, and it always amounts to the same thing. It is a lack of security. They are looking for security. One young lady said to an investigating officer: “We try so hard to be grown-up, but hope that you will not believe it.” It was a female student at one of our universities who said this. A young man with a pitiful past said: “Our divorced parents load us with money and try to buy happiness for us. It is not money that we need, but security.” In the city with its loneliness and isolation these young people are looking for contact, security, recognition and their own selves. What is happening now, is actually a very natural process. They form groups. We can refer to them as peer groups. In our younger days we referred to them as the “gangs”. They look for one another in their peer groups and in their peer-group activities. They lose themselves in certain activities. I can almost say that the PRP on the other side is a peer group. [Interjections.] Those hon. members look for one another and will continue to cling to one another. A murder will still take place. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Standerton is someone who feels very intensely about our youth. He has therefore been speaking on his favourite subject. However, I do believe that his complaints about the publication of the PRP would be better placed before the Press Council or the Publications Control Board than before the hon. the Minister of National Education.

In a very wide debate such as this one on national education, it is difficult to cover the entire field in a speech of only 10 minutes. I want to begin with the SABC, an institution which falls under the portfolio of this hon. Minister. I particularly want to refer to the section of the report which deals with the indigenous services for South West Africa. We note that these services have been expanded this year, that there is not only a service for Owamboland, but that there is also a service for Kavango, a service covering the languages of Kwangali, Mbukushu and Geiriku. We notice further that there are also services now for the Herero and the Damara people. However, the thing that concerns me particularly is that there is not a FM service for Eastern Caprivi. I believe the SABC did a cost study in Eastern Caprivi, and that it was decided that it would not be a feasible proposition to introduce a FM service in Eastern Caprivi. The problem here is that this highly sensitive area in our overall defence strategy is now exposed to short-wave broadcasts of propaganda coming from Radio Zambia.

I believe that in an area such as this, the SABC should not consider a cost-benefit structure, because in the security of a nation there is no cost-benefit structure. I believe the hon. the Minister should go into this matter very seriously and see to it that a FM service is installed in Eastern Caprivi so that they can receive broadcasts in their own language, and through the SABC also find some method of blocking the wave-lengths of the propaganda broadcasts that are beamed at our people. In the long term this can be of the utmost importance and there should be very close liaison on a matter such as this between the SABC and the Department of Defence. I make a very strong and earnest plea to the hon. the Minister in this direction.

Then I want to come to something much closer to my constituency in the Eastern Cape, namely the establishment of a branch of the University of Rhodes in East London. This is something which has been in the air for a long time. It is something that Rhodes University wants and it is something that East London vitally needs. We believe that there must be some assistance given in this respect. There is a building available to start the nucleus. It is not only the need of East London that is important in this respect; it is also the need of Rhodes University, a university which has a high proportion of in-residence students. It must balance itself out under the present financial system to more non-resident students.

I briefly want to refer to the method of financing in order to accentuate this point. The State’s contribution towards the payment of interest and capital redemption is 85% in respect of academic projects, but only 50% in respect of hostels. This makes it absolutely clear that a university with a high percentage of hostels and in-residence students must have a problem in making its budget balance. Also in this connection, I want to refer to the fact that universities at the moment are having a very difficult time. If one refers to the annual report of the Department of National Education one finds under the heading “Financing of Universities”, paragraph 3.1.2, that—

Then one finds in the next paragraph, viz. 3.1.3, that—

That is not all. All the universities have received a letter from the hon. the Minister’s department telling them that the department must cut the total subsidies and grants by a further R7 million. Rhodes University is endeavouring to cut, but when the State’s contribution remains constant and the interest rate goes up, and one still has to economize, then this becomes a very difficult thing for universities to do. I would ask the hon. the Minister to be more lenient to some of the universities, especially Rhodes University. I believe the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Rhodes are particularly affected by the high hostel rate in relation to the numbers of students.

Then there is another matter. The hon. member for Yeoville mentioned the question of private schools. I have studied the report of the Committee of Heads of Education. This is a very important committee in the educational system of South Africa. However, when one looks at the composition and the constitution of the committee, one notices that there is no provision whatsoever for the private schools of South Africa to be represented on that committee. We realize that the private schools sometimes cause a bit of a problem by going in their own direction, but the private school has to keep up, co-ordinate and pay the same salaries and sometimes better salaries than the Department of Education. I believe that misunderstanding between the private schools and the provinces and the State will, to a large extent, be avoided if some form of representation of the Association of Private Schools can be provided for on the Committee of Heads of Education. Without a direct co-ordination and mutual understanding “wrywingspunte” and confusion can arise. I believe we will get rid of a lot of problems and perhaps create a better understanding of the problems of the private schools in the various departments of education if this is done. I have just mentioned the difficulties of the universities in making ends meet and as the inflation rate goes up, one can imagine what it is like making ends meet when one has no State subsidy at all. The hon. the Minister knows that I have spoken about the State subsidy for private schools in the Cape Province. It is essentially a provincial matter, but I want to plead that there should be some representation of private schools on the Committee of Heads of Education to enable the provinces to understand the private schools better and the private schools to understand the provinces better. I think it is vitally important that this method of contact should exist.

One final matter I should like to raise concerns mentally retarded children. There is a very small section in the report of the department of the training centres for these children. These centres are expensive and some of them are State subsidized. Some of the centres that I have seen are not quite up to standard, and I wonder if sufficient inspection of these centres is done to see that the State’s money is properly and adequately spent. The major problem arises when that child becomes an adult. There is virtually a vacuum for that trained or semi-trained mentally retarded child. The child then becomes a misfit, especially in the case of females who are too young to go into a mental hospital as the majority of the women in the mental hospitals are there for senility. It is difficult to fit them into their homes and it is difficult to find a place for them to stay. I would like the hon. the Minister to give us a few ideas of what the department can do for the mentally retarded child once the child has been trained. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I think that there is one saying that is very true, and this is that one can be judged by the company one keeps. The hon. member for Albany is a good example of this. Since he left the bad company he used to keep, one can even listen to him. He acts quite responsibly and sensibly. I think the hon. the Minister will reply to the problems he mentioned. [Interjections.]

I should like to raise a few ideas about our television programmes. I think all hon. members will agree with me that the programmes are good. We cannot satisfy everyone, because tastes will always differ. However, it still remains one’s right and privilege to switch off the television set if one does not like the programmes. However, I should like to digress on one aspect. Last year I asked the hon. the Minister to fit in the religious programme—“From the Book” after the news, as is done on the radio. The programme was indeed fitted in just after the news at the beginning of the year, but after a few months it was shifted once again and is now presented at 6 o’clock at the beginning of the programme. I do not know what the reason for this is. I presume that there were objections, but I think that they were made by a minority group. I should like to ask the hon. the Minister whether we cannot fit the programme in just after the news once again. Six o’clock is early and I think that this is the time of day when very few people, except for small children and the hon. member for Pinetown, watch television programmes. The news is definitely the programme which is watched most. I think that this is the best opportunity for the family to watch it together for the sake of the intimate family bond which it creates.

In passing, I should like to say that I hope the problem of Saturday afternoon’s rugby broadcast on television will be solved now. If it should rain this Saturday as it did last Saturday, and I cannot see the Free State get beaten in Pretoria, then I really do not know. If one cannot play golf on a Saturday afternoon, even coffee and pancakes cannot satisfy one anymore. I honestly hope that these problems will be solved now.

I want to refer to another aspect of education. I think that it is generally recognized that a good teacher can never be paid according to the value of his services. I think that the true teacher finds his reward not only in his salary, but in the joy derived from working at his task as teacher and educationist. That is why it is essential for our teachers to be people who are satisfied and happy, because a happy teaching corps is the best guarantee of effective education. We are grateful for the new dispensation which is awaiting the teaching profession as far as improved conditions of service are concerned. It is a pity—and I think we understand this—that those recommendations for the new salary structure cannot be implemented yet, due to the economic conditions in the country, which no one can do anything about. We grant this to our teaching corps, not only because they deserve and need it, but also because we want to recruit the best young men and women for the teaching profession and want to keep them there.

It is not only an attractive salary which makes a teacher happy and satisfied and which keeps him in education. There are also other things which are not quite right in the teaching profession. I am referring to all the demands which are made on the teacher in regard to administrative work and extramural activities etc. We are grateful for the announcement made by the hon. the Minister to the effect that more administrative assistance is going to be given to our schools. The fact is that the principals and the teachers are unnecessarily burdened with administrative work. If I were asked to draw up a list of what is expected from principals and teachers as far as administrative work is concerned, I could draw one up which would cover many pages. That is why I believe that this administrative assistance will do a great deal towards simplifying the task of the head and the teacher. In the teaching profession it is not only conveying knowledge to the children which is important, but also the education of the child. A great, responsible task rests upon our principals to make those children full-fledged citizens of the country, and at the same time the professional standing of our teachers must also be enhanced.

The hon. member for Virginia referred to the lack of practical experience which teachers have when they leave the training colleges. The hon. member asked for more attention to be paid to the practical training of these people and I should like to agree with him wholeheartedly. There are many schools where the principals act as true professional leaders by leading the young men and women and not simply acting as bosses.

As far as the concept of “boss” is concerned, I mean it in the sense that the only issue is the principle as a person and the prestige of the school in the community. An hon. member mentioned to me this morning—I think that he expressed it correctly—that many principals have trampled over bodies of teachers on their way to promotion. I am also aware of many young teachers who have resigned from the teaching profession due to the particular “bossiness” which we find amongst some principals.

I could mention many examples where success in the sphere of teaching and education is not so important, but rather success achieved by schools on for example, the sporting field and in collecting record sums of money by means of fetes. All this is for the sake of the prestige which the school must enjoy in its community. I have no objection to sport as an extramural activity, but I wonder whether an exaggerated spirit of competition has not arisen between our schools, especially when neighbouring schools are situated close to one another. I can mention many examples in this regard. For instance, I know of a junior school which held eight athletics meetings during the first term of the year. I could mention many examples where young teachers have simply been worked to death. I can mention examples of inspection circles where inspectors and principals of schools still expect every teacher to write out every lesson which he gives word for word. Not only do they expect it from the young, inexperienced teachers, but also from teachers who have been teaching for years. I can show the House a questionnaire which was given to a young teacher of a grade 1 class, a questionnaire with 166 questions which she had to complete about her pupils—and then there are between 30 and 40 pupils in her class. Heaven alone knows when she should do this. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I trust that the hon. member for Boksburg will forgive me if I do not react to his contribution. I disagree, however, completely with him in respect of the religious service being held at the hour of 8.30 between the English and Afrikaans and the Afrikaans and English television broadcasts. I believe that the current system is far better because the children are in front of the television set waiting for their programme. This vital area is where we want the message to go early in life. The older people can get to the television set by choice and of their own free will.

I should like to spend the short time allocated to me in dealing with areas of deep concern in respect of the SABC television service. I think I shall only be able to scratch the surface, but I feel the time has come for a few home truths. The department’s annual report stated clearly on page 79 that it was expected that about 650 000 television sets would have been sold by the end of 1976 which would provide an estimated revenue of about R25 million in that year. I think we all agree that this figure is now a historical fact. There is, however, another fact to be faced and it is simply this: The R25 million paid in respect of television licences, has been paid by South Africans of all races, of both official language groups and, incidentally, also of other language groups that live in our country. Most important of all, the licence fees are paid by South Africans of all shades of political opinion. Members of the National Party, the UP, the PRP, the IUP and, I believe, even some Herstigtes own television sets. They all have to pay the R36 licence fee. We all have this fee in common. We have something else in common as well. All of us, irrespective of our political affiliation or opinion, are subjected to a never-ending parade of Ministers on the television newscasts, newcasts which are coupled with NP policy and ideology that is being rammed down our throats each week night at 20h10 and at approximately 22h40 and also at 20h00 on Sundays when we are regaled with the “Chris Rencken show” or the “Rencken and Saunders half-hour”. We had the “Chris Rencken show” last Sunday and its content was quite remarkable to say the least.

It just happened to deal with John Vorster.

Yes, it just “happened” to deal with the hon. the Prime Minister.

The television news is blatantly biased in favour of the NP Government and nothing else. This is not all that is biased. Some so-called discussion groups, panels, leave one with no illusions whatsoever. Anyone who disagrees with Nationalist policy, is not welcome on any of these programmes.

You are wrong.

Am I wrong? Show me one instance to prove it.

Let me get back to the television newscast. [Interjections.] Recently we were given full details of the new Press code. [Interjections.] My friend, just listen.

Order!

We were given the “why” and the “wherefores” of this code and it was accepted by both the hon. the Prime Minister and the Newspaper Press Union. It was accepted with acclamation. Why could this code not be applied in respect of the SABC? Surely the SABC newscasts, both over the radio and the television services, should welcome it and could easily adhere to the code. I should like to remind the House of the first clause of the code which, amended slightly to accommodate television, would read—

It continues and again I adjust it to accommodate television—

“To comment or criticize fairly and honestly.” Comment is the issue that disturbs me deeply. Occasionally, but only occasionally, the word is displayed on the screen. However, I feel that this practice should be entrenched as a cardinal principle when comment is presented, for example during the “Chris Rencken half-hour” on Sundays. Let us look at clause 3(a) of the new Press code and again I quote verbatim—

This is very easy to do in a television newscast. One simply ensures that the word “comment” is printed on the screen. It is as easy as that. I repeat what I said earlier, viz. that this is of cardinal importance as the viewing public is entitled to know what is factual news and what is comment, be it slanted comment or not, let us at least know that it is comment.

Have you nothing else to say?

You are nothing else but slanted either.

The hon. the Minister may argue that the SABC is a statutory body with its own code. I contend that there is good reason for a uniform code to be applied in respect of both our main news media, namely the SABC and the Press. Surely what is good for the goose must be good for the gander. If one accepts all the expressions of goodwill towards all schools of political thought, as expressed on page 15 of the SABC annual report, such as the following—

… then it must surely follow that the hon. the Minister need only to say the word and I am sure that the corporation would happily embrace all the provisions of the new Press code. I look forward to the hon. the Minister’s comment in this connection.

I would now like to turn the Committee’s attention to another situation that has reared its somewhat interesting-looking head. I would like to refer the hon. the Minister to Hansard, col. 4354 of 31 March last year, when he stated—

Noble words from the hon. the Minister. I am, however, a little intrigued and I would like to pose a question to him. I would like to ask the hon. the Minister: How does he equate his noble utterances with the unanimous recommendation contained in paragraph 37.1 of the report of the Select Committee on the Electoral Consolidation Act? I quote the following paragraph under the heading “Television”—

Which party are you speaking of? How many parties are you at the moment?

This is a unanimous recommendation; that member’s party contributed to it. Paragraphs 37.2, 3 and 4 then give further details of how the political parties will be allowed television time and it is at this point that the report was signed by the chairman, the hon. the Chief Whip of the NP, Mr. Kotzé. It is dated 3 June 1976. I would like to know what the true position is. I think that the political parties, the electorate, and in fact the whole of South Africa would like to hear the answer. Are we, and more important, are “die mense daarbuite” bound by the hon. the Minister’s avowed declaration in this House on 31 March last year or by the unanimous decision of the Select Committee, dated 3 June last year? A mere two months separate the two. I think that the hon. the Minister must answer this question during this debate and again I look forward with great interest to his reply.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Umhlanga who has just resumed his seat, accused the television service of one-sided, partisan action in its presentation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The hon. member does not understand these things. The news commentators of the SABC and of the television service do not give their own standpoint or that of a political party or that of the Government. The standpoint they interpret, is the standpoint of the SABC. What is the standpoint of the SABC? The SABC merely interprets the South African standpoint and in doing this, it has regard to the great variety in South African politics as well as to the broad listening and viewing public. The ideal of the SABC is to inform the viewer and to put things into perspective in such a way that the viewer draws his own conclusions. Consequently, there is no question of influencing or indoctrination on the part of the SABC.

Criticism is often expressed with reference to the background commentary which the television service offers and with reference to programmes in which matters of current interest are placed in their broader context. Such criticism stems from obsolete ideas about the function of the communication media, and particularly that of television. Television no longer offers the old newsreel of the early fifties, when no more than a visual presentation of events was given.

The world we are living in is becoming increasingly complicated. In this complicated world, there is a growing demand for the news media, including television, to explain and to interpret and to spell out the implications of events. The large audiences that watch television, do not simply want television to present the news, they want the news to be presented in a meaningful way. Throughout the world, television is moving in the direction not only of presenting the news, but also of interpreting the news in a meaningful way. The public is turning more and more to television for this purpose, as is apparent from the following figures: In Britain, the audience for a typical news and news background programme is larger than the joint daily circulation of all the British newspapers. In America, a recent survey indicated that three quarters of that country’s population obtained its news mainly from television. In South Africa the main news broadcast on television already has an audience of approximately 1¼ million adult Whites. It is clear, therefore, that the public has a need for news to be interpreted and not just presented summarily. That is what that hon. member does not understand.

In addition, we often have to listen to criticism that our television is becoming inundated with the faces of Ministers. It is true that Ministers appear on television more often than Opposition members and ordinary members of the NP do, but how could it be otherwise? After all, the Government of the day or the man in control, in this case the Minister, is the newsmaker since he is sitting in the hot seat and he makes the decision. That is why he is always in the limelight of all the news media, whether it be television, radio or newspapers. Every newsman knows that the primary and decisive criterion in the consideration of news items for inclusion in news bulletins, is its news value. Every Pressman in the Press gallery knows that. That is the reason why some of our speeches very often do not make the Press. That is the yardstick that is applied in every news service in the world. If a certain Minister or any other person appears on television more than once a week, we should not say that he is being given preferential treatment. He appears there because he is topical and because he is a newsmaker. By virtue of the offices they hold in the country’s administrative machine, Ministers are in a particularly favourable position to make news. They have information which the public would like to have and to which the public is entitled. Ministers are not quoted on the radio or on television in their capacity as officials of their party or so as to promote party interests. Normally, they are quoted in their capacity as Ministers of the State. They are quoted whenever they speak on matters of national importance. Mr. Chairman, if you were to page through the newspapers, you would see that newspapers decide on news in the same way as the SABC does. After the controversy arose over this a while ago, the SABC conducted a random test into newspapers and found that newspapers gave prominence to Ministers’ speeches more often than the SABC did. Even Opposition newspapers often give more prominence to what Ministers say than the SABC does. It is a simple fact that throughout the world, Governments receive more comprehensive news coverage than the Opposition does. The Government makes more news because it takes action and gives effect to things, whilst the Opposition concentrates on counter-reaction only. The words and deeds of the Government can influence the existence of a people, whilst the Opposition offers only the alternative. Often the alternative offered by the Opposition is completely unimaginative as we so often see in this House.

After all, the Opposition parties do not have any reason to complain. The official Opposition in this country has fallen into such disfavour that they are no longer newsworthy. They are hardly roadworthy. They are not newsworthy, either in this country or abroad. The Secretary for Information tells us in a very objective annual report that the major media of the world do not have a serious approach to the policy of the UP and the policy of the PRP as an alternative to Government policy. They are not even newsworthy abroad; and then they want to appear on television! What the hon. the Leader of the Opposition says, seldom makes the front page of newspapers any more; not even the front page of the English-language newspapers. Why not? The hon. the Leader of the Opposition often appears on television, but after every appearance, things go worse for him. He does not make the front pages of the newspapers any more because he is no longer news and because he has been written off as a newsmaker by the newspapers. Can they expect better treatment? The PRP are not real newsmakers either. The newspapers tell us that their leadership is weak and unimaginative. We can see that for ourselves. Sometimes certain leftist newspapers rate the PRP highly, but this is done merely for the purposes of blatant leftist propaganda. It is not balanced reporting but blatant propaganda. Surely television and radio cannot devote attention to these things. In contradistinction to the Opposition, there is the Government.

Let us take a look at how newsworthy the Government’s men are. Our hon. Prime Minister could be described, without any fear of contradiction, as the newsmaker of the year in view of the great role he is playing in Southern African politics, and even on the world scene. This very day, the hon. the Prime Minister has once again left on an historic trip abroad. If he appears on television, we hope there will be no objections to this. No one can object to him appearing on television often. Every time he appears on television, it is of great public importance. The viewers look forward to his appearances. That holds good for the other hon. Ministers of the Government as well. The public wants to see how these people take action. The public wants to hear what they have to say, particularly about the country’s pressing problems. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Bloemfontein North will excuse me for not following him directly. In the course of what I am going to say, I shall reply to a number of the points raised by him. However, I want to deal with the question of the SABC as a State monopoly. My contention is that the SABC should not abuse its monopolistic position. It should rather go out of its way to ensure not only that all varieties of opinion are given expression, but that the interests of minorities are not neglected. Finally, I want to warn it not to abuse its position of economic power vis-à-vis the private sector. It is my opinion that on all three counts the SABC fails. Perhaps the worst example of abusing a monopolistic situation is one that has arisen relatively recently, and which is going to affect every viewer in this country as well as every reader of a newspaper in the very near future—in fact, from the end of this month. That is the question of the availability in advance of television programme details. It is something, I suggest, which directly affects every individual viewer, never mind the newspapers that are concerned.

As hon. members probably know, advance programme information from the end of this month—or rather, from the beginning of June—is to be rationed to both daily and Sunday newspapers. It will no longer be possible for newspapers—daily or weekly—to publish a week’s television programmes in advance, as they do at the moment. They are going to be given the details of one day’s programme, and they are going to be told that for the subsequent days they can only publish highlights of individual programmes. Nobody knows what a highlight is. Nobody has as yet managed to define what a highlight is. What is a highlight? One has some idea of what it is … [Interjections.]

I submit that countless numbers of viewers—and that is why this matter is of such importance—and tens of thousands of newspaper readers in this country are going to be gravely inconvenienced and are going to be put to great additional expense as a result of this monopolistic abuse of power. Why is this being done? As a matter of fact, this adds to the heinousness of the whole situation. I believe it is primarily to protect the SABC’s own magazines which alone will contain a full week’s programmes. Obviously, the hope is that the public will be forced to buy these SABC products at 30 cents a throw, instead of having the information available to them in their daily newspapers, or in their Sunday newspapers.

I submit that this is an inexcusable abuse of monopolistic power. However, as if that is not bad enough, the SABC-television is giving these little magazines of theirs regular—and if I may say, boring—publicity, often at considerable annoyance of viewers. The trade journal, “Business systems and equipment”, estimates that the SABC is subsidizing its publications at the rate of about R2 million a year. That is calculated on the basis of projected SABC advertising rates. That is the free publicity these magazines are getting. As the journal says, the SABC, with complete lack of principle, awards itself exclusive TV-advertising rights for Family Radio and TV. In so doing, the journal says, it shows a complete disregard for competitive private enterprise, into which it is unfairly intruding. I sincerely hope that it is not too late for the hon. the Minister or somebody else to persuade the SABC to change its mind on the availability of programme materials. This is a very sore point with viewers.

Talking of money, I hope there is not going to be any increase in radio licence fees. This is something which is also being projected. If we read the balance sheet as it is printed in the SABC annual report, the corporation would, if it were treated as a normal corporation, have a revenue of R83,9 million and trusts of R62,7 million. That would give it a profit of R26 million on which the SABC paid a dividend of R2,6 million and retained R24 million.

A profit of R26,6 million on a permanent or equity capital gives a return of 66%. That, I suggest, is not a bad return at all. Furthermore, the total funds retained at the end of last year was R63 million, which was invested in Government stock. My point is simply this. On these figures, as we read them, there is absolutely no case for any increase in radio licence fees, particularly as one would assume that the revenue from commercial advertising on television would more than outweigh the decrease in revenue from the radio services. As it is, everybody knows that the television licence fees at the moment are about the highest in the world. We hope to heaven that there is no increase coming.

Let us look for a moment at how the SABC fares when it comes to ensuring that all varieties of opinion are reflected in its news and opinion services. The hon. member for Umhlanga has dealt with one aspect. In my opinion, it fails dismally on the whole front. I have given up hope of the SABC being objective. I will try to explain why just now. The SABC’s philosophy and its self-imposed obligation of loyalty to the NP Government and its ideologies makes it almost impossible for it to be objective. But surely the SABC can still be fair. That is the very least that it can do in a situation like that. Let it plug its own point of view as much as it likes, but, for heaven’s sake, let the other side be heard.

I want to mention a few small examples which set the pattern for the behaviour. There was the case a couple of weeks ago of the spokesman of an obscure little group of Afrikaans-speaking Catholics being given time on the television to attack the Catholic bishops of South Africa for their attitude towards mixed schools. Were the bishops given an opportunity to state their case? Not on your life, Sir. There was the case of Gen. Van den Bergh of Boss explaining why detainees committed suicide. Nobody expressed a contrasting view; but incidentally Gen. Van den Bergh replied to such a view without it having been stated. This gives a totally unbalanced picture. Let us take the urban riots of last year which were spread over six months. Rapport put it very succinctly when it criticized a television programme and wrote as follows—

There we have it from the mouth of the “establishment” itself. This was another abuse of monopoly one-sidedness. The charge broadens to include the fact that the SABC fails to reflect South African life as a whole. The almost total neglect in the SABC’s TV services of Black and Brown South Africans is so glaring that even Afrikaans newspapers are now beginning to draw attention to it regularly. I want to say that it is not enough to have a Justus Tsungu once a week or even for him to get a merit award for his appearance. There is far more to it than that. There are dozens of Black and Brown artists that could make a real contribution to television and give some programmes at least a distinction which so many of them lack at the moment. It might help—and the hon. the Minister can do something in this respect—if the Bantu Programme Advisory Board at least contained one Black member instead of consisting of five White members. We have raised this matter before. I know something has been done as far as the Coloured people are concerned: They have been given some say and this is an advance. But the African people are without any kind of voice in the areas where it really matters.

I believe that the SABC’s problems stem from the spirit which animates the corporation. This is really what is at fault in the whole situation. Let us look at the latest report of the chairman of the board. We are told that the television service—

This is an admirable sentiment, but what, in heaven’s name, has television got to do with “stimulating a spirit of optimism”? In any case, how does the service do it? How is it to be achieved? It is obvious to anybody who has studied the situation that one way of creating this spirit of optimism is by what is euphemistically knows as “editorial comment”, which appears in a variety of guises and which is intended to underwrite everything that the Government says. [Interjections.] Generating euphoria seems to me to be one of those features with which the SABC is actually destroying their own credibility. I am not going to talk about “Current Affairs” or the almost nightly TV parade of Cabinet Ministers that we have. We all know about it. I am thinking of the selection and the emphasis of news, the nature of so much of the comments, and the obsequiousness and the sycophantic tone of interviewers. One of these gentlemen has been described as “that tough, relentless seeker after State-subsidized platitudes”. That is not a bad description. An Afrikaans newspaper has written of “die ademlose eerbied, byna bewing waarmee ons politieke leiers, seifs die heel mindere ligte onder hulle, deur ons onderhoudvoerders bejeën word”. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I do not want to reply in full now to the hon. member who has just resumed his seat, except that I just want to tell him that I dealt with the question of the Ministers who allegedly parade up and down on television very fully in this debate last year. I am not going to cover all that ground again now. However, I do want to spell out to the hon. member, and at the same time reply to the hon. member for Umhlanga, that—

Surely that is very clear. They try to do so as objectively as is humanly possible. I help to ensure that they do so very objectively. [Interjections.] I cannot help it if there are differences of opinion in this regard.

†With regard to impartiality, I want to quote from the code of the SABC—

*In this regard therefore the hon. member for Bloemfontein North is 100% correct. Surely I cannot help it if the hon. Leader of the Opposition, the hon. member for Umhlanga and other hon. members opposite are not “news value”. Surely they are laying their accusations at the wrong door. I quote further—

You are on fragile grounds!

I cannot help it. Hon. members may differ; but this is the code. [Interjections.] I quote further—

*Surely that is correct! All the conditions attached to news comment, conditions to which I shall now refer, have been part of the code of the SABC for many years now. Last year I quoted the conditions in full. I am not going to do so again. But I want to stress emphatically that the SABC is trying to communicate comment and news as objectively and as factually as possible.

†With regard to comment, I want to quote from the code again—

What is wrong with that?—

It must be an acknowledged expert in a specific field, like me on sport for instance! I quote further—

*In this context I want to quote a Latin maxim—licet Jove, non licet bove—what is permitted to Jupiter, is not permitted to an ox. Surely it is not our fault that that is the case. I quote again—

The code gives a clear definition of a political party—

The hon. members opposite can thank their lucky stars that this is the case, otherwise they would have been knocked into a cocked hat on television as well, as they are being done here in this House and outside the House. I shall return to this later.

I want to conclude this point by reminding that little party that “He who serves his party best, serves the country best”. Hon. members should not forget that. Last year I made an appeal to the hon. members. As I did last year I can again indicate today with chapter and verse that the SABC does not adopt a haphazard procedure as far as these matters are concerned. Fixed rules have been laid down and it tries—hon. members could perhaps by way of constructive criticism say that it is not succeeding—to act correctly and in accordance with the rules. The rules which I presented, are a code. I do not want to level any accusations this afternoon, because the debate, in my opinion, is being conducted in a good and pleasant spirit, and we must keep it that way. However, we must be careful not to draw the line too fine—I referred to this aspect last year—and undermine the authority of the country while we do not in the process actually intend to do so. The matters are therefore being dealt with according to a fixed pattern, but I want to urge hon. members on that side of the House—I appreciate that they have the right to level constructive criticism and we welcome constructive criticism—to be very careful that they do not go a little too far in this regard, for that would also be very prejudicial. So far I have only replied to the arguments of the hon. member who spoke before me.

The most important matter under the National Education Vote is in my opinion the education of our children. In my mind there is not the slightest doubt about this. Before I come to that, I want to congratulate the hon. member for Hercules very sincerely on his election as chairman of the education group on this side of the House. I have known the hon. member for many years as a quiet and unassuming man, a man who does his work in a very excellent way. He is a person on whom one can rely under all circumstances. We work very cordially together, and I am convinced that he will make a contribution on behalf of the group and this House, in the new capacity to which he has been elected, in a pleasant but also in a firm manner and acquit himself on his task as he demonstrated he would do in his maiden speech in this capacity this afternoon. [Interjections.]

He is the same kind of chap as I am.

Yes, he is the same kind of chap as the hon. the Minister of Agriculture is.

In the second place I should very much like, on this occasion, to express a word of sincere thanks and appreciation to the teachers who—let us be candid about this—are under very difficult circumstances rendering a very great service to this country in a period in which it is very essential to realize once again that education is in truth very closely bound up with the survival of our nation. Without the necessary qualitative education any nation is lost. We may never lose sight of this fact. Education deals with the essential function of the survival of any nation. In the world of today we should not overlook the fact—one need only look at the Unesco reports—that in the last decade there has been what amounts to a new discovery of the utmost importance in education. In this regard I want to associate myself fully with the hon. member for Durban Central and the hon. member for Hercules. These two hon. members addressed strong pleas this afternoon for, for example, the most rapid possible development of technical and technological education in the times in which we are living. Why? Because the needs of a nation or country have to be met under specific circumstances. Education is the mother of all professions, because everyone has to receive education, and therefore justice has to be done to it. In this regard I differ with the hon. member for Durban Central—although he made a good speech—for it is not correct to maintain that there has been no progress in education during the past 12 months. During the past 12 months, under the most difficult of circumstances, education not only retained its priority position—alongside other important matters—but also made good progress. I shall now try to indicate to what extent this happened.

In this regard I not only wish to express my thanks to the teachers, lecturers and others, but I should also like to express a special word of thanks and appreciation to the Secretary of the Department of National Education, Dr. Van Wyk, and all his officials. They are rendering a very great service and are wearing themselves out, working day and night for education. Hon. members have no idea how hard some of those officials are working. It is my duty, and my pleasure, to mention it in this debate. In the report of the Committee of Heads of Education mention is made of the achievements accomplished during the past year. This report was tabled yesterday, and we did so especially so that hon. members could take cognizance of it. If hon. members had read that report, they would readily agree with me that these people are making a tremendous contribution, and that we are greatly indebted to them. The same applies to the staff at our universities and our technical colleges.

It is our duty to see where we stand in education today. Although statistics are not always readily available, the information received from directors of education is very encouraging. My department went to a great deal of trouble to establish precisely what the facts are today. We should like to inform this House and the country of the precise state of affairs.

In the Cape and the Orange Free State there is at present an over-supply of students at teachers’ training colleges, so that it was possible to apply strict selection and even to keep waiting lists. This is the goal which we envisaged last year. I am entirely aware that the economic position of the country does have something to do with this. I shall not deny it. However, the fact remains that the Government, the news media and all of us give special attention to education, and I also want to include the Opposition in this because, fundamentally, there is unanimity in regard to this matter. The result is that, in general, we can look back on a successful year as far as education is concerned, as the figures do indeed indicate. When last was it possible to select student teachers at teachers’ training colleges? Therefore we are making progress. There should be no doubt about this. Even waiting lists have now been introduced. In the Transvaal the colleges at Potchefstroom and Pretoria are chock-a-block full and there is a satisfactory supply of male students, for which I am very grateful. Hon. members themselves know how I pleaded, in season and out of season, for men to return to education, and we have been successful. At the Goudstad Teachers’ Training College there are still vacancies, but there are few men at that college, and I find it a great pity. At the Johannesburg College of Education, there are also vacancies, and the number of male students at this college is also disappointing.

†I want to make an appeal to our English-speaking boys and our English-speaking girls, but especially our English-speaking boys, to join this magnificent profession. We need them; the people of South Africa need them. All the people of South Africa need them, and I have no doubt that they will not be sorry if they join this profession should they feel they have a calling and an inclination for this profession.

*I now want to quote very interesting statistics which I found very gratifying, and which the hon. members will also find gratifying, to this House. In 1976 the number of student teachers attending South African universities—only universities—was 11 549. In 1977 it was 13 539, which represents an increase of 1 990, i.e, 17,2%. In 1976 the number of male students was 4 112, while in 1977—I am pleased about this—it was 4 869, an increase therefore of 18,4%. The number of female students in 1976 was 7 437, and in 1977, 8 670, which is therefore an increase of 1 234, or a percentage increase of 1,6. Hon. members will observe that the number of students increased by 17,2%, while the number of female students increased by 16,6%. However, the greatest increase was in the case of male students, namely 18,4%. But what is even more gratifying—and those hon. members who raised this matter now or last year, will also take cognizance of this with appreciation, as I did—is that it is true that this came about as a result of serious efforts which also emanated from this House. Those efforts were not wasted; our people paid heed to what was being said. Hon. members know how seriously we spoke about mathematics last year, and on how many other occasions we spoke about it. We said that it was an essential subject in the technological era in which we, as a country, found ourselves. In 1976 there were 989 student teachers enrolled for tuition in this subject at South African universities. In 1977 the number had grown to 1 211, which is therefore an increase of 222 and a percentage increase of 22,4. However, this is by no means enough, as I shall now indicate to hon. members. However, we should thank Providence for this progress, and that is the point. In 1976 there were 890 student teachers receiving tuition in science at universities, while the figure in 1977 had increased to 1 269, a percentage increase of 42,6. This figure refers only to chemistry and physics students. The argument which the hon. member raised here, is therefore not correct. I quickly want to quote the figures for the Natal Training College, because I think they are important. The increase in the number of male students was 3,2% and in the case of female students, 8,7%. The increase in the number of mathematics students at the Natal Training College, was 10,2%. For science students it was 15,6%. The total increase was 7,6%. As hon. members know, these are predominantly English-speaking students, and that is why I am mentioning these figures. In those circles as well, the appeals from this House and elsewhere did not fall on deaf ears. Perhaps it is not necessary, but I should also like to point out the total increase in the number of students at training colleges. There was a large increase. In 1976 there were 10 722 and in 1977, 11 279. I want to say that this has simply underlined our task. Our attempts were not fruitless, and success was achieved.

But we still have a great task to perform in this regard, and I now want to refer to it. I am grateful for the success which was achieved, but the task which still lies ahead is a tremendous one, and for it I am asking the co-operation of all the members of this House, including the Opposition members, as well as the co-operation of the people of this country. We must have no illusion about the fact that if we can succeed in satisfying the demand for teachers, it will be to the benefit of this country. We shall then have to spend less in other spheres, for if we are essentially sound in this sphere, we have here the potential to break through into new fields, owing to the fact that this is a fundamental profession, the mother of all professions. We should not overlook this fact. For the sake of interest I should like to sketch the position pertaining to the number of enrolments at our schools. In 1970 420 000 pupils were enrolled in the Transvaal, and in 1976, 460 100. In 1970 this was 51,5% of the total number of pupils in the country; it has now increased to 53,8%. Over that period the increase was 41 000. In the Cape the total enrolment figure in 1970 was 231 000. This has remained almost constant, because in 1976 it was 231 722, which represents 27% of the total enrolment in the country. In Natal the enrolment figure in 1970 was 92 000, and this increased to 95 000 in 1976, which represents 11,2% of the total enrolment figure. Over those years the increase was 3 600. In the Orange Free State there was a slight decrease, for in 1970 there were 72 000 pupils and in 1976, 69 000, which represents 8% of the total number of pupils. These are interesting figures, with important implications. That is the only reason why I quoted the figures; I am not going into the implications of those figures now. However, there is one other thing I want to say about the need for teachers which we are experiencing. I have here the Transvaal figures, and I shall quote a few of them. I have here in one column the number of teachers required, and in another column the number who enrolled at the beginning of this year for certain subjects. The number of geography teachers required was 100, and 94 enrolled in that subject. The number of Afrikaans teachers required was 372, and 358 enrolled in that subject. The number required for Bantu languages was 4, and 14 enrolled in that subject. The number required for business science was 97, and 69 enrolled in that subject. The number required for librarianship was 53, and 38 enrolled for that subject. The figures for Bible study were 56 and 59, respectively. The need was greatest in respect of chemistry and physics, viz. 320, while only 53 enrolled for it. Now matters fall into perspective. There was an increase of 22%, but the need still remains extremely pressing. We still have a terribly long way to go.

If I had the time, I could indicate with chapter and verse what I personally and my department are doing to try to meet this need. The number required for German was 46, and 44 enrolled. The number required for English was also very large, namely 632, while 314 enrolled. Here, too, there is a very pressing need. Our English speakers must assist here. The number of French teachers required was 18, and seven enrolled. The figures for history are 259 and 146, respectively. For domestic science 99 and 100, respectively; for art, 33 and 32; for physical training, 108 and 102, and for Latin, 18 and 6, respectively. I am very concerned about the fact that in the case of Latin teachers, only a third of the number required have enrolled. As a person who took Latin at university, I want to make an appeal to our people in this regard as well. This is not as it should be. The need should also be met as far as this important subject is concerned as well. I go further: In music and ballet the number required is 43, and 44 enrolled; in botany and zoology the number required is 212, and 126 enrolled; in arithmetic and economy the number required is 312, and 218 enrolled. Where a great need exists, is for mathematics teachers. The number of teachers required is 544, while only 226 enrolled. For technical subjects the number required is 105, and only 13 enrolled. Seen as a total, therefore, the number required is 3 603—I have not enumerated all the subjects—as against an enrolment of 2 194. With this I hope I have succeeded in indicating that although good progress has been made—for which I am very grateful—a tremendous task still lies ahead. We must now put our shoulders to the wheel and then see next year what has been accomplished. I want to thank the members of all the political parties in this House for the co-operation we received from them. Naturally I want to thank my side of the House the most, but I also want to thank hon. members opposite very sincerely for the assistance they have given me. Their doing so was a fine gesture. In this way we shall make progress.

I now want to come to another important matter, i.e. the new dispensation in education. This is something to which the hon. member for Durban Central as well as the hon. member for Hercules referred. On 30 November 19761 announced in a Press statement that the Government had in principle approved of a new dispensation for education, included in which was a new salary structure for teachers, but that the economic position of South Africa made its implementation impossible. There must be no misunderstanding in this regard—and I do not believe there is either. I very deeply regret having to state this afternoon that the present economic position of the country continues to make the implementation of a new salary structure impossible. There must be no misunderstanding about this. I bitterly regret this, but it is a fact. We have to make our sacrifices. I make mine, by making this announcement here. It grieves me to have to do so. However, our teachers must make their sacrifice as well.

Mr. Chairman, may I ask the hon. the Minister a question?

Let me first dispose of this matter. After that, the hon. member may put his question. I promise him I will give him an opportunity to put his question. As I have said, the teachers must make their sacrifices too. The other day I had to open a family guidance course. Two teachers clad in white caps and white overcoats met me and accompanied me from the main road to the place where the function was to be held. They ushered me into a 1934 Chevrolet which was very neat and beautifully kept. After we had driven a short distance, they said they hoped I had got the message. They merely wanted to indicate that it was the best they could afford. We have a great deal of sympathy for these people. While it is at present impossible to do anything in respect of the salary structure, an inquiry has been instituted by the Public Service Commission, the Committee of Heads of Education and other Government departments concerned into the aspects which do not contain any financial implications and which can in fact be implemented now. It has been a very interesting exercise, over the past six months, to try, none the less, although we have no money—one can buy very little if one does not have any money—to accomplish what can be accomplished in the interests of our teachers. To do so without money is extremely difficult, almost like walking a tightrope with one’s eyes fixed on the ground below. It was found that the next aspect, which is unrelated to a salary increase, could in fact be implemented at this juncture—and I am very grateful that the Government decided in favour of this: Firstly, recognition of at least two recognized diplomas after matriculation up to a maximum of category E in the case of students enrolled for training on or after 1 January 1978. The teachers will understand very well what this means. Hon. members opposite need not understand it. Secondly: To qualify to be classified in category G, a teacher must have at least a recognized M degree. Category G is implemented in all posts where recognition is given to qualifications according to policy. Without spending any money, we can benefit the person with qualifications in this way. Thirdly: Experience requirements are being lowered—this is a very important matter—in respect of the filling of promotion posts, to the extent to which staff are possessed of high qualifications, with effect from 1 January 1978. Where posts have already been advertised on the existing basis, the departments may set a subsequent date. Having regard to the minimum basic qualifications required for appointment to a post, the following experience requirements are now set:

Fourthly: The post of head of department is being substituted for the post of vice-principal. The implementation of this change is bound up with approved staff provision scales which will be applied gradually by provincial departments of education, on the understanding that no additional funds which have not already been appropriated will be appropriated for this purpose during the present financial year.

Then, fifthly: Achievement recognition. The principle of achievement recognition for merit up to a maximum of three notches, is being approved in principle. To ensure that departments apply uniform standards, a working committee, under direction of the Public Service Commission, will be established immediately to develop a co-ordinated system. As soon as this task has been disposed of, the Cabinet will consider the financial implications of the application of a principle of achievement recognition.

The reason why there cannot be salary increases for the teachers now is attributable to the present state of the economy, which has resulted in the estimates of all departments, which have already been cut to the bone, having to be cut, in accordance with a Government resolution, by a further 4% during the present financial year. In the case of the Department of National Education this means R12 157 000. Now, it can surely be understood that one cannot, on the one hand, effect cutbacks amounting to 4%, i.e. an amount of R12 million, and on the other hand come forward with other benefits.

On this occasion I want to thank everyone for this very sincerely. It is very necessary that this be done. In the first place I want to extend my sincere thanks to the chairman of the Public Service Commission, his fellow commission members and departmental officers for the expeditious handling of a matter which is of so much importance to the future of South Africa. The Public Service Commission, together with the Committee of Heads of Education, devoted many months’ work to this, because these matters had to be examined very thoroughly. On this occasion I want to thank the chairman of the Public Service Commission very sincerely for the work the commission has done. I also want to thank the Committee of Heads of Education very sincerely for their important contribution and, in particular the Federal Council of Teachers’ Associations, with whom I have been negotiating throughout the past 18 months, for their co-operation and excellent understanding of the entire situation. South Africa has reason to be proud of these people and bodies.

I do not want to take up much of the time of this House, but there is something more I should just like to say in conclusion about educational matters. First, though, I want to afford the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg North an opportunity to put his question.

Mr. Chairman, in relation to the new salary scales which cannot be implemented until the economic climate improves, can the hon. the Minister assure the Committee that when the economic climate does improve that the 1976 salary scales for teachers will be adjusted to the increased cost of living?

No. I cannot promise anything in this regard. The economic situation of the Republic is such that as I have indicated we had to cut our expenditure in order not to have to go to the taxpayers with increased taxation, now it is absolutely essential that a further saving of 4% by all departments be effected. I do not know what the economic situation of the country will be six months from now or 12 months from now. So I cannot, with the best will in the world, hold out any promises at this stage. I have already been called “Piet Promise”, “Piet Moses”, and other nicknames.

*Please do not lead me into temptation again. Do not tempt me. I hope it is clear that I have not made any promise. I want to make it very clear that I am a man of my word. When I make a promise, I see to it that it is kept. [Interjections.] The teachers of this country will still come to realize this. They must just give me enough time. That is all. [Interjections.] The teachers know that I am fighting day and night for their cause. They know they have a good friend in me and that they can count on me. I, in my turn, am counting on them.

There will come a day when there are no more thunder clouds, and when the sun is shining brightly. On that day I shall thrust out my chest and be highly pleased. But I am now asking for great sacrifices.

With reference to the teaching aspect I want to conclude with a quotation which I find beautiful, and the hardened hon. members who are now sitting here and who no longer feel so sentimental about things in this life, may as well know that I still find this sentiment a very beautiful one—

Let it be borne out from this place to the children of this country that this House has a soft spot for the children of our people, for the children of all the people in this beautiful, sunny country of ours, the Republic of South Africa.

I still wanted to discuss the Film Board, but I shall prefer to do that tomorrow.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the sentiments expressed in the last few words of the hon. the Minister in regard to schools and school-children. As far as the question of teachers’ conditions and salaries are concerned, I am sure the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg North, who will be speaking shortly, will react to that. I want to return to the hon. the Minister’s defence of the impartiality of the SABC. Judging by the reaction from these benches, apart from raising a few wry smiles he failed either to impress or convince. I believe the points made by hon. members on this side of the House on that subject still remain unsatisfactorily answered.

I now want to return to the Broadcasting Act, and I want to refer the hon. the Minister to section 13(2) of the Act which we passed in this House last year. In that section it is made quite clear that no TV advertisements could be televised without the Minister’s approval or if not in accordance with conditions determined by him. In that debate I appealed to the hon. the Minister, in regard to the question of advertisements concerning the use of alcohol and the smoking of cigarettes. In his reply, the hon. the Minister said that he appreciated my comments, that he was sympathetic, that he would have a thorough look and that he would take account of the suggestions which were made.

However, I now want to draw the attention of the hon. the Minister and of other hon. members to the SABC television services advertising code and interpretations of October 1976. The first thing that caught my eye was the question of gambling. One finds that on page 19—

I do not know what the death rate is amongst people who indulge in gambling, but I do know what the death rate is in regard to lung cancer and other diseases that are associated with over-indulgence in tobacco, and I know the heart-break that is caused by over-indulgence in alcohol. If we go further, we find that in so far as liquor advertising is concerned, approximately four pages of the code are devoted to the “do-nots” in so far as liquor advertising is concerned, but there are no prohibitions whatsoever as far as liquor advertising in general is concerned.

Another interesting section of the code deals with unacceptable business and advertisements which will not be accepted. The first one refers to the professions. This is understandable. The second one refers to speculative investments. The third one refers to advertising concerning fortune tellers. Then we have a prohibition on the advertising of cemeteries, undertaking services, matrimonial agencies and then we have 3½ pages of restrictions on medicinal products concerning every disease—from baldness to venereal disease. However, nowhere do we find any reference in this comprehensive code to cigarette smoking or the manner in which it could be advertised or should not be advertised; this despite the call of the Medical Association of South Africa to see that cigarette advertising was banned on television and that it was phased out on the SABC. I have appealed to this hon. Minister as well as to the Ministers of Health, of Justice and of Economic Affairs. I have had negative to luke-warm responses from them, and I want to suggest to this hon. Minister that in terms of the code and in terms of the provisions of the Act that I have quoted, he has a responsibility to take a firm stand on this matter and to follow the example of other countries in the world. I believe the State as such, if it controls an organization such as the SABC, has a moral obligation to do just that.

I want to come to the question of the training of doctors and dentists. The English-language universities have been maligned and criticized a great deal in this House by many people, but what is forgotten is that many of those English-language universities have been the main vehicle for the provision of training facilities for Coloured, Asiatics and Bantu doctors and dentists. It is this Government’s policy that people should be trained to serve their own race, and I believe it is high time that the Afrikaans-language universities should also play their part in the training of medical and dental personnel of other race groups. I say this because statistics show that fewer Bantu doctors in proportion to the population have been produced during the years 1950 to 1970. In fact, in 1970 the number of Bantu doctors was less that one per million Bantu. Twenty years ago, in 1950, the number was slightly higher. I want to refer to the survey which the Government initiated and which was published in 1960. A chapter of that survey dealt with the training and employment of medical practitioners. In the opening passage of the survey a report on medical training of 1939 is quoted. This is what it said—

This was the situation in 1939, and in 1960 the very same survey concludes by saying—

The survey went on to say that it was estimated that the number of medical graduates to be trained during the years 1959 to 1965 would be less than half of the estimated accumulative need for medical graduates. The position is still very unsatisfactory. In 1969, when the then hon. the Minister of Health, Dr. Carel de Wet, was opening the new medical school at Wits, he indicated that at that stage it should be possible to have 200 admissions and that in five or six years’ time there should be 180 to 200 students graduating each year. That was in 1969. The figure given to me by the hon. the Minister for 1975 in reply to a question, this session indicated that 152 students graduated. In answer to the same question the hon. the Minister told me that the only extension envisaged was a new medical school at the Witwatersrand University which would increase the output to 200 per annum. I ask the hon. the Minister what he means when he says that. In 1969 it was the intention to make the output 200 per annum. But in 1976 the hon. the Minister says it is the intention to do just that in 1976. It is a very disturbing situation, because out of the 659 students who qualified last year in medicine, only eight were Bantu. I know that the training of Bantu has now been handed over to the hon. the Minister of Bantu Administration and that the training will mainly be offered at Medunsa However, it will be a very long time before any backlog is likely to be overcome there. I believe that the responsibility for providing the training for all the other race groups in South Africa rests squarely on the shoulders of the hon. the Minister of National Education. The time has come that he has to have a good, hard look at the position as it exists at the moment, because there is an imbalance in the racial composition of those people who are being trained. There is a larger number of Indians being trained, who, in my humble opinion, will not be able adequately and properly to fulfil their function and make a living in their own community, because there will be an excessive number of them. There will not be a sufficient number of Coloureds …

It is not a matter of training, but a matter of capability.

They have all received the same training. Surely they will have the same capability when given the same opportunity. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Berea commenced his speech by endorsing the accusation of the hon. member for Umhlanga that this Government was not impartial in its presentation of the newsbroadcasts on the SABC television network. He then stated that the hon. the Minister had failed to answer the charges levelled by the hon. member for Umhlanga. The hon. member for Umhlanga said that the SABC was blatantly biased in favour of the NP. That was quite a sweeping statement, a statement which he did not support with a single example. Now he wants the hon. the Minister to reply to such sweeping statements. The hon. member was supported by the hon. member for Parktown, who stated quite dramatically that he had now given up all hope that the SABC would ever be impartial. He said the other side should also be heard. He at least cited two examples. I want to cite an example as well. It was only on Friday that I listened to that excellent programme “Radio Today”. I listened to an interview with Prof. Rodney Davenport, who stated, inter alia that for 30 years the rule of law in this country had been undermined and that physical violence was being used against the Blacks in this country. Those were sweeping statements; but I am not going to demand that the hon. the Minister must now be given the opportunity to reply to those statements. We are not so touchy about these things. Our people listen discriminately. I want to give the hon. member for Umhlanga the advice—because I am sure his radio has the same gadget that mine has—to tune in to another station.

*I should like to refer to the tremendous contribution made by radio and television towards promoting better relations between our various ethnic groups. The success that has been achieved can be ascribed to the fact that radio and television acknowledge the plural structure of our society. That is why the one-channel service of 1937, a service presented in only one language, has today been developed into a service in each of our two official languages in addition to three bilingual services and seven services for the Bantu population groups. Nine language groups are therefore served by the radio medium. This is a service the SABC furnishes to every population group in its own particular idiom, in accordance with the nature and traditions of the individual population groups, in their own languages and presented by their own people.

It is only when each population group can fully express itself culturally, and when it does not feel threatened by the fact that its language and culture will be swallowed up, that there can really be a question of racial harmony. The greatest enemy of racial harmony in South Africa is the feeling that people often get of being threatened by the fact that their language is held in contempt and that their culture is threatened. There are two extremes in the country, i.e. that of the PRP which wants to reduce everything to a single unit and that of the HNP that only wants to emphasize the diversity. The SABC has reconciled the two extremes, and whilst acknowledging the pluralistic set-up, has presented its programmes, throughout the years, in such a way that we also get to know the culture and lifestyles of the other groups.

The SABC’s greatest success story is, in my view, Radio Bantu, which has local transmissions in seven languages in addition to the service in South West Africa and elsewhere. 4,5 million Bantu adults listen daily to radio Bantu—virtually half of the 9,6 million daily listeners to all the services. 720 original works have been produced by Bantu artists. What opportunities does this not offer the Bantu writers and the Bantu musicians to give expression to the tenderest emotions of their hearts in their own idiom and to their own people! Five million letters are received annually from Bantu listeners. In my estimation this is indeed an achievement unequalled by any other service. I take it that many of the 5 million letters come from people who are even less adept with a pen than I am. However, the service has made such a tremendous influence on them that they have reacted spontaneously.

There are as yet only three Indian programme transmissions per week on the English service. This is very popular with the listeners and I hope it will be extended. Unfortunately the Protea programme was brought to an end a few years ago at the request of the Coloured community itself. I am very sorry that the organizer of the Coloured service also disappeared, together with the programme, because I believe that our Coloured Community also has a contribution and a special dimension to add to our aesthetic treasures. I do want to ask the hon. the Minister to consider requesting that a Coloured programme organizer be appointed again to gather contributions from the Coloured community. I also want to review the contribution made by television towards bringing about a change in the relations between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking people.

†For more than a century the friction between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking people has been the root cause of many of our problems in this country. Within the space of a single year television has done more to resolve those problems than many politicians have achieved in 60 years. I believe that many of our politicians have merely aggravated the situation by fanning the flames of animosity. Many of our newspapers have contributed more to the problem than to the solution. Television, by bringing into our livingroom the culture, the language and the way of life of the other group, has done much to undo that damage. We are therefore pleased to learn that phase two of the television service is not to be a separation of the two services, but a Bantu service. This powerful medium is teaching us to sublimate those baser passions of racial animosity in favour of a greater, nobler and finer passion for South Africa, to learn to know one another, to understand one another, to live with one another so that across the barriers of language and culture we will find that much-desired unity in diversity.

We are impressed with what the SABC has achieved in the field of race relations. If it can build on the foundations laid, the best is yet to be. There is so much more that I could add. I wish I can elaborate on the achievement of a man like Mr. Justus Tsungu and others. However, Mr. Chairman, you are looking at me, which means that I must resume my seat.

Mr. Chairman, I agree with the hon. member, who has just resumed his seat, when he says that television has made a great contribution to better relations between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking people. I believe that bilingualism has been promoted by television, to a great extent, and I personally want to congratulate the television service on their achievement in that sphere. When I spoke last year, during the discussion of the hon. Minister’s Vote, I mentioned the necessity for declaring the manse in Simonstown, where our national anthem was composed, a national monument. A tribute has already been paid today to the memory of Rev. M. L. de Villiers, and I also want to pay my tribute to him. I do so by quoting the last sentence of my speech last year (Hansard, 3 June 1976, col. 7993)—

It gives me great pleasure to be able to tell the House that the hon. the Minister recently intimated to me that the Cabinet had, in fact, decided to declare the manse in Simonstown, where our national anthem was written, a national monument. I think this is the right step to take and I think it is fitting that it can specifically be announced today.

†I want to deal with two other matters, the first of which concerns the Westlake training centre. I wish to deal with this briefly. I want to bring to the hon. the Minister’s attention the fact that the age of admission to this trade school, is 21 years. I would suggest to the hon. the Minister that consideration be given to the lowering of that age restriction. Secondly, many more centres of this kind should be created for Whites in the Republic. As far as I know the Westlake Trade School is the only institution of its kind for Whites in the Republic. There are many Whites in South Africa who do not go further than Std. 7. Sometimes they pass into Std. 8, but then fail that standard. There are very few avenues open to these people. Westlake is one of them. The question is: What other work can they do? Take for example the dockyards. One cannot obtain work in the dockyard in Simonstown unless one has a Std. VIII qualification. I would suggest to the hon. the Minister that this is a field in which Whites have been considerably neglected and that the Government will have to provide more opportunities for the poorer White people, the people with a lesser education, to learn a trade. The Westlake Trade School is an example of what can be done. It is an outstanding institution and it is doing wonderful work.

There is a second point that I want to bring to his attention in regard to this particular school and that is the question of married men learning a trade. There are a number of married men, also with low educational qualifications, who at the age of, say, 25-35, wish to take up a trade. If they come to Westlake they have to qualify for a year to enable them to get a trade, and they receive a very small salary during that period. I want to suggest that either they be given a larger salary because it is in the interest of the State that they do undertake a skilled trade, or alternatively that they should be given some form of subsidy or loan during the period that they are at the trade school. Students at university, for example, are able to go to commercial banks and obtain loans at very low interest rates which cover them for the period of their studies and a couple of years afterwards and I would suggest that a similar system be considered by the Minister as regards trade schools for Whites, not only at Westlake but throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. There has never been a greater need for this form of trade school than there is among Whites at the moment, especially in a time of economic recession.

I now move on to a third matter that I want to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister and that is the question of wrecks of ships around our coasts. Recently I had the pleasure of going to Port Elizabeth to examine the wreck of the Sacramento, a Portuguese galleon which sank 340 years ago near Port Elizabeth. It has in fact been 340 years under water. At the moment it is lying in 15 feet of water but to enable salvage operations to take place its contents have to be carried seaward of the breakers into about 35 feet of water where the salvage vessel can in fact operate. I think I am right in saying that there is no legislation in South Africa that specifically governs wrecks. The nearest legislation that I can think of is perhaps the Museums Ordinances of the provinces or possibly the 1969 National Monuments Act. I want to suggest to the hon. the Minister the absolute necessity for legislation to be introduced to govern this situation for the reasons that I am now going to give.

First of all I think that there is a need for legislation to protect wrecks around the South African coast, particularly those wrecks which occurred before the steamship was firmly established as a means of transport in about 1860. In certain European States—I am referring to Turkey, Greece and also Italy—any artifacts which are recovered from wrecks within the territorial waters of the country concerned automatically become the property of the State. This does not prevent pirating but it does restrict indiscriminate diving and plundering of wrecks by people without licences and to a degree does make certain that all is not lost to the museums of the various countries. I have done some research into the situation here in South Africa. One of the earliest and most interesting documents that I have found on wrecks and the ownership of wrecks in South African waters is contained in the Cape Archives depot under Colonial Office records, C.O. 891. It relates to the ceding of ownership of sunken wrecks within the limits of Table Bay to one, Henry Adams. The date is given as 1 April 1856. The next Act that I have been able to find is an Act of the British Parliament of 1973 which I think is of relevance to the matter which I am discussing with the hon. the Minister. This is the Protection of Wrecks Act. It was passed by the British Parliament and makes it an offence to dive on a wreck which has been designated by the State without a licence being granted by the Secretary of State. It allows the Secretary of State to proclaim any wreck site a restricted area for historic, archaeological and artistic reasons. The wreck site includes the actual site of the wreck and the surrounding area and can include nearby coast above the high water spring tide mark. The actual area has to be decided in each particular case. There is no age limit as regards a particular wreck in the British Act that I have been able to find. There is however an age qualification concerning wrecks under an Act of the Western Australian State, the Western Australian Maritime Archaeology Act, also of 1973. In this Act only those vessels which were wrecked before 1900 are protected. It is a much longer piece of legislation than the British Act and the Western Australian Museum Board is the governing authority with regard to all wrecks in Western Australia. It allows the director of the Western Australian Museum to decide whether or not any wreck or any wreck site is of national or local historical interest—they make a distinction between national and local interest. On his recommendation, the governor of Western Australia, can make the necessary proclamation. Like the British Act, the Western Australian Act provides that a maritime archaeological site may be situated below the low-water mark, on land or at any place between land and the low-water mark on the sea-shore.

As regards France, chapter V of Decree 61/1547 dated 26 December 1961, governs wrecks of archaeological, historical and artistic interest in France. That decree requires that an object, when its value justifies it, shall be deposited in a public collection. The salvor is then awarded compensation by the State.

In the case of wrecks found along our coast, I believe it may be possible to formulate legislation which could afford wreck sites protection, at the same time also preserving the rights of private enterprise which has been responsible for finding so many of the wrecks that have been discovered to date around our coast. Until such time as museums or universities are capable of taking over the task and doing the necessary discovery work themselves, the country will undoubtedly have to depend on private enterprise.

I have two suggestions to make to the hon. the Minister in this regard. As in the case of the Western Australian Act, some body, and preferably a local seaport museum, might be appointed as a governing authority in a particular area.

Order! The hon. member’s time has expired.

Mr. Chairman, I suggest that the hon. member be given the opportunity to complete his speech.

My thanks to the hon. Whip. I was saying that, as in the case of the Western Australian Act, there should be a body such as a local seaport museum which could be appointed as the governing authority in a particular area. I think for example of the South African Museum which would be appointed the governing authority for, say, the coast between St. Helena Bay and the mouth of the Breede River, or perhaps better still as far as Cape Point. The new Simonstown Museum should have authority for wrecks found in False Bay. Then perhaps another museum could be established at Mossel Bay and further maritime museums could be established at Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban. I am trying to emphasize the necessity for the establishment of a chain of maritime museums. The discovery of wrecks is only in its infancy in this country. There are something like 3 000 wrecks lying undiscovered around our coast according to the S.A. Archives, I understand.

The second point I wish to make is that private enterprise should under no circumstances be stifled. I think the danger of stifling private enterprise could be overcome by the issuing of permits by a governing authority. Such permits should be reasonably easily obtained on condition that a percentage of the artefacts that are recovered should be handed over to the museum which issues the permit; the museum then being given first choice and the percentage arrived at on the assessed value for the payment of customs duties. As regards the artefacts that remain in the hands of the salvor, the museum should have first refused on any artefact which the salvor may subsequently wish to offer for sale. The price could easily be mutually agreed upon.

In conclusion let me say—I am sure everybody in the House will agree with me—that it is essential that historical wrecks, when found, should be preserved, but that at the same time a formula should be arrived at which will not stifle private enterprise. I do not think it is necessary to go as far as the Turkish, Greek, Italian or even the French laws. I think that the British Act, subject to certain modifications and qualifications, will suit our local conditions. Perhaps we could also include parts of the Western Australian Act which suit our purpose concerning the ownership, discovery and exploitation of wrecks off our coast.

The last point that I make is that if these wrecks are to be dealt with under legislation, as I have suggested today, it is no use passing the legislation and then hoping that some people or some authority will do something about it. The two suggestions that I have made go hand in hand. If legislation is put on the Statute Book—which I believe it must be and which I am sure the hon. the Minister will agree to—then the local authorities will have to be encouraged to establish maritime museums—I am only dealing with maritime matters today—along our coasts. They must then appoint a director controlling the museum, or a trustee of the museum who will then have the authority to issue permits to people who wish to salvage wrecks and they, the museums will, in turn, have the first choice of the contents which have been salvaged. Only thereafter, would the salvor be able to offer those goods which were not required by the local museum on the open market. I make these suggestions in the confident hope that the hon. the Minister will agree to my suggestions.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Simonstown must excuse me if I do not follow his argument, I am sure the hon. the Minister will supply him with the answers to the various issues which he has raised.

*Mr. Chairman, it has today become a cliché or platitude to say that the world in which we are living is rapidly and dramatically changing. It nevertheless remains a fact. The extensive changes in the world can, to a large extent, be ascribed to the spectacular developments in the sphere of science and technology. One only has to look at the almost incredible developments in the sphere of electronics—as embodied in the modern computer—and at the present-day communications techniques, to understand how the developments in these two spheres alone have radically changed the world we live in. Scientists claim that as far as these two areas are concerned, we are merely on the threshold of other very great changes. In the light of these accelerated changes, which modern man is continually subject to, my question this afternoon is whether modern-day school syllabuses still meet the demands of the times. Are present-day educational programmes adequately geared to shape and prepare the child for the challenges and the changes that are going to determine our future lives? Is the academic material presented in our schools adequately augmented by an educational programme aimed at the realities and actualities of our existence, in particular our existence here in South Africa and the challenges this presents us with?

It is against this background that I should like to make a plea for a renewed and in-depth examination of the content and presentation of our syllabuses and academic programmes. I am convinced of the fact that we must look for a new dimension in education, for a new approach which will endeavour to integrate the academic material, i.e. the reading matter that has to be memorized, with the actual, concrete and contemporary needs of the pupils of today. It is my conviction that the emphasis in our academic programme falls too one-sidedly on the memorizing and eventually on the reproduction of information and factual material, and that too little emphasis is placed on the application, the concentration of knowledge on the realities of our world. The academic programmes condition our children to memorize facts in watertight compartments without developing the child’s ability to apply that knowledge meaningfully to the realities of life. If I may formulate this at all more philosophically, I want to allege that the academic programmes at our schools are still loaded with the residues of a 19th century approach to the learning process, an approach whose point of departure it was that the substance, the essence, the gist of a matter or phenomenon should be penetrated and known—“what” something is, was of cardinal importance. As against that traditional approach to the learning process, the world we are living in today demands that we not only have knowledge of the “what” of a matter, i.e. its essence, but also knowledge of the “how” of a matter, i.e. its application. In other words, the functional aspects of knowledge, the application of the knowledge, the use of the knowledge, has gained increasingly in importance. The child must therefore be educated in such a way as to enable him or her to rub shoulders with the new and unusual experiences that may fall to his or her lot. The anticipatory ability of the child, i.e. the ability to anticipate, expect and handle the new and unusual, must be a more important component of education. In other words, the possibilities of the future must, as it were, be negotiated in the education of the present In this connection a very interesting book has appeared under the editorship of Elvin Toffler. It is, by the way, the same Elvin Toffler who wrote the very interesting and extremely readable book Future Shock. The title of this book is Learning for Tomorrow: The Role of the Future in Education. From one of the very interesting chapters in the book, let me quote from page 198. There the educationist writes—

I believe this to be very true, and also applicable to the task of the teacher in South Africa. Therefore the academic curriculum must continually be supported by and integrated into a broader life-orientated educational guidance programme. The child must be adequately equipped to take his place in that life and world of which he is a part and which he is also responsible for. I believe that the introduction of youth preparedness courses and religious instruction was a move in that direction. Unfortunately one has to admit that one of the problems with those courses was that before the people who had to present the courses were sufficiently trained and equipped for those courses, the courses had already been introduced into schools.

In the few moments at my disposal, I should like to point out that there are various components that will have to be embodied in such an up-to-date, life-orientated guidance programme. Owing to the limited time at my disposal, I shall merely refer briefly to a few of these. In my opinion one of the most important elements that must be contained in such an educational guidance programme, concerns the way in which the independence of the child, including his initiative and creative abilities, can be developed further. I have already referred to the anticipatory ability of the child. With reference to that, the development of the creative or initiative ability of the child is of the utmost importance.

One frequently gains the impression that one of the great shortcomings in the youth of today specifically lies in the fact that they, as it were, passively, inactively and unimaginatively experience life. They frequently do not have sufficient originality or creative ability to entertain themselves. They must be entertained. I believe that the creative ability of the child can be developed, to a large extent, by teaching him to handle the material he has to learn more independently. One must try to create more opportunities for discussion in connection with each subject. I believe that the pupil who has learnt to use his knowledge of a subject in discussion has not only learnt to think on his feet, but has also learnt to use his knowledge creatively in a concrete situation and in handling new and unfamiliar problems.

I also believe that such a broad educational guidance programme must not try to avoid the realities of our existence in South Africa. By this I mean the particular pluralistic composition of our country and the inhabitants of this country. Good human relations across colour boundaries, which is so important to our survival, can be promoted to a great extent if it is already a part of the training programme at school. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I am sure every hon. member in the House agrees with what the hon. member for Johannesburg West has just said. I am just wondering whether this new thought process in regard to education will perhaps eventually improve the thought process of this House. I hope so, in any case. I am sorry that I cannot follow the hon. member’s line of thought. I first want to get something off my own chest which may not be pleasant to the hon. the Minister. I wonder whether, if anybody says anything positive to the hon. the Minister, it will be of any value, because I wonder how long he is going to be the Minister of National Education. When one goes by his reply to the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg North regarding the appointment of Mr. M. Perry to the Board of the University of Natal, it would seem that agriculturalists and people with a knowledge of agriculture are far more welcome in the Department of Education than educationalists.

Hear, hear!

I wonder if the hon. the Minister of Agriculture, who seems so interested in this debate, is not perhaps going to take over this portfolio soon. [Interjections.] That is why the hon. the Minister is so free with his promises; he knows that he will not be here, and that he will be able to concentrate on sport and recreation. Joking aside, I would like to tell the hon. the Minister how disappointed I feel about his attitude regarding the appointment of Mr. Perry. I do not know Mr. Perry and personally I do not have anything against him. However, I think a gratuitous insult was given to the Director of Education in Natal. He should have been given this post without any argument. The hon. the Minister by his own admission said that he knew that there was trouble about this appointment and this recommendation by what I believe was just an Afrikaans jingo bunch. The hon. the Minister should have gone into the matter and satisfied himself before he rectified the appointment of Mr. Perry. If the hon. the Minister had been fully informed he would not have made that appointment. [Interjections.]

I also want to say that I take exception to the remarks about this matter which the hon. the Minister of Finance made in his speech at Uvongo on Saturday a week ago. I do not know if the hon. the Minister knows what his colleague said in his speech, but I have a copy of the South Coast Herald in which he is alleged to have made certain remarks. I think they were in very poor taste. Incidentally, the hon. Minister of Finance in the budget debate challenged me to attend his meeting in Uvongo and he made it appear as if it was going to be a political meeting. He said that he would get a vote of confidence at that meeting. However, the hon. the Minister knew very well that he had no intention of holding a political meeting. It was a dinner to which 300 guests were invited and to which 200 eventually turned up. According to the article in the South Coast Herald this was what the hon. the Minister said regarding the appointment of Mr. Perry to the Council of the University of Natal—

This reminds me that there have been an unfortunate lot of appointments to the University of Natal. This is just another one. Some previous rectors of that university probably also had agricultural knowledge. The article goes further—

I should just like to tell the hon. the Minister of Education that all the good work he has done—and he has done a great deal of good work in southern Natal—has been completely undone by the remarks made by the hon. the Minister of Finance in Uvongo. I want to voice my appreciation to the hon. the Minister of Finance because I think he has entrenched my position and that of my party in the South Coast.

I now want to depart from this unpleasant subject and proceed to something more pleasant, namely the matter of trade tests. The hon. the Minister is responsible for trade testing in South Africa, because the Central Organization of Technical Training falls under the auspices of the Department of National Education. I cannot say that I am completely happy about it. I do not think many industrialists are. I remember that the Cott was organized by Mr. Reindorf, who in 1940 was rector of the Pretoria Technical College, as part of the war effort. He did a wonderful job and I know that, as I was seconded to that department by the Railways. This department is nevertheless at the moment still administering trade testing in South Africa. I see in chapter 3 of the report of the department that there is a very short report about the Central Organization for Trade Testing at Olifantsfontein. According to the report a new building complex for Coloured and Indian candidates, erected at a cost of R384 000, was taken into service in January 1976 and was officially opened by the hon. the Minister on 7 October 1976. The report further reads that many dignitaries were present at this function. No educational or labour representatives from this party were invited to attend this function. That is unfortunate. I would have been very interested to attend.

What worries me is whether is was really necessary to erect this complex at Olifantsfontein. Is it necessary to duplicate this sort of thing in South Africa? During the discussion of the Labour Vote in the House last week we heard how the hon. member for Bethal went to town about the indivisibility of labour. Now labour is being divided again. I ask whether it is necessary to perpetuate this duplication and to incur these costs. If we must have this division, let it be complete and not halfhearted as it is now. I do not believe that there should be separate trade tests for Whites and non-Whites. I hope I am right in saying that the trade tests which are set in the White complex are exactly the same trade tests as are set in the Coloured complex and that the marking system used is exactly the same. I am sure that is so and therefore I cannot see why there should be any differentiation. Is it perhaps because there is some subtle differentiation? Is is perhaps so that anyone who receives a certificate in the Coloured complex will be limited to work only in a non-White area? Is it perhaps some other way of subtly dividing the people who have passed this test? I do not want to elaborate on this ridiculous position as I think it belongs to the Labour debate. However, I want to ask this hon. Minister—whom I believe to be a very reasonable person—to give thought to the wishes of the Coloured people in this respect. The Coloured people have complained that the officials at the trade offices who do the testing are all White. They feel that they are being discriminated against.

Some hon. members here, and perhaps the hon. the Minister, may think that I am being unreasonable, but I wonder how any particular member on that side of the House would like it if he had been a tradesman and, after having worked hard at his trade for four or five years, had gone all the way from here to Olifantsfontein, to be trade tested by a Black or a non-White official and summarily failed just like that? I know that I would not like it. I know that in the past many tradesmen have resented being failed by their own people. They thought that they had been unfairly failed. I want to appeal to the hon. the Minister that Coloureds be appointed as trade testing officials at this complex. The hon. the Minister might say that he cannot find any. But he should then not have built the separate complex until he had the people to man it. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for South Coast must excuse me for not quarrelling with him about what he said. However, I should like to quarrel with the hon. member for Parktown in a moment.

Over the past 16 years, the SABC has certainly made its mark in the world of broadcasting. If one looks at the FM network which has come into being, at the introduction of FM services for the Bantu, at the introduction of the services indigenous in South West Africa, which were established within a very short while, at our overseas service which broadcasts practically 24 hours a day, at the FM regional services and at television, and if one bears in mind that all this has been done precisely according to schedule, it is indeed a great achievement. It is also interesting to note that since 1960—I am just referring to radio now—programme hours have increased by 300%, transmission hours by 1 000% and the staff by only 60%. Since the first phase of television was introduced, the budget of the SABC has doubled. Consequently it is correct to claim that it requires exceptional financial know-how and careful planning, with challenges like this before one, to balance one’s books and maintain a sound financial policy, more so if one bears in mind that the requirements of our particular population must be satisfied and also if one bears in mind the topography of our country—our mountains, etc.—which can sometimes greatly complicate FM and television broadcasts.

That is why the financing of the SABC is also a very difficult problem, because the SABC has only two sources of revenue, namely licences and advertisements, and what is more the possibilities of revenue from these two sources are limited. If one judges the scanty Opposition criticism of the SABC’s finances in the light of this complex situation, one can only shake one’s head ruefully, especially if one reads what the hon. member for Parktown said in this regard. He was very quick to discuss it with a newspaper-man. I assume that The Star, in particular, would quote that hon. member correctly. I quote from a report of 19 April—

The hon. Opposition made a great fuss today about the fact that their comments are not quoted. However, with the best will in the world, I want to tell the hon. member that if that is the kind of opinion he would like to have quoted on television and radio, he is very far off the mark. Opinions are very seldom newsworthy, particularly opinions such as these, but facts are. Let us look at the facts about the finances of the SABC. The hon. member is practically surrounded by so-called financial “whizz-kids”. Why does he not ask for their assistance in interpreting the financial statements of the SABC? Today the hon. member referred to a so-called profit of R27 million and said: “There is absolutely no case in these figures as we read them.” The hon. member is quite right in saying that the figures as they read them make no sense because I do not think they can read or understand the figures properly.

Let us look at the facts. If the hon. member had wanted to criticize the financial policy of the SABC, he should have read a bit further in the report, because on page 18 and page 19 it is stated very clearly that, owing to the administrative integration of radio and TV, and the new accounting set-up, one cannot compare the figures for 1975 and 1976 with one another. This is the first point. The hon. member probably did not read that, because otherwise he would at least have understood that much. Furthermore there was also non-recurrent income of between R6 million and R7 million last year. I do not have the time to explain this fully now, but if the hon. member reads the report, he will understand this too and not make such ridiculous references as “It is totally unjustified”, “hidden surplus” and that type of nonsense. Merely reflecting the figures in accounting terms is proof that the statements which the hon. member made in the Press, and here today too, are nonsense. I have already said that there are only two ways for the SABC to obtain revenue. Let us take a look at the situation as regards radio, and after that as regards television.

As far as radio is concerned, over the past few years, the SABC has been going through a period of stagnation with regard to licensing revenue. It is very clear that this had to happen in view of the introduction of television. In other words, in that respect the SABC’s source of financing is dwindling. Its advertising revenue on its advertising services is also beginning to dwindle because many advertisers are, of necessity, shifting their advertisements from radio to television. Therefore, as far as radio as such is concerned, the SABC is saddled with a decrease in its sources of finance on the one hand and a very sophisticated radio service on the other. There is a large network to be maintained a network which definitely requires a great deal of maintenance after 15 years because equipment must be replaced. One cannot simply do away with radio services either. What an uproar there would be in this hon. House …

Why not?

The hon. member for Orange Grove asks “Why not?” I want it on the record that when it comes to the SABC doing away with some of its radio services, the comment of the hon. member for Orange Grove on the subject is “Why not?” One does not, after all simply do that kind of thing to one’s listeners; indeed, the SABC is keeping to its promise always to pay as much attention to radio as it would have if television had not been introduced. If the hon. member had studied the report, he would have known that two-thirds of the capital the SABC spent last year, namely R14 million, was spent on radio. Then he would not be making that type of remark. One can still have one’s newspaper on one’s lap while looking at television, but one cannot have one’s radio switched on as well. Hence the decrease in revenue from radio advertisements. On the one hand the revenue from the radio service is small, whilst the obligations of that service are still growing. There is only one way out: If nothing else can be done, the licence fees will have to be increased. However, what are the facts about radio licences? The licence fees have only been increased on two occasions since 1936. If one had three radios in 1960, it would have cost one R5. After all these years, in which good service has been provided and additional services of a high quality have been made available, the licence fee today is R6,60 for an unlimited number of radios. Is it too much to ask for an increase to be considered? In addition, if I remember correctly, this is also in line with the recommendations of the Franzsen Commission to gradually adapt tariffs rather than to make a large adaptation all of a sudden.

Let us look at television. Television also has only two sources of revenue, and these are licences and advertisements. Owing to economic considerations the distribution of television sets is not possible on as wide a scale as is the case with radios. That is why it is expected that the market will be relatively saturated by 1980 and that the revenue from licences will also reach stagnation point by then. It is also expected that this year’s revenue will be even less than that of last year and that the revenue from the additional licences issued this year will not exceed the non-recurrent income of last year. This is a very important matter to bear in mind. Advertisements will take the form of advertising spots and the SABC is limited to giving only 5% of its broadcasting time to these spots. This is a factor seriously limiting the SABC’s efforts to generate revenue for the television service. The expenditure in television is very high. The burden of interest and depreciation can amount to as much as 40% of the operating expenditure of television because all the assets and the costs for establishing the service are financed by means of loans, namely R71 million and R34 million respectively. This had to be done by means of short-term loans with relatively high interest rates. As far as depreciation is concerned, it is accepted that television equipment has a very much shorter effective life, so that one has to replace it much more quickly. Consequently that has to be provided for. Other TV operating costs are also very high. Furthermore, we are going to expand on two levels in the television sphere in future. We are going to erect even more television transmitters in the country and we are perhaps also going to have a second channel. Funds must be built up in time to cover these aspects. In the light of the recommendations of the Franzsen Commission, the SABC took a very careful look at its financial policy and began, in good time, to look to self-financing for the replacement of equipment. This was an express recommendation of that commission, and if we investigate the finances of the SABC, we find that the corporation complies very largely with the requirements put forward by the Franzsen Commission.

I want to ask whether it is “totally unjustified” for the SABC to build up a depreciation fund in order to replace its equipment? Is it “totally unjustified” to build up a sinking fund in order to bring down its tremendous loan capital in the course of time? Is it ludicrous and “totally unjustified” to form a development fund in accordance with the recommendations of the Franzsen Commission? Is it “totally unjustified” to have a general fund for the repayment of R2 million, from available funds—according to this year’s accounts—of the costs of establishing the service.

The hon. member for Parktown and I have already argued a great deal about the so-called “slant” in the presentation of the SABC news. I want to suggest to him, in a brotherly fashion: Shoemaker stick to your last! Before he makes statements on SABC finances again, he must ask people who understand financial statements to help him interpret them. What he told the newspapers, cast an unjustified, undeserved reflection on the good management and good financial planning of the SABC.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Florida must please excuse me if I do not follow his argument. I have only a very short time at my disposal. I want to draw the attention of the hon. the Minister to the total lack of tertiary educational facilities in the East London and Border area. This is something that is quite alarming if one looks at it in its proper perspective. Before I come to the actual facts of the situation, I want to give the hon. the Minister some background in regard to the area that we are dealing with. As the hon. the Minister knows, the area between the independent Transkei and the Ciskei, running from East London right up to Aliwal North, is an area which has been declared a metropolitan area, particularly the East London-Berlin-King William’s Town area, in terms of the National Physical Development Plan. Furthermore, this area has also been declared a growth point in terms of the decentralization of industries policy of the Government. Recently, in furtherance of the Government’s declared policy of creating an economic growth factor in that area, Iscor established a steel distribution centre, and it is expected that a large secondary industrial development will take place there. In fact, only last year a knowledgeable person declared at a symposium in the Border area that as far as he was concerned, this area had one of the best growth potentials throughout the country.

It is against this sort of background that I want the hon. the Minister to look at the situation. What I want to emphasize is that after schooling of our children at their schools there are simply no tertiary educational facilities in that area at all. In East London, which is the third largest city in the whole of the Cape, with a White population of plus-minus 70 000 people, catering for some 12 000 White pupils at 47 pre-primary, primary, secondary and high schools, one of which is a technical high school and one of which is a commercial high school, there are simply no tertiary educational facilities at all save for a university which is situated some 200 km from East London. This is quite apart from the masses of school-children who go to school in the areas in the hinterland of that particular border area in towns such as Queenstown, Dordrecht, Molteno, Cathcart, Burgersdorp, Steynsburg and a lot of others as well. There is no possibility at all of those children being catered for at in the tertiary educational area. East London itself is a growth potential area. The hon. the Minister will know that there are over 120 industrial organizations operating in East London mainly directed now towards an export-orientated market. For years the lack of this tertiary educational facility has caused alarm not only to the industrialists but also to those in the commercial field, the educational people there and the local government people as well. Approaches were made to Rhodes University—the hon. member for Albany mentioned this a little while ago—to establish a faculty at East London, but despite the eagerness with which Rhodes entertained this idea, due to cold financial considerations it was impossible to go ahead with such a scheme. The hon. member for Albany pleaded for more money for Rhodes, but this will not solve the difficult situation. It is becoming apparent that the necessity lies not so much in the direction of academic and research facilities there, but more in the direction of the vocationally orientated practical and technical opportunities offered by institutions known as “Cates”—Colleges for Advanced Technical Education. It is for this facility that I am pleading. We know that there are even now only six colleges in the whole of the Republic serving some 62 000 students. The Van Wyk De Vries Commission report recommended at the time it was tabled—when there were only six colleges in the whole of the Republic—that this facility should be extended throughout the Republic. There was also a recommendation by the Van Wyk De Vries Commission to the effect that there should be standing committees operating between universities and these colleges. We have Rhodes adjacent to the area. There is a standing committee operating at the moment between itself, the University of Port Elizabeth and a College at Port Elizabeth. Here is a golden opportunity to establish a college in East London so that it can operate there and liaise with Rhodes itself. Then, finally, I would ask the hon. the Minister when considering this aspect to bear in mind the fact that in that area of East London we have plus-minus 15 000 Coloured people also with simply no tertiary educational facilities whatsoever. There are also plus-minus 3 000 Asians. Until the Ciskei develops some form of technical education for the Black people who live in that area the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Blacks who live there should also be considered. I urge the hon. the Minister to establish new Colleges for Advanced Technical Education and I ask him to bear in mind the requirements and the needs of the East London/Border area.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for East London City will excuse me if I do not react to his speech. He put requests to the hon. the Minister in connection with his constituency and that area. That is why I am not going to follow up on what he said.

Last year in my speech on this Vote, I made a brief reference to the youth preparedness programme which applies at our secondary schools. This programme has two legs, namely the physical preparedness programme and the spiritual preparedness programme and has built-in possibilities of guiding the high-school pupil towards adulthood in all facets of his life. The physical preparedness programme with all its various components, lends itself to leading the boy and girl in an informal yet orderly manner towards being able to face the physical requirements of our time to some extent as young citizens of our country. Most of these components link up very well with our civil protection programme and I think that schools and the authorities concerned can now co-operate with greater success. I think that the other leg, that is, the spiritual preparedness programme, is even more important. A nation which neglects the spiritual aspect, is giving up its cultural heritage. Where is there a better opportunity, except possibly in our churches, for making contact with and forming our young people and giving them inner spiritual power than with these very programmes in which a feverish pursuit of examination results is unnecessary. The young people are awaiting guidance in this regard. After the home and our churches, our schools must seize and utilize this opportunity. This is why I should like to congratulate the Transvaal Education Department on this occasion on expanding this programme and creating a department of youth affairs in the department in which three inspectors of education have already been appointed to pay special attention to the implementation of this project.

Now the Transvaal has gained another leg, and that is the veld schools. Pupils from Std. 5 and Std. 8 have the opportunity of attending these veld schools. At the moment there are already eight such schools in the Transvaal. During 1976, 30 440 teachers, students, but mostly pupils, took part in this. Pupils are given the opportunity of attending the veld schools for a week where amongst other things attention is paid to the following aspects. I mention them briefly: (1) character forming; (2) love for what is one’s own; (3) nature in its widest sense; and (4) fieldcraft. Apart from that, wherever possible, the child also has the opportunity of sleeping in the veld and standing guard for at least three nights. In this way he is impressed by his own human smallness and insignificance under the omnipotence of God. It is this process which affords the child the opportunity to discover himself. At the present moment in time, it has become necessary for the young people of today to be given the full opportunity of determining “Who am I?” and “Where do I come from?”. Undoubtedly the question Quo vadis? is the most important of all—“Where am I as a young person going to?”. The young people are definitely always asking themselves this question. However, I am afraid that they do not always have the answer. They are not always fully able to give a reply to this question. That is why I want to ask that we who are responsible for the young people today, we as representatives of the nation, we as educators, teachers, clergymen, other youth leaders and parents must accept that we have reached this stage where we must stop and ask the question: Quo vadis? What do we have in mind for our youth?

However, at the present time there are definitely some inhibitory factors which really are inhibitory factors for the child, the youth, on his way to adulthood. Due to a lack of time I can only mention a few of those factors. Indeed, they have already been referred to. Firstly: Scientific and technological developments have made man so aware of his own human possibilities and creations that he is beginning to believe that he can live without God. Secondly: The frenetic haste of a daily programme means that people only come into contact with one another briefly and meaninglessly and lose the value of close contact with their fellow-men which means that the dependence of their fellow-man becomes merely incidental. Thirdly: Mass communications media create the opportunity for people, especially children, to have their ideas channelled into directions which can result in one’s own norms becoming vague and possibly in losing one’s identity. The young person must be taught to be positively critical of what is offered by the mass media. A final factor is that the confusing world makes the future vague and makes it seem unreal. A nation whose young people are not future-orientated, is a nation which is doomed to failure.

Since I consider it extremely important that we should indicate and point out the road ahead very clearly for our young people, I should like to ask for a youth mobilization year to be instituted. We have had a green heritage year, a water year, a year of the woman. We have had fitness programmes from the Department of Sport and Recreation and all these have been resounding successes. The time has come for us to pay attention to our young people. It is and remains our task to mobilize and activate our young people. We must involve them in organizing camps, organized sport, rallies, meetings, competitions and spiritual and physical preparedness programmes over a wide field. Such an effort can begin at the local level. The cultural organizations and schools in every community can start organizing to involve the young people in their locality. This can then be extended on a regional basis and later be organized on a provincial level so that eventually it can be tackled country-wide. Dynamic, youth-orientated programmes must be worked out in which all children and young people can be involved. A central national committee which can work out programmes and operations for the various local cultural bodies in an advisory and co-ordinating capacity, must be formed by the Department of National Education. A programme like this has many possibilities—I believe that it has almost unlimited possibilities—which unfortunately I cannot spell out in detail now. I believe that a youth year like this can be rounded with a central youth rally where all young people can be brought together in order to associate in all spheres—the social, the physical and the spiritual facets of life. This is going to demand a great deal of thought and action, but I believe that we owe it to our young people to find a foothold for them in this confusing world once again. I believe that we must take one another by the hand in order to meet the future together with our children. Consequently I ask the hon. the Minister to give the necessary consideration and attention to this action.

Mr. Chairman, we welcome the changes announced by the hon. the Minister this afternoon. They certainly will be of help to a handful of teachers. However this first instalment is by no means revolutionary. It is not what the body politic of the teachers has been waiting for. I think that the vast majority of South African teachers are still waiting for the bonanza changes.

Speaking of change, there are voices calling for change from all quarters of South Africa. Education indeed provides a very fertile field for change. I think the eyes of South Africa are focused on the hon. the Minister here today to see whether he is going to make his department a department that is truly a national department of education. I refer particularly to the great responsibility to co-ordinate the education and training of all our races to meet the changing demands of our economy. This is not a new concept. By Cabinet directive in 1963 a body called Piccor was brought into being Piccor was the Permanent Interdepartmental Committee for the Co-ordinating of Educational Services for All Races. This body battled along for 10 years and was finally put to rest by the ex-Minister of National Education, Senator Van der Spuy, on 28 May 1973. This far-sighted and intelligent concept was never allowed to blossom; it was never allowed to get off the ground, despite the fact that the experts felt the need for such a body. While the need for such a body was felt 15 years ago, it has become even more urgent today. My appeal is for the re-establishment of a body such as Piccor and then on a broader base. It is of utmost importance to realize that our survival depends on productivity and that productivity depends on brains. We are not prepared for this. We have launched a boat onto the waters, onto the currents, without the oars and without the necessary rudder. This committee must have an overview of South Africa’s manpower needs and it must be representative of all races, because our economy depends on the training of all our races. But it must be broader than the old Piccor and it must include representatives of the CRC, the Indian Council and of the homeland Governments. I believe it is the duty of this Government to create for the experts the chance to do what they know must be done for South Africa.

I feel that I should justify this plea for such a body. I would like to call it a committee of manpower for South Africa. H. G. Wells once wrote that human history is a race between education and catastrophe. When we look at the dispersion of finances, I think that our Government’s financial priorities are loaded in favour of bullets rather than brains. The 1976 Defence Vote was ten times higher than the highest World War II expenditure and this year it jumped by R500 million. If that is compared with other State expenditure it will be seen that expenditure on education dropped since 1960 from 3,8% to 3,1%. George Elliot wrote in The Mill on the Floss that “You had better spend an extra hundred or two on your son’s education than leave it to him in your will.” I think we must make further use of our capacity to develop our brains rather than to manufacture more guns and bullets.

No money will ever be able to develop your brain.

When we look at the funds that are available for education we see that there has been an excessive channelling-off towards the universities. For instance, the amount spent on universities in 1974 was 64 times higher than in 1970. Prof. Malherbe, in his latest book on education for South Africa which was published this year, says that South Africa has more colleges and universities per hundred of the population than anywhere else in the world and it is the most costly university service. He says that the reason for the duplication is not for productivity in terms of knowledge, but to satisfy the Government’s ethnic policy. As for the per capita investment in education the preference here falls on Whites. In fact, the amount averages about 600% more for Whites. We know that the policy of the State expenditure is linked to taxation, but there are legislative restrictions placed on the earning power of Blacks.

When we see that for the last 30 years the economic development of the Blacks has remained at a static 27%, how can we ever make a more productive nation with these restrictions? These are matters which this committee should look into. There is another matter to which they should direct their attention and that is the question of literacy. The latest figures that I can find is that 0,9% of Whites, 16,7% of Asians, 23,6% of Coloureds and 51,8% of Africans in South Africa, over the age of 15 years, have received no schooling. If that is linked to the language communication gap the figures are just as disconcerting. The latest figures I can find show that 68,1% of Africans speak neither official languages, 47,9% of Coloureds speak only Afrikaans and 72,6% of Asiatics speak only English. This is in a country where since 1925 we have had two official languages. Imagine, if we could reduce the illiteracy rate and improve the language gap, how this would make us more productive, how the people could write up reports and improve machinery.

There are many wide fields to which this Committee could turn its attention. I mention a few. There are vocational shortages, the utilization of womenpower, the standardization of technical examinations, the introduction of an educational television service, and the co-ordination of all these matters. We want to know whether the hon. the Minister is prepared to grasp the nettle and to constitute such a committee because in Shakespeare’s immortal words which he wrote some 400 years ago, when England found itself on the threshold of moving into an evolutionary spiral, in which we also find ourselves, he said through the mouth of Brutus—

I say to the hon. the Minister that if he ducks the challenge, he will lose an opportunity offered few men in life, and that is to be at the helm of a nation when it moves over the watershed into another evolutionary spiral.

Business interrupted in accordance with Standing Order No. 22.

House Resumed:

Progress reported and leave granted to sit again.