___________________
(Second Reading Debate)
Vote 6: Department of Education – R2 950 518 000
The
SPEAKER: The first Vote before the House is
Education. The hon MEC, Mr Kganare.
Mr
D A KGANARE (MEC): Hon Speaker, hon
Premier, colleagues in the Executive Council, hon
Members of this Legislature, distinguished guests, comrades, ladies and
gentlemen.
The late former President
of Mozambique, Samora Machel,
once said:
The school is
the main centre of activity during a citizen’s childhood, adolescence and
youth, and the teacher, the master, is the main modeller
of the student’s personality, and the inspirer of his view of the world. The country’s future is born in the schools.
Hon Members,
these are the words which explain the context of this address today. Before we can talk about what we intend to
do, it is vital to contextualise our programme.
The budget speech is an
essential tool in a democracy like ours to inform all our stakeholders and the
public in general about our priorities and policies, the progress we have made
and our vision for the future, as well as what each of us must do to realise our objectives.
We present to this House
our Budget Vote within a broader framework, not only of the transformation of
education, but indeed the overall transformation of the South African society
into a non-racial democracy.
Our programme
regarding education is broadly elaborated on in the five-year strategic plan,
which we adopted last year. We firmly
believe that education is not a privilege but a right, and to that end we are
committed to moving as quickly as possible to a free, dynamic and compulsory
education. As we move towards this
vision, we will continue to ensure that:
·
We
foster a culture of learning, teaching and service;
·
No
learner is excluded from a public school because a parent cannot afford to pay;
·
Public
schools remain viable, and that resources for learning are more equitably
spread;
·
National
standards increasingly lower class sizes to more manageable levels; and
·
We
press ahead with our School Building Programme, with
specific focus on improving infrastructure in rural areas and townships.
Our objective is to
ensure that all schools have adequate buildings, electricity, water and
sewerage so that the core business of this Department, which is effective
learning and teaching, takes place unhindered.
In order to further improve the quality of education, and in accordance
with our strategic plan, we have already started:
·
To
strengthen the capacity of School Management Teams in order to enable them to
carry out their control, monitoring and supervisory role more effectively;
·
A
principal’s manual, to be developed and implemented this year, which will also
assist our principals to be better managers in line with our Whole School
Development Programme; and
·
Training
electoral officers for the election of School Governing Bodies (SGB’s), which will take place in May to
June 2000. We wish to appeal to
all stakeholders and parents in particular to take part in these elections.
To us as a Department, SGB’s are the only legitimate structures at school
level. We have translated the SGB
Training Manual into Sesotho, Setswana, isiXhosa and isiZulu to make them
more user-friendly.
This Department will not
entertain discussions with any other structure, including the so-called
“Concerned Parents’ Groups and Parents’ Associations.” We are aware of a systematic effort by
certain quarters of our Province to undermine the existence of the SGB’s through the conscious creation of so-called Parents’
Associations.
We have to warn these
groupings that apartheid and all its ramifications have been defeated by the
united efforts of the South African majority.
No political wishful thinking can bring back guaranteed privileges for
the minority. We will not recognise any structure that does not exist in terms of the
South African Schools Act (84/1996), and this is a fact!
Education continues to
suffer setbacks due to a lack of community ownership. Our schools are targets of vandalism and
robbery. These vandals carry on with
their criminal actions, knowing that no one will object to this, let alone stop
them.
A total of 113 schools,
mainly from the
We plan to counter this
vandalism by intensifying our joint campaign with the Department of Safety and
Security whereby each school adopts a cop.
However, no campaign, no matter how good, can succeed if our communities
are not behind us. For these cops to
succeed at our schools, the communities must embrace our schools as centres of community life and must support our call for
safe schools. We salute these men and
women who, despite their difficult task of combating crime, still make time to
ensure that our schools are crime-free.
We have already started
to transform our schools into centres of community
life. Through this programme,
we want to make sure that the immediate communities around our schools benefit
directly from our schools through skills training, library services, job
creation and computer literacy. This
will require an interdepartmental effort and creative leadership by the School
Governing Bodies. I have sensitised the colleagues concerned in the Executive
Council in this regard.
The improvement of our
learners’ results depends primarily on quality learning and teaching in the
classroom and the timeous delivery of learning- and
teaching support materials. It has to be
achieved through a combination of professionalism by educators and management,
support and involvement of parents and commitment by learners.
We have plans in place to
make sure that the professional quality of our educators is improved,
especially those of our teachers who are at farm schools. To this end, the Department has already
awarded 660 bursaries and approved 51 study leaves for the 2000 academic year.
We have plans in place to
retrieve all textbooks issued to learners.
Principals will be held accountable for the retrieval of all
textbooks. Learners who fail to return
books issued to them, will be handed over to our lawyers and the process of the
law will take its course.
We have plans to train democratically-elected
Representative Councils of Learners (RCL’s) as a
legitimate voice of the learners. Once
again we reiterate our policy position that the prefect system has no legal
standing and will not be recognised by this
Department.
We have plans in place to
fill all promotional posts at all schools.
The Department will in this financial year fill 318 of the 528
promotional posts to enhance our management capacity and to make sure that
effective learning and teaching is supported.
Based on the Grade 12
results of 1999, 151 schools that obtained a pass rate of less than 40% have
been identified as dysfunctional schools and intervention strategies are being
implemented. This includes monitoring of
those schools by both provincial and national role-players.
Appropriate steps have
been implemented to monitor classroom practices. Systems have already been introduced to
monitor efficiency and to stop absenteeism by both learners and educators.
Common examinations
covering a limited number of subjects in Grade 12 and 9 in June and November
respectively will continue. This
exercise serves as an early indicator of learning, achievement and teaching
success. An estimated amount of R2
million is needed for this purpose.
As far as curriculum
development, the implementation of Outcome Based Education (OBE) and learning
facilitation are concerned, the most crucial intervention would be the
preparations for the implementation of Curriculum 2005 in Grades 4 and 8 from
January 2001.
Following on train-the-trainer
workshops conducted at national level in March 2000, training of all Grade 4
and 8 teachers will take place during weeklong sessions in the March and July
school holidays.
It is expected that the
National Minister will make an announcement towards the end of May regarding
the findings and recommendations of the Review Task Team that was appointed to
investigate the implementation of Curriculum 2005. Such an announcement may imply that
additional inputs may have to be made in order to refine and adjust
implementation strategies that will ensure efficient delivery and performance.
For the Further Education
and Training (FET) phase, which includes Grades 10 to 12, the process Review
and Modernisation (RAM) of certain syllabi is well
under way. It is envisaged that the
revised syllabi, infused with principles of OBE, may be introduced at Grade 10
from January 2001. The following
preparations will be necessary:
·
Necessary
training to Grade 10 teachers;
·
The
provision of appropriate learning support materials, and developing assessment
practices that will support the new learning and teaching approaches; and
An amount of
R2.298 billion has been allocated to our Public Ordinary School Education,
which covers the bulk of our core business.
We all complain about
Grade 12 results, but results are merely the mirror of a particular
school. Dysfunctional schools differ
from functional schools. These schools
are not improving.
The nature and character
of functional schools are the same all over the world. In October 1999, the Chicago Schools Academic
Accountability Council published what they regarded as “what principals do to
improve schools”. Let me share what they
say and please compare this with any school that you know.
The
principals of the improving schools are visionary leaders, careful managers and
good politicians. They are passionate
about their work, and consciously drive improvement. Typically, they are very hands-on leaders who
tend to use a velvet glove instead of an iron first to achieve their
goals. They establish goals and set the
tone for the school. They are smart
managers with limited resources, taskmasters and disciplinarians. They are responsive to a wide range of
interests, from students and their parents to the community, the Faculty, the
Local School Council and the central administration.
Given all
these competing pressures, it is striking to observe their ability to focus,
assess and know what is going on in every room in their building all the
time. For the most part, they move
around a lot, stay in constant communication with teachers, students and others
and spend a lot of time in classrooms.
These schools and their principals literally work overtime to accelerate
growth.
They all have
a can-do-attitude focused on student achievement. They clearly communicate to everyone that
outcomes matter, support is available and progress is monitored.
At present, planning is
being done to introduce continuous assessment for all subjects at Grade 12
level. Final preparations will be done
to ensure that we are ready to implement continuous assessment for Grade 12
certification from 2001. The continuous
assessment already in operation for the other FET grades will have to be
brought in line with the Grade 12 system and proper systems for monitoring CASS
and moderating the marks at all levels will be established.
The restructuring of the
FET landscape is at an advanced stage of planning for implementation. A curriculum framework for the FET phase has
also been developed. These issues are of
vital importance to all FET providers, including technical colleges and schools
offering Grades 10 to 12. Policies in
this regard, as based on the FET Act, will have to be communicated to all
concerned.
Processes to declare FET
institutions, to merge and to close institutions will have to be managed during
the course of 2000. Careful
consideration will be given to the entire transformational exercise, including
the development of norms and standards for the funding of FET institutions.
From a quality assurance
point of view, different new initiatives are under way. A national pilot study on systemic evaluation
in Grade 3 will be done in May, followed by the main study in October/November. This is to be followed by Grade 6 immediately
afterwards.
At the same time,
participation in international surveys aimed at assessing learning achievement
is continued. The findings of previous
surveys will be discussed at the Free State Provincial Workshop on Quality Assurance
planned for the 3rd and 4th of May 2000.
A Free State Quality
Assurance Unit was established in March 2000.
One of their tasks will be to assist schools in developmental planning
for quality assurance and facilitation skills.
This activity forms part of the District Development Programme. In this regard we thank the National
Department for facilitating the availability of the Education Policy
Development.
Another quality assurance
initiative is the development of instruments to be used for whole school
reviews and monitoring during the course of this year. A provincial supervising unit will be
established for the purpose of school reviews and monitoring during the course
of this year. Such a unit will eventually
issue school profiles/school report cards that could be used by the Head of
Education, the National Minister and myself for
reporting on the performance of learning sites.
In general, the
improvement of standards and quality of teaching and learning in the province
is a high priority. Apart from the
improvement of professional support to educators I have talked about, mechanisms have also been put in place for classroom
monitoring by School Management Teams (SMTs). The Department is currently working on a
policy that will make learners’ attendance a prerequisite for writing the
examination. This will come into effect
by the beginning of 2001.
What this means is that
it will be a requirement for learners to be at school for a certain period of a
school day before they are allowed to write exams. However, if they are not at school for that
period, they will not be allowed to write examinations.
For a relatively young
nation with a new Constitution, the popularisation of
both the National Anthem and Flag is of crucial importance. Henceforth, all Grade 1 learners must have
been taught both before the end of the first term. This should be achieved through appropriate
learning and teaching activities. This
will have to be embarked on as a serious campaign.
Hon Members, ladies and
gentlemen, the school must show the true scale of an integrated man or woman,
conscious of mankind’s conquest and victories.
The schools should awaken talent, pride, intellectual curiosity,
inventiveness and a clear approach to research and debate. I believe that patriotism and national pride
must be nurtured, hence the importance of our National Anthem, symbols and
history. Schools must be the proud
torchbearers of these, if we are to succeed as a nation.
The National Early
Childhood Development (ECD) Pilot Project with a budget of R2.6 million will be
continued until 2001. The accredited
training of practitioners from the pilot sites has taken shape and is to the
benefit of all concerned. The training organisations involved are remunerated as per contract and
the pilot sites receive their subsidies on a regular basis. A national report on the pilot project
nationwide has been compiled. Following
this Report, it is expected that the National Minister will announce the future
policy for the provision of Grade R’s shortly.
My Department will be
guided by this Policy pertaining to the introduction of Grade R. The
The
Flemish-supported Free State Materials Development Project, to the value of R3
million, reached its termination of three years at the end of 1999. This project has made a major impact on
various facets of curriculum implementation, materials development and human
resources development over the past three years.
Another Flemish project,
aimed at capacity building of six schools in the Reitz District on the one hand
and training selected learning facilitators for specific roles and
responsibilities in their field on the other, is to commence in April
2000. The Director: Education Institute, Mr
Rakometsi, visited
The overwhelming response
that we received from the business sector, who will
join us in an attempt to improve our education, is a demonstration of the true
depth of patriotism of all stakeholders.
Various companies have agreed to sponsor different categories of our
Free State Education Awards on an annual basis.
These awards started in 1998 and will continue to be held annually to
celebrate excellence and to reward good practice in education. Without the participation of the business
sector, this year’s awards, scheduled for the end of March, and indeed the
whole concept, would not be possible.
I am also happy to
announce that Mr Bahlakwana
Mosala, a renowned educationist, who went on
retirement this year, has agreed to voluntarily chair the Free State Education
Awards Panel. He has already been joined
by Prof. Niel van Loggerenberg,
Mr Khetsi and Ms Ursula Sookdin, who are all renowned educationists and who believe
that their experience can best serve their country. I would like to use this opportunity to
congratulate and thank them for the good example they are setting regarding
voluntarism.
I will not be
over-exaggerating when I say that our Department enjoys very good relations
with various non-governmental organisations. These partnerships range from school
building, capacitation and training of educators, to
the training of departmental officials and direct funding. We have to build on this and consolidate our
efforts to make education everybody’s business.
Allow me to take this
opportunity to thank the Free State Agricultural Union for their assistance to
ensure that agreements between private land owners and the Department regarding
farm schools, are signed. We also wish to thank the 388 farm owners who
have already concluded contracts with us and wish to appeal to the 1446
remaining ones to conclude the agreements with us before the end of May
2000. The education of our people on
farms remains the top priority of our Government, not only because farm workers
are often the poorest section of our communities, but also because education is
everybody’s right.
It will be unfortunate if
by the end of May this year, these farmers have not concluded these agreements
with us. The Department will be left
with no choice but to close schools on these farms.
When the former education
departments amalgamated in 1994, their respective records lists indicated that
there was a need for 165 new schools in the
Six new schools are
presently under construction. An amount
of R4 million has been set aside for the day-to-day maintenance of schools and
an amount of R4 million has been budgeted for the completion of pre-fabricated
classrooms in the rural areas. An amount
of R6 million has been set aside for the renovation of schools
Due to financial
constraints and the fact that communities must take ownership of their schools
and utilise their schools’ facilities as community centres, the Department will conduct a careful study to
determine the role of learners and the community before it repairs any school
that has been vandalised. Out of R9 million savings obtained from the
salaries of teachers and officials who were absent from official duties without
the necessary authority and those who participated in strikes last year, an
amount of R5 million will be used to renovate schools. We will also provide for schools with
shortages of water, electricity and sewerage facilities. I thank those teachers. [Applause] The Department of Education wishes to express
its gratitude to the Free State School Building Trust for their continuous partnership
in the building of new schools.
The Department of
Education, in consultation with the Departments of Public Works, Roads and
Transport, and Finance, are discussing the possible restructuring of the
execution of school capital projects.
Hereby, all school capital projects will become the responsibility of
the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, while the Department of
Education will be responsible for all minor works at schools.
I hope that this process
will not result in school building programmes being
relegated to the lowest priority. I will
urge the hon MEC for Finance, Expenditure and
Economic Affairs to ring-fence all funds aimed at school building to enable me
to perform my task as per the requirements of the South African School
Acts. We should not buy brandy and Coke
for traffic officers. [Laughter]
An amount of R94 million
has been budgeted for the provision of textbooks and stationary to schools for
the 2001 academic year. To avoid the
problem of the late delivery of learning support material to schools, the
different components in the Department responsible for this task, have drawn up
an action plan whereby orders for learning support material will be placed in
June 2000. Publishers will then be given
three months to deliver the learning support material for the schools from
October to November 2000.
The partnership of the
past three years between the Departments of Education and Welfare proves to be
successful not only in terms of the economic upliftment
of communities in the rural areas, but also in terms of the total management of
the partnership by the officials of the two Departments. The Department of
Welfare involves unemployed people mainly from rural areas, to undertake the
packing of stationery and textbooks before it is distributed to schools.
The scourge of HIV/AIDS
is a big problem to us in Education. We
have a responsibility, through our educators and learners, to spread the
message of safe sexual behaviour. As a Department we have allocated R1 million
to the implementation of an HIV/AIDS programme. Key features of this programme
will be workplace advocacy as well as prevention. We will be distributing guidelines to all
principals and educators as a means towards ensuring that HIV/AIDS awareness is
part and parcel of our everyday life.
The Department will be integrating HIV/AIDS education within our formal
curriculum as well as improving our overall life skills programme
towards HIV/AIDS.
My Department is busy
drafting the policy and structure that will deliver the services of inclusive
education in the entire Province. This
does not mean that the specialised schools will be
closed or phased out as there are serious and profound barriers to learning
that need such specialised education institutions.
Inclusion means that
learners’ needs for education will be catered for in the schools and teachers
will be trained to teach all learners irrespective of their barriers to
learning. This has socio-economic
implications in that travelling expenses, stigmatisation of learners as abnormal and segregation of
learners because of their particular conditions will be removed and parents’
involvement will be increased.
In order to address the
psychological, emotional, behavioural and
intellectual problems of learners more effectively, the Free State Education
Department has made ten bursaries available for educators who want to study
Psychology at a Master’s Degree level.
Nine bursaries have been made available for those studying Speech
Therapy and Audiology and who can make their services
available to disadvantaged learners this year.
I hope the hon Member, Mr
Komphela, will appreciate that.
We wish to point out that
the Department of Education has declared zero tolerance towards corruption and
irregularities with the same vigour that we are
taking on our other challenges. We had
cases of forged results involving educators.
Two have already been charged with criminal offences, and many more will
follow. Sixty-eight cases of misconduct
were finalised between 1 January to
We are serious in turning
education around and we will definitely not tolerate a lack of discipline among
learners, teachers and officials. We
will not tolerate a lack of commitment, neither will
we tolerate lack-lustre performance. Our message is clear: If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the
kitchen. In addition to that, there are
certain practices that we will not tolerate:
There is no place in schools for tribalism, regionalism or racism. Education is not merely teaching the
curriculum, however important this is, it is also
about molding and teaching the child in totality.
Our Human Development
Strategy is unfolding in a very satisfactory manner. The number of excess educators has been
reduced from 1554 to 574 in 1999.
Employment of educators has been reduced from 25 415 in 1999 to 23 945
in 2000. This is in line with reducing
our personnel and non-personnel expenditure split to 85% - 15% by 2001/2002.
The filling of all vacant
posts from school level to head office level remains our top priority for this
year. We intend to ensure that our HR
strategy is even more successful by implementing policies as prescribed in the
New Public Service Regulations, especially with regard to recruitment,
selection and appointments of candidates in the public service.
A training unit will be
established during the course of this year in order to plan and manage training
in the Department. We will also be
implementing the Performance Management and Development System in the
Department. Both programmes
need substantial amounts of money.
However, we are confident of success.
We intend to complete the
process of redeployment by 30 June 2000 and to further ensure that all new
misconduct cases are dealt with within 2 and a half months.
The Department will also
be devolving certain powers to principals so that they are empowered to deal
with matters of discipline where they occur.
It is our view that discipline must be detached from the Employment of
Educators Act 76 of 1998 and annexed as a schedule to be incorporated to the
new Act. This will run concurrently with
the spelling out of clear regulatory guidelines for strikes and other
industrial action.
The provincial budget
allocation of R2 726 880 000 for the 1999/2000 financial year allowed the
Department to have a split of 89.1% for personnel expenditure and 10.9% for
non-personnel expenditure. The
Department managed to remain within its budget allocation. Thank you, MEC for Finance, Expenditure and
Economical Affairs.
The Department has
committed itself to a ratio of 87% of the total budget allocation for personnel
expenditure and 13% for non-personnel expenditure in the 2000/2001 financial
year.
We have already started
with the implementation of the national norms and standards for school funding
which were published in the Government Gazette No. 19347, dated 12
October 1998 and which came into effect from 1 January 2000. The preamble to the South African Schools
Act, 1996, states that:
Whereas this
country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past
injustices in educational provisioning, provide an education of progressively
high quality for all learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the
development of all our peoples’ talents and capabilities.
With the implementation
of the national norms and standards for school funding, each school received a
budget allocation. Schools were targeted
on the basis of need; therefore the allocations may favour
the poorer segments of our population.
The names of 180 schools
to be allocated the section 21 functions of the South African Schools Act,
1996, have been published in the Provincial
Gazette. The Governing Bodies of the
rest of the schools will be capacitated in phases in order to ensure that all
schools are capable to manage their own funds in the end. School governing bodies must develop a
culture of the payment of school fees and community involvement to assist
schools must be encouraged.
A head count of all
college/school educators was successfully conducted during August 1999. From this head count, a total of 1 811 cases
are currently under investigation. I wish
to thank the Deputy Director: Financial
Management, Mr Mohoje, the
Finance Staff and PriceWaterhouseCoopers for their
hard work.
One of the daunting
challenges faced by this Department is to deal with perceptions, which have
been entrenched over the years. One such
perception is the fact that teacher training colleges only caters for
university dropouts or those whose symbols do not allow them to enroll at a
university - that they are alternative fallbacks. This perception is so real that even the majority
of students who enroll at these colleges are very mediocre and
halfhearted. The result of this can be
predicted. An average teacher will
produce an average learner.
While we are a nation
obsessed with Grade 12 results, we as a nation have to ensure that our teacher
training colleges produce the best. One
only has to glance through the performance of these colleges to understand why
Grade 12 results are what they are. We
must insist on value for our money. The
R65.619 million that we are allocating to teacher colleges and the R103.888 million
that we are allocating to technical colleges, must translate itself into a
visible commitment by all stakeholders to change the output of our FET band in
a sustainable manner.
The transformation of
further education therefore becomes imperative.
This has to happen within the framework of the Provincial Further
Education and Training Act and regulations, which we are in a process of finalising.
In line with the National
directive to rationalise Colleges of Education, three
colleges of education have been identified for incorporation into the higher
education sector. They are:
·
Tshiya College of Education
into the University of the North’s Qwaqwa Campus;
·
Thaba’Nchu
·
Four Colleges of
Education, Mphohadi, Sefikeng,
Bonamelo and Kagisanong,
who were identified for FET, are phasing out Teacher Education Programmes and are phasing in FET programmes.
Our priority for this
year is to work hard to improve the pass rate at all colleges as well as
sustain all our out-of-school youth projects at all technical colleges and
satellites.
Our task is not only to
educate the youth, but to contribute towards youth development in a sustainable
manner. Youth development is not an
accident perched precariously within the RDP.
It is a central part of the programme to
address the social and national grievances of our people and to equip the
younger generation for their historic revolutionary role at the helm of the
pursuit of the African Renaissance.
We are confident that the
intervention programmes we have in place, and our
five-year strategic plan which is anchored in political, social, economic and
institutional transformation, will make an indelible impact on education in our
country. Section 29 of our Constitution
[Act 108/1996] places a compelling duty on the Government to respect, protect,
promote and fulfil everyone’s right to a basic
education, including adult basic education, and to take reasonable measures to
make further education progressively available and accessible.
The Department strives
for a functionally literate and numerate
This commitment is
demonstrated by a 100% increase towards our non-formal education. Most of the R46.550 million allocated towards
this progamme will go towards Adult Education and
Training in order to address the problem of illiteracy among adults.
In the execution of our
duty, we recognise the vital value of a fully
functional education and training system for the health and prosperity of the
nation. We are driven by the urgent need
to remedy the injustices and assaults on human dignity, embodied in our
inheritance of education deprivation. We
are further inspired by the conviction that our people can mobilise
untapped reserves of resourcefulness and determination to extend education
opportunities and restore education to the centre of community life.
We are turning our
education around. We are prepared to
work with committed managers within the Department. We will recognise
good practice within our School Management Teams. We will reward excellence among our educators
and learners.
I wish to take this
opportunity to thank, among others, the Provincial Education and Training
Council, the Oversight Committee on COLTS (Culture of Learning and Teaching in
Service), as well as the Panel for the Education Awards. These are distinguished men and women who
sacrifice their time, energy and resources in the true service of Free State
Education.
I also wish to thank the
NGOs and business groups through whose partnership we are making great strides
in reducing our backlogs.
Hon Speaker and hon Members of this House, ladies and gentlemen, I would
not be standing here to address you if it were not for hardworking teachers at
functional schools, committed members of the SGBs and
my management at Head Office and district offices. They, despite the barrage of criticism and
grievances, continue to labour with commitment and
hard work, because they know that the fruits of their labour
will only be realised in 12 to 20 years from
now. For their commitment and hard work,
I thank them through the Head of the Department and the Chief Directors.
I will be failing in my
duty if I do not acknowledge the support of our esteemed hon
Premier to my Department and education in this Province.
Let me conclude by
calling on all other stakeholders, in this year of the dawn of the African
Century, to march along with us in the realisation of
the African Renaissance through education and training. You are very lucky that you are not
speaking. [Applause]
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