Chairperson,
Esteemed delegates
Distinguished guests
Comrades and compatriots,
It is an honour to stand before this august gathering of great minds from all parts of the world. The high morale of delegates to the sixth World Congress of Education International (EI) gives me hope for better education and a better world.
I believe I speak for all of us when I say we would like to live in a world that values education for all. It has to be this commitment that underlies the choice of the apt theme of the Congress – "Building the future through quality education".
Thank you for bringing the sixth EI World Congress to South Africa. Once more, we meet on African soil.
Education International held its first ever congress in these parts in Zimbabwe, 16 years ago, in 1995.
Then we were only one year into democracy with apartheid education hanging like a noose around our necks. The sixth EI Congress has now returned with a clarion call for quality in education as echoed by the congress’ theme.
The theme brings to mind a world-renowned psychologist, Carl Jung. The Swiss psychologist captured remarkably the fundamental role of teachers in the project of “building the future through quality education”. Carl Jung said, and I quote: “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”
Teachers are the main pillars of a sound and progressive society. Truth be told, they are the ones who pass on knowledge, skills and values to the children. They prepare the young for further education and further roles in society.
Carl Jung is spot-on when he says metaphorically that children are deeply “touched” by the care, character, competence and moral commitment of teachers.
The poet Khalil Gibran took this reality to another level when he said: “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”
I am particularly moved by EI’s mobilisation of teacher unions from over 160 countries. We applaud your commitment to the teachers’ right to teach and the learners’ right to learn.
Quality is vital. We can either take the road to quality teaching and learning or face a bleak future. Unions have a critical role to play in improving quality. On this, I believe, we all agree.
Many are worried about the children’s future. Rightly so. That’s why governments are duty-bound to provide all teachers with favourable working conditions, not only in terms of salaries. Necessarily, and as you like it, these should encompass class size, professional support and teacher development.
Your misgivings around conditions of service are legitimate. Progress varies per country. It is clear to me that a joint commitment by governments, schools, teacher unions and communities is required. Nobody must shirk responsibility.
South Africa has a rich history of teacher unionism dating back to the 1900s. Over the years, the character of teacher unions has altered considerably, reflecting a transforming landscape. This is an important component of the legacy we’re celebrating as part of the African National Congress (ANC) 100 years of selfless struggle.
Teacher-and-state relations have greatly improved. Unions enjoy better relations with government than they did under apartheid. But don’t get me wrong. We have our own fights!
Our battles we must wage with no bloodshed on the classroom floor. Remember, our children can learn and live only once. Our actions should not constitute a travesty of justice. That is not the way for growing “the soul of the child.”
Our teachers enjoy representation in joint policy-making forums, such as the Education Labour Relations Council, the South African Council for Educators and the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council.
Teacher unions in our country have come of age. It remains to be seen whether they can build on the post-1994 gains and contribute further to building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society. Teacher unions must continue motivating teachers to be on time for their tasks, to teach at least 7 hours a day, and to promote quality education.
There’s a proverb that says one who dares to teach must never cease to learn. Accordingly, this year we launched a Framework for Teacher Education and Development.
Its focus is on targeted, subject-specific teacher education and development that must improve teacher content knowledge. We’ve improved conditions of service through an occupation specific dispensation. We recognise and reward teacher achievement through, among others, annual teachers’ awards.
South Africa is striving to attract young people to teaching through, inter alia, Funza Lushaka Bursary. These bursaries increased from 5 447 in 2008 to 10 112 in 2010. We want teaching to become a profession of first choice, not a last resort.
Teacher unions have a critical role to play in restoring teacher professionalism. Unions must involve teachers in activities geared to restore the culture of learning and teaching.
Through collective work with communities and teacher unions, progress has been made towards a free public education system. But more needs to done to open the doors of learning.
Allow me to only list some of these great strides. They include:
- The transformation of the schooling system from its apartheid past, in line with the South Africa Schools Act of 1996;
- The development of a long-term strategy – Action Plan to 2014: Towards the realisation of schooling 2025;
- The participation rate of children aged four and five in early childhood development has now reached 70%;
- Development of Annual National Assessments into a credible system that will make all accountable for achieving standards;
- Through the Kha Ri Gude Adult Mass Literacy Campaign, one of our most successful mass campaigns, we have produced 650 000 literate adults in just two years;
- Access to primary and secondary schooling has reached near universal enrolment, the highest being that of girls;
- In 2009, South Africa had 12 313 899 learners in 27 461 public and independent schools taught by 365 447 educators. In comparison with 1999, there were 85 937 more learners in school, taught by 47 620 more teachers;
- Our school nutrition programme has offered meals to over seven million learners in more than 20 000 schools.
- We’re on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015.
The major challenge we have is in the area of improving quality. We’ve placed a high premium on improving literacy and numeracy skills.
I would like to thank Education International and South Africa’s main teacher unions – South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) and South African Teachers' Union (SAOU) – for the excellent hosting of the sixth EI World Congress and wish all delegates success and fruitful discussions.
My message to you is that teachers are at the epicentre of the education universe. That’s why it’s a pleasure to address you during Mandela Month, for Madiba loves education and expects the same of us.
The questions we must ask ourselves are the following:
Are teachers conscious of the immense responsibility accruing from the role of being the epicentre of the education universe?
And if so, do they have the will, the courage and the capacity to rise to this historical task imposed on them by daunting challenges of education for the 21st Century?
These I believe to be among the fundamental questions this Congress must answer particularly when you have chosen Africa as a venue. Many are now coming to terms with Africa’s gradual recovery and prospects for economic growth.
What we do today, and for the entire duration of the sixth World Congress, must demonstrate the level of seriousness in dealing with developmental challenges facing regions like ours hitherto subjected to social and economic inequality.
Obviously, we want African solutions for Africa’s problems. We know, Africa is not an island. It operates in a global village. And so, contributions from the rest of the world in driving the developmental agenda are most welcome.
“Building the future through quality education” is one fundamental way towards a better Africa and a better world.
“All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare's As You Like It). That much we know. We all must play the part expected of us on the world stage of education. We cannot just go through the motions helplessly and with neither purpose nor impact.
If we do, we would have taken future generations back into the Dark Ages where men turned against progress, and like philistines, set fire on books.
Before we enter the “last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history”, equity, redress, quality, efficiency and access, we must give to all children.
Our tasks we must execute like a “soldier full of strange oaths, jealous in honour, and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth.”
If this fails to explain why teachers join unions, and why 1 600 of their representatives are in Cape Town, then I do not know why we need a massive EI with presence in over 160 countries.
If teachers “teach”, in the dictionary sense of the root “to teach”, we shouldn’t be here all giving and getting a pep-up talk on the essence of Building the future through quality education.
Similarly, if all parents act responsibly and duly usurp the parental power legally vested in their hands, children would not be “creeping like snail unwilling to school”. They will crave for education, like a toddler for the cookie jar.
If we do these things as our countries expect of us, and do them diligently in the name of sustainable development, we will be spared a regret-ridden life of “mere oblivion.”
Together we can and must give warmth “for the soul of the child”, as Carl Jung expected of us.
I thank you.
Source: Department of Basic Education
