CEO of GCIS, Mr Jimmy Manyi,
Esteemed SMS members,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Introduction
Mr Manyi, thank you for choosing basic education for interrogation by public sector managers as we round-up our 2012 focus month whose key highlight was the announcement of an improved Grade 12 pass rate – 70,2%.
You’ve brought education under the spotlight of this critical forum 18 years into democracy, with our people contending still with the dehumanising legacy and burden of grinding poverty, unemployment and gross inequalities.
It is always imperative to engage constructively in dialogue with these loyal servants of the people on matters of national importance, such as basic education. Service delivery or lack thereof, is in your hands. Thank you for working for the people.
This dialogical platform which is, in the final analysis, intended to unblock bottlenecks in the public sector value chain affords us a unique opportunity to articulate progress made in the basic education sector.
In the true nature and character of the Public Sector Managers Forum, this moment allows for reflection on challenges and priorities, in a comradely spirit, among servants of the people, who suffer with the people and fight at their side, in the tradition of Paulo Freire, one of the world’s leading revolutionary educationists (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1993).
My Ministry and Department of Basic Education (DBE) are particularly humbled by the considerable support afforded to the education sector by Government Communications and Information System (GCIS), broader public sector, and the whole of society.
By word and deed, indeed you have shown that education is a basic right worthy of our defence and sacrifice. It derives such legal status from the Constitution of the Republic (1996: Section 29) which states categorically that:
“Everyone has the right (a) to a basic education; (b) to further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible.”
It is a singular honour therefore to participate in this educational experience.
Progress
Since the dawn of democracy we have given education undivided attention. This can be seen, among other things, from our budget allocations and consistent efforts to make education a societal issue calling for active participation of all citizens. This we have done precisely because we perceive it as a liberating tool for building a new world of critical thinkers who value progress, freedom, justice and peace.
Guided by a new strategy for improving quality, we have made huge strides in the schooling sector – Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. We are on course to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals. We have achieved growth in Grade R enrolment which more than doubled between 2003 and 2011. No less than 83% of 5 year olds are enrolled as learners in educational institutions. As mandated by the ruling party, early childhood development is prioritised, for a solid educational foundation.
More young people have completed Grade 9, from 80% in 2003 to 88% in 2010. Studies show many learners are accessing basic education and completing Grade 12. The number of 20 year olds with Grade 12 has increased from 28% to 35% between 2003 and 2010. As we speak, more candidates qualify for access to degree programmes, from 109 697 in 2008 and 107 274 in 2009 to 126 371 in 2010 and 120 767 in 2011.
We are ready to extend the national workbook programme we rolled-out in 2011 in Grades 1 to 6 to Grades 7, 8 and 9 this year. The roll-out of the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) in 2012 in Grades 1-3 and Grade 10 constitutes a major step towards improving the curriculum. Our social mobilisation interventions have been consolidated with partner departments and through the Accord on Basic Education and the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign.
We have launched, in April 2011, the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development, a product of the 2009 Teacher Development Summit. School sport is gathering momentum. A draft school sport policy was released for public comment in December 2011. Social protection of vulnerable learners is also of uppermost importance for the Department.
Achievements in educator and learner wellbeing include the National School Nutrition Programme and health screening of about 150 000 learners. More than 9000 schools are already linked to police stations as part of our safety interventions.
Through the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative we are poised to fast-track provision of school infrastructure to eliminate backlogs and deliver on basic school functionality targets during the 2010-2014 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
Challenges
Our major challenge is improving efficiency and fast-tracking delivery of quality education as a national priority. You would know that most of the criticism we attracted this year evolved around the quality of passes we produced with serious questions raised around readiness of matriculants to venture further into education and the workplace or into other avenues.
An analysis of 2011 Annual National Assessment (ANA) results revealed the extent of learner performance deficits in the system. It did not negate but affirmed findings of other studies, including Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). Through ANA we know the problems and are ready to tackle them.
Classroom-based research underlined curriculum coverage as a serious problem – linked largely to teacher knowledge, commitment, accountability and other factors.
Language is another challenge. In 2009, about 16% of learners did English as a subject in the Foundation Phase when the language of learning and teaching in Grade 4 is mainly English. This implies Foundation Phase learners are ill-prepared for their learning experience in Grade 4.
We need a speedy resolution to serious challenges of capacity that gave rise inevitably to the Section 100 1(b) intervention in the Eastern Cape. The same now goes for Limpopo.
Our overall aim, with the support of the public sector, remains helping these provinces under Section 100 1(b) to create an enabling environment conducive for efficient and effective delivery of educational services. We are deeply worried about grave matters of temporary teachers, books and infrastructure.
Priorities
In response to current challenges, we have agreed, as a sector, on a set of priorities and interventions, some of which we have announced during our Budget Vote Debate. From the school analysis of the 2011 exams, we concluded it is essential to make the school environment more conducive for learning.
Eradication of inequalities is an important priority across government, even in education. As a sector, our focus is now on an integrated planning process to better align strategies and plans. This will assist in achieving targets set out in the Action Plan and in the Delivery Agreement for Outcome 1 – Improved quality of basic education.
Guided by the Action Plan, initiatives for improving quality will continue as we implement the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS); ensure proper use of workbooks; improve quality and availability of Learning Teaching Support Materials (LTSM); intensify teacher development; and introduce targeted interventions, mainly in underperforming schools. For 2012, we have set the bar higher for provinces. All districts and schools are expected to perform, at the very least, at the national average of 70%.
I’m tempted to announce the target for the Class of 2012 – a national pass rate of 75% or more. This I must qualify. Much as we encourage interest in matric results, the overall concern has got to be more on what happens in the entire system. The centrality of the Annual National Assessments to our quality improvement plans should be understood within this context.
Using the ANA as a diagnostic tool, we want to mobilise parents and School Governing Bodies to understand how and why their children perform in all levels of the schooling system, from Grade 1 up to Grade 12. It is for this reason that when we up-scaled these important assessments in 2011, we made it mandatory for schools to provide reports of learners to parents. In this way, each parent would be enabled to appraise the child’s performance and intervene as necessary.
Public servants would enrich our efforts were they to conscientise the people, wherever they are, about the critical role of ANA in the system. They are quite huge and thus we have administered them to 6 million learners in 2011 – a scale much higher than matric exams.
We have mobilized teams to assist underperforming districts. These teams will go to the 15 districts that performed under 60% – 11 in the Eastern Cape, 1 each in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape. Out of this process, we want credible plans to improve learner outcomes.
Working with provinces, and the DBE-based Planning & Delivery Oversight Unit, we will build the necessary capacity and support at district and provincial levels. Education MECs have all extended unqualified support in this regard.
Untenable it is to have districts like Mount Frere which we visited on 25 and 26 January (2012). This District is housed in four separate buildings and assailed by a chronic shortage of subject advisors, school infrastructure and furniture.
We will ensure principals appreciate fully the fact that their first role is curriculum leadership. Processes are apace at the Education Labour Relations Council for the evaluation of principals and deputy principals. At the end of which, they will be required to sign performance agreements. Our interventions will include a national literacy and numeracy strategy.
We have a strategy which we will vigorously implement from 2012 to improve the pass rate and the quality of Mathematics and Physical Science – the National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education.
We will focus also on: improving participation and performance of girl learners; helping schools improve learners’ subject choices; ensuring correct placement of teachers; and focusing teacher development efforts on subject and pedagogical content knowledge.
A vital pillar of our strategy is working with partners, including those in the private sector, higher education, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), traditional leadership, inter-faith organizations and broader society. Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has recently attested that:
“The transformation of our education system not only requires dedication from our teachers and their adherence to the non-negotiables which include being in class and teaching on time, but also the involvement of broader society, including parents, school governing bodies, the business sector and government” (COSATU Press Release, 23 January 2012).
We will continue mitigating the impact of poverty in schools through pro-poor interventions like the School Nutrition Programme and no-fee schools policy, advocating for safe scholar transport, health screening and fighting HIV and AIDS.
We will attend to structural issues impacting on performance in the sector such as compensation of employees and teacher supply and utilisation.
I trust that this Public Sector Managers Forum will help broaden understanding on progress made by the basic education sector and help contextualise our policies, plans, priorities and problems. This Forum, as well as the Public Sector Manager magazine, are quite crucial for accelerating service delivery.
With an effective and efficient public service alive to the needs of the people, the goal of delivering an improved quality of basic education is indeed within reach.
The African National Congress (ANC) centenary is celebrated precisely because the ANC’s raison d’être was premised on ubuntu and selflessness – sacred values we expect to see in every public servant. This is possible to the degree that as senior civil servants you lead by example and discharge your duties as duly expected.
Conclusion
Lastly, when we took over government in 1994, we said the old public service lacked a change-orientated vision and was characterised by poor productivity and inferior service delivery particularly for the African people. We committed to Batho Pele in negation of discrimination and unequal provision of public services and iniquitous distribution of resources.
Better to celebrate 18 years of democracy, if we build an effective public service, as responsible and responsive servants of the people, if we put our people first, if we work together to give our people “a truly liberating education”, we can create a better life for all and deliver “a world in which it will be easier to (live and) love” (Freire, 1993: 22).
I thank you!
