D Peters: Opening of Riverside Senior Phase School

23 February 2006

MEC for Education, Mr Gomolemo Archie Lucas
Honourable Mayor Gallant and Councillors
Chairperson and Members of the School Governing Body Principal
Teachers
Parents
Learners

It is always a pleasure to be part of the celebration of positive
achievements.
It is even more pleasing when the achievements emerge from partnerships between
government and the people.

The building of this school is as a result of our legacy from the past, from
which we inherited overcrowded and poorly built and resourced schools. But our
teachers have shown commitment to learners and our communities by continuing to
offer schooling under those terrible conditions.

Working effectively in spite of such shortages is probably the single most
important lesson that you could demonstrate for your learners. Remember,
success attracts resources. Everyone wants to be associated with success. It is
much easier to motivate for more resources where something is being achieved
against all odds, than it is to find resources for people who explain apathy
and poor performance as lack of resources. I am hopeful that in the not too
distant future, we will arrive at a point when all children, across our entire
province, will have access to proper school facilities.

It is my hope that we will continue to have celebrations like this one in
many other areas of our province, especially in the rural and remote ones. We
are with today's opening of this school, celebrating the gradual elimination of
schools under trees, schools in dangerous and unsafe structures and schools
without toilets and water. The building of this new school serves as a
demonstration of government's commitment to provide quality education for all
our children.

Today we have come to open a brand new school, comprising 20 classrooms, an
administration block and two ablutions blocks. Ladies and gentlemen, quality
education has several important implications for teachers who are dedicated to
serving our people and teaching our children. Teachers who know that quality
means being able to read, write and count; teachers committed to encouraging
learners to love science and maths, to love learning, to love working for
success.

Quality education also means ensuring that the school has the appropriate
facilities and resources to support learning through making textbooks, a
library, a laboratory and e-learning facilities available. Of course, the
existence of these resources requires the community to lend a hand in
protecting these resources, in ensuring criminals do not steal our children's
opportunity for learning.

This school, Riverside Senior Phase, promises to be a home from home to 800
learners, ranging from grade seven to grade nine, and 23 educators. It has
space for expansion as this is only the first phase and we are optimistic that
the second phase of the school will be completed in the near future. The
building of this school, at a cost of R5.5 million which offered employment
opportunities to about 55 people, is in line with our commitment to create work
and fight poverty.

Today's official opening of Riverside Senior Phase School is a pledge
redeemed, a promise fulfilled and a dream come true for many of us, especially
those who were present when we made the commitment at the sod turning ceremony
in April last year.

Programme Director,

The opening of this school could not have come at a more opportune moment
than this year, as we celebrate a number of milestones in the short history of
our democracy. This year we will be celebrating ten years of our Constitution,
which was adopted in 1996 and guarantees everyone a right to education,
including adult education.

This year we will be celebrating 50 years of that famous march to the Union
Buildings in Pretoria by our mothers and grandmothers in defiance of
apartheid.

We will also be celebrating and commemorating the 30th Anniversary of June
1976, when hundreds of our young people took to the streets in protest against
an inferior type of education, that sought to relegate them to second class
citizens in the land of their birth.

So, the people and especially the children of Douglas, have every reason to
celebrate today. Our freedom came about as a result of the resilience, courage,
and commitment of our people. Many of our people were prepared to risk
everything they had, including their lives. I urge you as the community,
learners and teachers of Riverside Senior Phase School, to cherish this school
as a resource that will improve the lives of the people in this area.

I look forward to a time when this school will be regarded as a model of a
school that is a centre of community life, serving to foster development in
this area. I must emphasise to the parents and the community that your
involvement in the school is very important. You need to take collective
ownership of this school and protect it from being vandalised. You have to
ensure that no burglary ever takes place at this school or at any other school
or public institution for that matter.

Some of the pupils here today will write the national senior certificate in
2008. The new certificate, which has been widely welcomed, will be the final
nail in the coffin of the old apartheid education system. The school will
produce entrepreneurs and leaders who will no doubt make the people of this
area as well as our province, proud.

We are also confident that this school will assist in preparing young people
for our inclusive democracy. Young people must learn to be responsible members
of society through what they are taught at school and through their experience
of education.

We must ensure that our education teaches positive values to our children,
so that they develop a common set of values in which they learn the power of
respect, respect for teachers, for peers, and particularly respect for girls
and women. Ladies and gentlemen, remember that education is the key to the
future. There is a bright, prosperous and peaceful future, but there is also a
gloomy and bleak future. Let us adults and leaders, through the education that
we give to our children and the example that we set to them, help them to make
the correct choices in life.

Finally, we would like to wish you, the boys and girls for whom this school
is built, the best of luck and a fulfilling learning experience in this
wonderful school. We encourage you to hold hands with your teachers to make the
best out of what this school has to offer. We hope you will value the
opportunities that the school is able to provide, and as you move on in life,
you can look back with pride and fond memories of your days at Riverside Senior
Phase School.

It is now my privilege, to declare Riverside Senior Phase School officially
open. May this school be an incubator to many great men and women.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
3 March 2006