In his 2020 State of the Nation Address President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed education.
The most significant contribution government can make to inclusive economic growth is in the development of appropriate skills and capabilities.
The investments government make now in Early Child Development and early school learning will yield great economic benefits in the next two decades and beyond.
There are immediate interventions that government is making to improve the quality and relevance of educational outcomes. It is making progress with the introduction of the three-stream curriculum model, heralding a fundamental shift in focus towards more vocational and technical education.
Various technical vocational specialisations have already been introduced in 550 schools and 67 schools are now piloting the occupational stream.
Government is building nine new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges this year in Sterkspruit, Aliwal North, Graaff-Reinet and Ngungqushe in the Eastern Cape, and in Umzimkhulu, Greytown, Msinga, Nongoma and Kwagqikazi in KwaZulu-Natal.
Through bilateral student scholarship agreements signed with other countries, government is steadily building a substantial cohort of young people who go overseas each year for training in critical skills.
The Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Medical Training Programme in Cuba has produced over 1 200 medical doctors and a further 640 students are expected to graduate in December 2020.
The process of distributing tablet computers to school students is underway. Early reading programmes are gathering momentum to ensure every 10-year-old is able to read for meaning.
In 2020, government will be introducing coding and robotics in grades R to 3 in 200 schools, with a plan to implement it fully by 2022.
Government has decided to establish a new University of Science and Innovation in Ekurhuleni, the only metro in the country that does not have a university.
This will enable young people in that metro to be trained in high-impact and cutting-edge technological innovation for current and future industries.
Documents
- Department of Basic Education Annual Report 2016/17, 26 Sep 2017
- Department of Higher Education and Training Annual Report 2016/2017, 28 Aug 2017
- Statistics on Post School Education and Traning 2015, 31 March 2017
- General Household Survey2015 (GHS:2015), 2 June 2016
- The Action Plan to 2019: Towards the realisation of Schooling 2030, March 2015
- Education statistics in South Africa 2013, March 2015
- SA Yearbook 2015/16, chapter on Education
- White Paper for Post-School Education and Training: Building on Expanded, Effective and Integrated Post-School Education [PDF], 15 January 2014
- General Household Survey (GHS) 2011: Focus on schooling, 26 June 2013
- Mid Term Review Report, 1 June 2012
- National Development Plan, 11 November 2011
- National Skills Accord [PDF], 21 July 2011
- Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development [PDF], 5 April 2011
- Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa 2010-2030 [PDF], 22 February 2010
