the Tshwane West District (Bojanala) Education Summit
23 May 2007
Programme Director
Our public representatives: MPs, MPLs, MMCs, Councillors
The HOD and members of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) senior
management staff
The principals and School Management Team members
The leadership of the learners in this area
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Dumelang bagaetsho. Re a le amogela ka matsogo a mabedi a bollo mo
Profinsing e ya Gauteng. It is indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to be
probably the first Provincial Member of the Executive Committee to address a
gathering in this newly-acquired area of Gauteng.
We are gathered here to address issues pertaining to education in
particular; a very critical area in the empowerment and development of our
communities. This summit is the last, but by no means the least, of four
regional Education Summits. These regional summits were a sequel to the
Premier's Special Education Summit that took place on the 24 March 2007.
All these summits were convened as a result of the directive of the Premier
of the Gauteng province in his State of the Province Address on 19 February
2007. In that speech the Premier articulated the concerns of all of us about
the sorry state of education in our African communities.
Quote: "It is the African child who learns in overcrowded schools. It is the
African children who have a higher failure rate. It is the township schools
where the African child is based that are dysfunctional. This we must bring to
a complete halt."
We are here today as public representatives, school stakeholders and
role-players and organised civil society to "agree on a programme of action to
improve the quality of education of the African child in our province."
Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of time! We are like a driver who is
fixing a car whilst it is in motion!
Fellow patriots in this area, this Summit is like a baptism of fire for you
because whilst we introduce ourselves to one another there is already a line of
march drawn. There are delivery imperatives that require urgent attention. We
have to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
This very week I have already visited five schools in the Tshwane West
district to get a sense of where we are. I visited Matshediso Primary in
Mabopane Block D and discovered that this particular school needs a lot of
jerking up, particularly in view of its low learner numbers. Next on my list
was Holy Trinity High in Winterveldt. This school can compete favourably with
any school in the province. The enthusiasm of the principal in particular, was
a marvel to watch. We then visited Sekampaneng Primary (Sekampaneng Village)
Tipfuxeni Secondary (Stinkwater) and Makgetse Secondary (Temba) in
Hammanskraal.
These schools presented the following challenges and needs to us:
Human Resources matters: These schools do not have sufficient PS Staff i.e.
security personnel, ground staff (general assistants). Makgetse Secondary in
Temba has no PS staff at all.
Infrastructure: Generally schools need refurbishment/renovation of existing
buildings and even additional buildings, some schools still use pit
toilets.
Curriculum delivery: A need was expressed to provide more support i.e.
materials and training on the new National Curriculum Statements.
Role of the Tshwane City Municipality: A feeling was expressed that the
municipality does not collect refuse regularly. To this end I will communicate
with my colleague, the Executive Mayor, to try to address these issues.
All I can say now is that we have noted these challenges and will address
them in due course. I, however, do not want to convey the impression that these
needs can be satisfied overnight.
We nonetheless commit ourselves as a department to provide as much support
to you as is humanly possible. We would love to induct you into our
institutional culture with its work ethic that is premised on our vision of
delivering quality public education to all our learners. This quality education
should enable our young people to help realise the ideals of Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa and Joint Initiative on Priority
Skills Acquisitions Skills Revolution. The Premier captured this imperative
thus:
"Education and skills development must therefore remain our top priority in
our efforts to reverse inequality and improve the standard of living of our
people."
Fortunately, as I have stated earlier, the Gauteng Department of Education
(GDE) in general and the District Director, Tim Makofane and his team, in
particular, are ready to support you to the best of their abilities. Tim, this
enormous task of carrying our baby district rests on your strong shoulders. We
know that you and your team will be equal to the task. Even as early as now,
the District leadership has a tentative turn around strategy ready for this
district. You, together with your district will find time to fine-tune the
strategy to address your specific needs taking into account the context of your
situation.
All the regional (district) turnaround strategies are informed by our
comprehensive provincial strategy that aims at creating fully functional,
productive and effective schools. To this end we will soon be sending our
quality assurance team with their whole School Evaluation instrument. All these
attempts are geared at providing support to all our schools.
All these attempts at improving the productivity and efficiency of our
institutions will come to naught if there is not commitment on the part of our
school communities. We need commitment from the educators, learners, management
(principal and School Management Teams) and School Governing Bodies Learners
must commit to learn, educators must commit to teach, managers must commit to
manage and governors must commit to govern.
Learners: I want to urge the learner leadership to encourage their
constituencies to take charge of their education. Do not allow yourselves to be
short-changed by educators who do not deliver. You are also expected to apply
yourselves to your work, as the Chinese proverb goes: "The teacher only opens
the door, you enter by yourself." When we announce the matric results at the
end of this year, I want to see learners from this district being amongst the
'Top 100 learners' in the province. You can do it.
To the teachers: Please open the doors of learning to your charges by
honouring and protecting teaching time. That interaction in the classroom
between you and your learners is vital. Only time will tell if it was
meaningful and fruitful.
We should all view this transfer from the North West province to Gauteng
positively. Let us see it as an opportunity to reposition ourselves and our
schools. In my church denomination and also in the political organisation that
I belong to, we speak of 'imvuselelo.' Imvuselelo means that you re-commit,
re-dedicate, re-energise yourself to uphold the values, principles and ideals
that you subscribe to.
Conclusion: Let us never lose sight of the fact that for us as African
communities Education is the only inheritance from our parents. "As we
intensify the struggle against poverty and unemployment in our communities" let
us remember that our youth are the future of this country, we dare not let them
down. The famous Afro-American basketball player, Michael Jordan once said:
"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it
happen."
In which category are you? Remember we have a target to meet for 2007: 80%
matric pass rate for the Gauteng province. Are we getting it?
Thank you, Re a leboga, Hi khensile
Issued by: Department of Education, Gauteng Provincial Government
23 May 2007
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)
