5 September 2006
âThe key challenge for education remains to ensure that every school is able
to deliver the National Curriculum Statement, giving every learner the
opportunity to develop their full potential,â said Western Cape Education MEC
Cameron Dugmore at a luncheon of the Cape Town Press Club in the Waterfront
today.
He was sharing some reflections with the members of the club as it was
almost exactly halfway through his term of office since being appointed as MEC
for Education in the Western Cape shortly after the elections of April
2004.
MEC Dugmore said, "It has been a tough and challenging period, but also one
in which I believe important steps have been taken along the road to learning
home for all. Besides developing the full potential of every learner and
providing quality general education and training, we also have a responsibility
to develop the human capital in our province to ensure that we produce learners
with the knowledge and skills to contribute to the economic growth of our
country and province."
He said the challenge to transform education range from the basics, "such as
providing enough classrooms, to the complex task of ensuring that our learners
achieve the outcomes required by the national curriculum."
That is why he had declared six key priorities for the Western Cape
Education Department (WCED) to focus and to meet the challenges of skills
development. The priorities are not only applicable for the 2006/07 Budget
Year, but in fact for the rest of his term of office namely, literacy and
numeracy; Further Education and Training (FET) in schools and colleges,
infrastructure provisioning, school safety, redesign of the WCED and building
social capital in education.
With regards to literacy and numeracy he said, "Our learners are already
showing improved scores in our system-wide provincial testing. Our Grade 6âs of
2005 showed a 7% improvement in literacy scores and 2% in numeracy since the
previous tests in 2003. However, with only 42% of learners scoring at the
required level for literacy and 17% for numeracy, it is clear that we still
have a long way to go.
"We have recently announced a strengthened, sustainable and co-ordinated
literacy and numeracy strategy for the Western Cape. I donât believe there are
quick fixes but if we are able to place this strategy at the centre of all our
endeavours and provide sustained support to our teachers in the classroom, we
can turn the situation around. The first thing our new strategy does is spell
out a theoretical framework for teachers and teaching.
"Our strategy is based on three key strands which are teacher support and
development; promotion of mother-tongue based bilingual education and advocacy
for community and family literacy."
On the issue of Further Education and Training (FET) in schools and
colleges, MEC Dugmore said he honestly donât think there is reason to panic. "I
know that the graduates of our new programmes will be better equipped to fulfil
their potential in the 21st century than their predecessors were.
"Some schools reported disappointing results in the press and resulted in a
public debate about the curriculum and the June exams. Preliminary analyses
though, suggest that not all schools are reporting poor results. Nobody is
planning to be careless about this critical period. I hope that the media and
parents will do all they can to support our children in this time."
Referring to the recent spate of incidents in the last two weeks in which
learners were stabbing fellow learners, he expressed great concern. "Clearly it
is not just the responsibility of the school alone to promote respect and
tolerance, those are values best learnt in the family and home
environment."
In conclusion, MEC Dugmore said what drives him most every morning is a
simple vision. "I would like for every parent to be comfortable to send his or
her child to the nearest public school, within walking distance, confident in
the knowledge that his or her child will acquire sound values, attitudes,
knowledge and skills, in a safe environment and is able to compete with any
learner in any school anywhere in the province, in the country and indeed in
the whole world."
Enquiries:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Cell: 082 550 3938
E-mail: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
5 September 2006
