ME Surty on Budget Vote 14: Education, National Assembly
29 May 2007
"�The voices in its own ranks which today it derides and shouts down, are
the voices of its own prophets."
Friday, 25 May 2007, was a very special day. It was Africa Day, a day when
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
awarded the Centre for Human Rights, at the University of Pretoria, with the
Human Rights Education Award, in the year of its centenary. This centre was
established in open defiance of the Apartheid Regime.
Today, one of its eminent founder members, Johan van der Westhuizen, serves
as a judge in the Constitutional Court. Yet 20 years ago, Van der Westhuizen
and Heyns were derided and demeaned for their commitment to human rights, for
their vision of a non-racial non-sexist and democratic South Africa.
This is also the 40th anniversary of the passing away of South Africa's
first Nobel Peace Laureate, Chief Albert Luthuli. In his celebrated
autobiography 'Let my people go,' he stated quite prophetically."�The voices in
its own ranks which today it derides and shouts down, are the voices of its own
prophets." These words best epitomise the stance of the advocates for the
Centre for Human Rights, who were commended for their vision, conviction and
pro-active efforts in promoting human rights in South Africa.
Luthuli stated further, "South Africa is not yet a home for all her sons and
daughters. Such a home we wish to ensure. From the beginning our history has
been one of ascending unities, the breaking of tribal, racial and creedal
barriers. The past cannot hope to have a life sustained by itself, wrenched
from the whole. There remains before us the building of a new land, a home for
men who are black, white, brown, from the ruins of the old narrow groups, a
synthesis of the rich cultural strains which we have inherited. There remains
to be achieved our integration with the rest of our continent. Somewhere ahead
there beckons a civilisation, a culture, which will take its place in the
parade of God's history beside other great human syntheses, Chinese, Egyptian,
Jewish, European. It will not necessarily be all black; but it will be
African."
"We could not achieve the new South Africa overnight, but we could begin to
build it. We have suffered enough. We have suffered rape, plunder and
demolition, selfishness, avarice and oppression. We seek no vengeance. More
than other continents, perhaps and as much as any other nation on this
continent, we need the ways of peace, the ways of industry and the ways of
concord."
Forty years after his demise, South Africa has entered its second Decade of
Freedom with the strengthening of democracy and the acceleration of the
programme to improve the quality of life of all the people. We recognise that
we are at the beginning of a long journey to a truly united, democratic and
prosperous South Africa, in which the value of all citizens is measured by
their humanity, without regard to race, gender and social status.
The Department of Education has committed itself to participate in and
co-ordinate the national commemoration of the anniversaries of events of
historical significance in schools during 2007 identified by President Mbeki.
The department is encouraging all schools to participate in the commemoration
of these historical events, by preparing activities throughout the year that
will highlight the sacrifices made by many South Africans in the struggle for
freedom.
The celebration and commemoration of key national and international days in
education is an important aspect of the struggle against forgetting and part of
our strategy towards developing active, responsible citizens. We should not
study our history just for its own sake but to find the examples of the triumph
of the human spirit in times of great adversity. We commemorate the bicentenary
of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. We celebrate the lives of individuals who
contributed greatly to shaping our young democracy and key historical events.
2007 marks the commemoration of the death of Nkosi Luthuli, the commemoration
of the death of Steve Bantu Biko and the commemoration of the ninetieth
anniversary of the birth of OR Tambo.
Unfortunately, the advent of democracy appears to have created new 'values'
gaps in our system. Issues of discipline, violence and abuse in our schools are
a feature of education that requires our collective will and resolve. Through
the example of our society's role models, some of whom we will commemorate this
year, we can show learners that alternatives to violence, abuse and lack of
self discipline do exist and that learners through commitment, self discipline
and sheer hard work can transform their own lives, whatever the
circumstances.
We cannot pretend that all our schools are safe and caring environments
conducive to the provision of quality education, especially in the light of the
latest incidences of violence in our schools. However, the Department of
Education has set mechanisms in place to deal with this challenge. In
collaboration with our provincial Departments of Education, we have identified
585 schools, 65 schools per province, which in 2006 presented high levels of
crime and violence.
The initial focus of the project was infrastructural rehabilitation to
assist in curbing crime and violence, thus creating the envisaged safer and
caring schools or what United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls � Child
Friendly Schools. These schools are being provided with handheld metal
detectors, security officers, high mast security lights and security
fences.
An additional component of the Ministerial Project will focus on the
implementation of a more comprehensive programme to address incidents of crime
and violence. In partnership with Business against Crime, UNICEF, and the
Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, an integrated programme, grounded on
positive values, to further create safer and caring schools or child friendly
schools will be rolled out.
There has been a lot of media coverage about our intentions to act on
schoolgirl pregnancies. Many people have been shocked, but everyone has agreed
that the time has come for us to act firmly, to set down markers for what is
acceptable and what is not. That is how we confront mediocrity in society � by
spelling out what we expect and by refusing to pander to those who choose
another path. Nobody is being punished, but we do require people to take
responsibility for their actions. Schools are for teaching and learning and
should not be distracted from this task.
Incidentally, we have not prescribed two-years off the school period. We
have said up to two-years may be needed for the parents to bond with the child
and to secure his or her health and safety, which I will stand by. But each
case will be dealt with on its merits. And let me add: in all this we are
talking of both the mother and the father of the child who must take
responsibility!
The department's concern is not limited to only pregnancies, but all the
consequences of unprotected sex. Moreover promoting a delayed sexual debut
enables young people to make informed choices in their relationships and for
their future. To challenge underdevelopment and eradicate poverty and against
the background of the huge investment in infrastructure and its attendant
possibilities, the emphasis on quality education must be self-evident.
We need educated and skilled citizens to benefit from the Accelerated Shared
Growth Initiative and the diverse economic opportunities and possibilities that
are now available to our citizens. Education must be prioritised as a core
element of social transformation. In its commitment to increasing access to
quality education especially for children experiencing barriers to learning,
the department is strengthening its focus on Special Schools. Currently there
are 385 Special schools serving over 87 865 learners with 7 294 educators.
These are currently mainly in cities and urban areas with very few
accessible to children in rural areas. The department is focusing in the
current year on providing these schools with the specialist teachers and
professionals, as well as the necessary devices. Coupled with this the
department has developed a screening tool to ensure early identification and
assessment of learners to determine the level and nature of support needed. The
department is working to manage admission into these schools so that only
children requiring high levels of support are admitted. Currently these schools
also accommodate children who can operate and according to research � benefit
more from integrating with other learners in mainstream settings at a per
learner cost four times that of learners in ordinary schools.
The department will this year finalise a standards framework for special
schools to better monitor the quality of education in these schools. There can
be no argument about the huge disparities between education provision in rural
and farm communities compared to urban schools. This calls for an integrated
approach to be implemented with other relevant stakeholders.
Our department has established a unit which will champion the provision of
quality education for rural and farm communities. The objectives of this unit
will be:
* to ensure access and retention of learners in rural and farm schools
* to improve the quality of rural, nodal and farm school education
* to initiate sustainable partnerships with urban schools, community
organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private sector and other
organisations.
The Department of Education is encouraged by initiatives of some NGOs
working earnestly to improve the quality of rural, nodal and farm school
education. We take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of Kagiso
Trust through the Beyers Naude school development programme for the sterling
work they are doing in Limpopo and Mpumalanga by building science and
Information Communication Technology (ICT) laboratories, assisting with
training educators and co-ordinating sporting activities for learners in those
communities. They are but one of the many organisations working towards
providing quality education in rural areas. However, we need more support,
especially in the fields of maths, science and technology.
International studies have shown that South African learners performed very
poorly in numeracy and literacy when compared to counterparts in other
developed and developing countries. Learners who could not do well
mathematically in General Education and Training usually stopped studying
Mathematics, thus contributing to a perpetuation of high levels of innumeracy.
Although performance in numeracy and literacy has been poor, the number of
learners who write Grade 12 senior certificate examinations in Mathematics and
Physical Sciences has steadily increased over the last four years.
As part of the strategy to improve the levels of literacy and numeracy and
better performance in mathematics and physical science, the Department of
Education established Dinaledi schools as dedicated maths and science schools.
In 2006, there were 400 Dinaledi schools distributed across the nine
provinces.
The performance of Dinaledi schools has shown a steady increase in the
number of learners passing Higher Grade (HG) Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
This year, the Council of Education Ministers approved the expansion of
Dinaledi schools from 400 to 476 as part of the consolidation of the strategy
and to accelerate performance in this regard.
The Department of Education is committed to give all learners the
opportunities to excel in a 21st Century environment. For the first time in our
country we can celebrate a national Curriculum Statement for Grade R to Grade
12. In effect all learners will benefit from a uniform carefully crafted
curriculum covering all learning areas, supported by continuous teacher
development programmes aimed especially at content knowledge.
In addition national protocols for assessment in all learning areas with
supporting guides for educators have been finalised and distributed. This, we
believe, will make a radical difference in achieving the appropriate outcomes
that will ensure creative and innovative application of knowledge and
information that is relevant and responsive to the Life Skills of learners.
Twenty-nine subjects will be examined nationally at the end of 2008. Each
approved subject is also supported by two guideline documents, namely Subject
Assessment Guidelines (SAGs) and Learning Programme Guidelines (LPGs), which
will also be updated on a regular basis.
The department is advancing in its endeavours to exploit ICT to create
access to learning opportunities, redress inequalities and improve the quality
of learning and teaching as well as delivering lifelong learning. We will
improve service delivery and systems in education, for example an integrated
learner tracking system and educational management information systems, to name
a few.
The deployment of ICT infrastructure, tools, applications and resources into
our schools is critical to the attainment of these goals. It is imperative that
our school managers, teachers and learners are equipped with the necessary 21st
Century skills such as digital-age literacy, creative thinking, effective
communication and high productivity.
Therefore, the department has embarked on a number of initiatives that will
ensure that our school communities are ICT capable by 2013. These include:
* adopting a framework for teacher development in ICT (including school
principals and subject advisors)
* expansion of the Thutong portal functionalities so that teachers and learners
have equal access to high quality and diverse learning and teaching support
materials
* establishing of an educational network to effect collaboration, communication
and sharing of good practices amongst teachers
* training of school management in the use of technology.
The challenges of accessible and affordable broadband, the backlog in school
ICT infrastructure and human resource development still limit progress.
Collaboration between the department, the corporate sector, teacher unions and
other government departments is therefore critical if these challenges are to
be overcome.
Today, we can celebrate the National Education Information Management System
(NEIMS), which for the first time in the history of the country is going to
enable us to access information on each individual school, with aerial and
actual photographs, data on water, sanitation, energy provision, laboratories
and libraries. This will be a critical tool in planning, upgrading, maintaining
and developing schools.
Coupled with the norms and standards that the Minister intends issuing in
relation to the minimum standards for a school we believe that we will soon be
able to make a meaningful difference in terms of the size, shape and form of
schools, ensuring that they conform to the prescribed minimum standards
enabling quality education to be provided.
The increasingly sedentary lifestyles of most people are features of the new
millennium that require new responses. School sport is a crucial lever in
empowering young people to develop healthy and active lifestyles. We believe
that participation in sport promotes social cohesion and ensures that the
schools become centres for community life.
Our department is therefore in the process of drafting a framework to
resuscitate Physical Education in schools. Part of the framework will be to
incorporate Physical Education as part of teacher development strategy. This
will ensure that students register for Physical Education with higher education
institutions. The framework also provides for accredited development programmes
for Life Orientation educators, to equip them with coaching, sport management
and facilitation skills.
We are encouraged by the co-operation of the private sector in all areas of
education, including establishing schools, providing laboratories, ICT and
partnering in national initiatives such as Dinaledi and Further Education and
Training (FET) Colleges. This resonates extremely well with the statement of
our President in the State of the Nation Address, 9 February 2007: "We are not
there yet. But no one, except ourselves, shall ensure that this dream is
realised. And so, let us roll up our sleeves and get down to work, fully
understanding that the task to build the South Africa for which we yearn is a
common responsibility we all share."
From Luthuli to Mbeki the message is clear!
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Education
29 May 2007
