during the grand opening of Limpopo state-of-the-art schools, Savengwena High
School, Nwamitwa Mopani District
16 April 2009
Programme director
Your Excellency, Hosi Nwamitwa
Premier of Limpopo Province, Cassel Mathale
Minister Manuel
Minister Pandor
MEC for Education, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
Executive Mayor of Mopani District Municipality, Councillor Humphrey
Mogobi
Mayor of Tzaneen Local Municipality, Councillor Othaniel Mushwana
Traditional leaders
Member of Parliament (MPâs) and member of Limpopo Provincial Legislature
(MPLâs)
Councillors
Director-General of Limpopo Province, Dr Nelly Manzini
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am pleased to join you today in celebrating the launch of this modern
school building. From the onset, we have as government advanced the view that
sound, quality education for all our people is the foundation upon which a
successful and prosperous South Africa will be built.
We have reason to believe that this is a joyful moment for the entire
community of Ha Nwamitwa and surrounding villages. We believe that, the very
act of rebuilding this school to the status it has now assumed has not only
served the purpose of restoring the pride and dignity of our educators and
learners, but has also laid down the foundation for the long term economic
development of this area.
Todayâs occasion therefore marks a new beginning in the education of our
people, and we hope it will leave imprinted memories on both learners and
educators alike.
Programme director
Former President Mandela once remarked in his inimitable way that,
âEducation is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world.â
In addition, we believe education is a powerful weapon which can help fulfil
the dreams of any nation. The empirical link between education and individual
economic success is something that is well documented in history. Investment in
human capital is therefore critical in generating much needed value in any
countryâs economy.
Today, much of the high-value output in the economy demands graduates with
the creativity, cognitive abilities, and skills to interact with challenging
technologies. The time has come for all the children of our country, especially
those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to receive good education, in real
schools.
In this regard, we cannot help but concur that these state of the art
premises are a typical model of what a real school is, and should be.
In keeping with the need to give our people quality education, government
announced as way back as 2005 that a process was underway to build better
schools in the province.
In the last two years, we completed three state-of-the- art schools in the
province, which are Thengwe, Moreko and Fetakgomo.
Today we are opening yet another super school here at Ha Nwamitwa
(Sevengwana High school), which shall be joined in the list by four others to
be opened later today and tomorrow.
From June onwards, we shall be opening at least one school in a month until
the end of the year. All this will give us a total of 12 state-of- the-art
schools in the province by the end of this year. All of these schools will have
the necessary facilities and equipments which a modern school should have.
The schools are enriched with:
* Computer centre
* Science laboratory
* Home economics centre (for high schools)
* Book library
* Biology laboratory (for high schools)
* Toy library (for primary schools)
* Nutrition centre (primary schools)
* A 1000 capacity School Hall
* modern classrooms each with its small book storage facility which can also
serve as an educators own office, so that educators donât have to spend all
their time chatting in the staff room; and lastly the Administration Block.
Programme director
This is where we believe our nationâs future workforce will be produced and
nurtured. We believe that the ongoing innovation in our economy must be matched
by learners with cutting edge skills and unparalleled knowledge.
It is from centres such as these, where we expect to produce, future mining
engineers, statisticians, manufacturers, agricultural technologists,
accountants, and information technology practitioners.
Our longstanding goal is to ensure that all schools in the country
eventually have more or less these kinds of facilities, especially in deep
rural areas and townships.
The initiative to build these state of the art schools is part of our
broader measures to raise the quality of elementary and secondary school
education levels in provinces such as Limpopo which are predominately
rural.
No school is ever complete without these resources, and we believe that the
private sector can come in handy to help communities achieve this dream.
Programme director
We believe, however, that a school is more than just a beautiful building,
what happens inside these premises is of great concern to the community and to
us as government. We continue to invest massively in our schools because we
believe that every school must serve a purpose in society.
We are all aware that modern education is largely based on current national
imperatives which are in turn embedded in our globalised world. Therefore no
nation can survive without an army of students equipped with critical thinking
and analytical tools geared towards meeting current economic demands.
Of course, our job as government will still not have been done, if we have
not ensured that these facilities are maximally used to produce the best
learners in mathematics and natural science.
These schools of excellence must place more special emphasis on the teaching
of mathematics and science education, if they are ever going to make any
difference in our peopleâs lives.
Already there are 500 Dinaledi schools in the country, of which Limpopo has
51 of these schools, whose primary mandate is to teach mathematics and
science.
We know and deeply appreciate the commitment of the department, parents,
learners and educators in making your province an important hub in the country
for mathematics and science education.
Programme director
We continue to maintain that no country or province can ever succeed without
investing the bulk of its resources in education. Societies that have got
higher levels of production and human development are known to have
increasingly relied on human capital investment.
Therefore, no country can ever go wrong if it invests time and resources in
the education of its citizens.
Programme director
The challenge that we are faced with almost across all our provinces is that
our economy is still largely primary commodity driven which means there is very
little value adding or beneficiation taking place in all our comparative
advantages.
Therefore, for us to be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), coupled with the particular challenges posed by the ongoing global
economic downturn, it would be imperative for us to develop both the secondary
and tertiary sectors of our economy.
This entails new product offerings and services related to these comparative
advantages which will include, agro-processing for the agricultural sector, the
mining input supply services and possible downstream mining beneficiation.
This becomes even more instructive in provinces such as Limpopo, which are
known to be predominantly rural.
Programme director
This initiative therefore presents our children with the best possible
opportunity to learn and acquire skills without having to face the kind of
difficulties which black people in general had to endure under Apartheid.
Surely, this project builds on the many efforts which are continuously being
made by our government in the form of free text books provision, primary
schools feeding schemes, and free tuition in designated no-fee schools.
However, we also need to realize that the provision of education goes
further than just the availability of equipments or facilities.
Resources alone are never going to be enough to produce the best
students.
It is always important to note that, without motivation, good teachers,
discipline and the right frame of mind, none of our learners can ever achieve
any of their desired goals.
Therefore your attitude towards education is always very important, as it
determines how far you can go as learners.
Programme director
We have got great expectations from all of you, especially the principal,
educators, learners and members of the community in general. It is our belief
that for any school to function properly it will obviously require dedicated
parents and community leaders, at the helm of the School Governing Body
(SGB).
There can be no reason why the province cannot do well in science,
mathematics and commercial subjects, when we have state of the art schools such
as these ones.
Lastly, I wish to take this opportunity to remind all of us that in the next
few days South Africans will be going to the polls to exercise their
constitutional right to choose a government of their liking.
During this time, I would like all of us here and all the South African
voters to behave in an exemplary manner, as we seek to have free and fair
elections, all of which serve the purpose of deepening our democracy.
I thank you
Issued by: The Presidency
16 April 2009
