Colloquium on the Ministerial Committee Report on the Restructuring of Adult
Education and Training in South Africa, Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria.
5 March 2009
Programme director
Education officials
Officials from our sister departments
Representatives of labour federations and teacher unions
Representatives of non-government organisations (NGO)
Representatives from Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) and
Umalusi
Higher education representatives
Adult practitioners
Ladies and gentlemen
South Africa has to develop diverse, flexible and relevant responses to the
wide range of education and training needs in our society. They range from
access to literacy, access to second chance opportunities for basic education,
and professional and technical skills training.
Most commentators on our education progress since the advent of democracy
agree that much has been achieved and stress that a great deal more needs to be
done and that it must be done with full attention to the quality and impact of
the programmes we offer.
One of the most significant initiatives has been our ongoing attempt to
address illiteracy in South Africa. All three post-democracy governments have
introduced interventions to address the challenge of illiteracy. This has been
done with many of you as partners and your contribution has supported the
erosion of illiteracy among the poorest in our society. Partnerships with civil
society have proven to be the strongest base from which to achieve success.
This is why we continue to consult you as we are doing today.
All of you are in the trenches of education reconstruction, development, and
redress. You are aware that we tend to have very limiting notions of education
and training when we focus on adult needs. Whenever adult education is referred
to in education debates, people assume the issue is basic literacy.
Very little reference is made to the meaning of adult education and training
in a lifelong learning context.
That meaning transcends basic literacy.
It can be described as a pressing demand for a wide variety of education and
training opportunities - access to literacy, second chance opportunities for
young adults, flexible learning paths, work-linked skills programmes, life
skills programmes that will strengthen the quality of life of adults, access to
formal qualifications for workers trapped at low levels of employment and then
also a basic interest in acquiring increased knowledge in a specific domain or
discipline.
The Kha ri Gude mass literacy campaign that we launched last year, and which
benefited from contributions many of you made, has clearly illustrated that
adults in South Africa are ready to learn.
Kha ri Gude draws on best practices in Cuba and Venezuela and on successful
programmes in other countries.
The campaign has just about completed its first year.
We have exceeded our targets in almost all provinces, especially in
KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo where illiteracy is most acute.
Nearly 80 percent of learners enrolled on the programme are women.
I'm particularly pleased with the support the campaign has received from our
youth who have been participating as facilitators. The campaign statistics show
that 65 percent of the volunteer educators are below the age of 35 years.
The campaign has lived up to the slogan in its name by ensuring that all
provinces participate in the campaign. It has also lived up to the slogan by
the way the campaign has integrated learning into the communities, using venues
that are easily accessible for learners â such as homes, the markets, churches,
old age homes, schools, prisons â wherever people are.
The campaign has had a number of other benefits for communities. It has been
instrumental in mobilising communities and community structures, and has
engaged structures such as traditional leaders, councillors, faith-based
organisations (FBO), community organisations dealing with the disabled, the
aged and with development to all focus on learning.
In addition, the campaign model of implementation that relies on using
volunteers from vulnerable communities makes an important contribution to the
alleviation of poverty. As 92 percent of the volunteers are unemployed and live
in the areas targeted for literacy, the stipend paid to volunteers for teaching
contributes to lifting them out poverty.
I'm especially impressed with the ways in which communities have responded
to the campaign and have set up committees in the communities to provide
campaign oversight.
The campaign has also contributed to the enhancement of all our official
languages. While the materials developed are of an exceptionally high standard,
the increased number of readers in the various languages will contribute to the
development of all our languages and will promote the development of further
reading materials in the official languages.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those South Africans who have
volunteered their services to the campaign for their critical contribution to
nation building.
However, as we record all these positive achievements, we must remember that
access to literacy is not the only ambition of adult learners in South Africa
and a matric qualification does not fully address their education needs.
In July 2008, I established a Ministerial Committee to draft a green paper
on a revamped adult education and training system for South Africa. One of the
things we agreed was that we should remove the word 'basic' from our
project.
This is because we held the view that 'basic' tends to reduce adult learning
opportunities to the minimum of level one literacy or formal study for a senior
certificate.
The Ministerial Committee submitted its final report on the 3 November 2008.
The report contains policy proposals on the following key areas of action: the
policy and legislative environment; funding for adult learning; the
institutional landscape; human resource framework; curriculum and
qualifications; and a new governance framework for adult learning.
The Ministerial Committee was unable to consult with the general public,
educators, experts and other adult education stakeholders due to tight time
constraints. The committee then proposed that a three pronged consultation
processes be initiated, namely:
* targeted consultation with government departments, and in particular, the
provincial Departments of Labour (DoL)
* consultative workshops with the community of experts and practitioners, such
as universities, the research community, NGOs, unions and other representative
bodies and
* publishing the report as a discussion document for public comment and
allowing sufficient time for comments.
This colloquium is part of that process.
The purpose of this colloquium is to present the Ministerial Committee
Report on the Restructuring of Adult Education and Training in South Africa to
you. This colloquium will pave the way for a white paper on adult education in
South Africa, which will ultimately lead to the development of new legislation
and the adoption of a new act for adult education and training.
The Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) review,
as well as the Education for All (EFA) annual report, reveal particular
weaknesses in our provision of adult education. You are all aware of some of
the problems.
Adult education centres in higher education institutions are closing.
The absence of a resolution around conditions of service poses particular
challenges to Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) educators.
Learner achievement in the General Education and Training Certificate is
still low. Yet we also know that a silent revolution is taking place in South
Africa around the Kha ri Gude campaign.
I'm convinced that appropriate new and responsive literacy and adult
education programmes will contribute to the alleviation of poverty, the need
for human security and sustainable development.
The foundation for this lies with deliberations in the colloquium and the
subsequent consultations.
In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to thank members of the
Ministerial Committee for the hard work they have put into the development of
this report. Let me also thank you in advance for your valuable contributions.
I've no doubt in my mind that the deliberations of this colloquium will assist
the ministry in initiating the processes that will result in the fundamental
restructuring of adult education and training in South Africa.
On that note, I wish you well in your deliberations.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
5 March 2009
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
