World Ministerial Seminar on Technology in Education "Moving Young Minds,"
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, London
9 January 2007
"E-learning in South Africa"
Ministers, in particular my co-panellists; Minister of Learning from Canada
Mrs Deb Higgins, Minister of Education and Science from Georgia, Mr Alexander
Lomaia and the Minister for Schools in the UK, Mr Jim Knight, Senior Officials
and Distinguished Guests.
Education Systems the world over have an obligation to deliver quality
education for economic growth and social development for all. Quality
improvement and the enhancement of excellence are often perceived to be
antithetical to increased access equity and redress.
We have adopted a comprehensive approach of widening access and deepening
the quality of our education system. In this regard two aspects of our approach
are of particular importance. Firstly our introduction of a new curriculum and
secondly the implementation of our White Paper on e-Education to support the
roll-out of the curriculum.
Broadly speaking, the new curriculum aims to equip learners with the
knowledge, skills and values necessary for self-fulfilment and meaningful
participation in society, irrespective of their socio-economic background,
culture, race, gender, physical ability or intellectual ability.
The above takes place in the context of the 21st Century and a globalised
world. It is for this reason that our Government has been quick to seize the
opportunity of working towards the achievement of the practical benefits of
digital technology. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is the
future and indeed the key to 21st Century teaching and learning.
In our country, we have a strong commitment to ICT in education. Bringing
ICT connectivity to our schools and education institutions will and must
happen. We are already piloting a dedicated education network called the EduNet
that will connect all schools and make connectivity affordable to teachers and
learners. It is a task that will occur alongside the provision of basic
educational infrastructure.
It is our belief that ICTs in Education should integrate teaching and
learning with access to infrastructure. Key to reaching this objective is the
successful integration of teachers into this process. So although we are here
to 'move YOUNG minds, we have to move OLD minds' too. We are strengthening our
efforts at effective and ongoing professional support for teachers in order to
ensure sustained use of ICT.
Furthermore, emphasis is placed on increasing access to relevant, high
quality and diverse content resources and the provision of opportunities for
teachers and learners to communicate, collaborate and collectively develop and
share learning experiences.
We have had some successes but continue to face many challenges.
Teacher Development
We are finalising an implementation plan for the National Teacher
Development Framework where all teacher development is addressed, from initial
training to continuing professional teacher development. Within this, we are
developing guidelines for teacher development in ICT. So teachers who wish to
excel in the use of ICT for teaching and learning will be able to do so.
To date we have trained more than 22 000 teachers to use ICT in education.
This was done through partnership agreements with Intel, CompTia and Microsoft.
A principal's guide to implement and use ICT in schools has also been developed
and distributed.
Educational content
We have also successfully established an education portal, known as Thutong,
which has over 21 000 learning objects for use by both teachers and learners.
The Thutong portal is the first sustained opportunity to pull together the
online educational experience for South African educational communities. The
portal provides access to a range of quality curriculum and learner support
materials, as well as to professional development programmes for educators,
administration and management resources and tools for schools, education policy
documents, and general news and information related to the latest developments
in South African education. Resources on the portal are made available free to
users, with particular priority given to the needs of those from disadvantaged
schools and rural areas.
A key partner to our portal is the Mindset Network. Mindset Network provides
assistance through a satellite-based technology platform that distributes
high-quality multimedia educational content. Mindset provides educational
materials as well as training in the use of the associated technology. The
organisation has installed receiving equipment in more than 1 500 schools and
250 hospitals and clinics. Content is also available in over 1,5 million homes
via satellite broadcast.
Last month, Mindset Network was chosen from a group of over 160 nominees as
the winner of the 2006 Development Gateway Award. The 2006 Development Gateway
Award was on the theme of youth and was presented at the International
Telecommunications Union Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong. [1]
Infrastructure
Despite these positive developments, in South Africa today the majority of
learners and schools do not have access to ICT infrastructure. The use of ICT
in Education is a recent phenomenon in South Africa. All of you would be aware
of our history of education under development for the majority population. It
is this history that gives rise to the following challenging statistics. Only 3
in 10 schools (we have 26 000 schools for 12 million learners) have access to
ICT. Only 1 in 10 schools have access to the Internet, and this is mainly
through dial-up connections. We are also working closely with our provincial
colleagues to place ICT infrastructure in all schools. Some provinces are
making good progress in this regard and are achieving high levels of ICT
integration into their curriculum delivery.
Conclusion
As you can see, the Department is committed to not only bridging the digital
divide, but to adequately prepare learners to lead productive lives in the
global society. Some critical observations can be made from this situation:
1. There is strong political will to drive the initiative, but resources and
infrastructure are key.
2. The pace of delivery has to be accelerated, if the current pace is
maintained we will lose the gains made thus far.
3. Government alone cannot cope with the demand and public-private partnerships
(PPPs) maybe the useful route for countries in our situation to explore.
4. Initiatives should take cognisance of the levels of development across
provinces and individual schools. Our effort should be deliberately skewed
towards those provinces and schools that continue to suffer the most
marginalisation and neglect.
I believe, however, with further support in which we jointly address the
challenges that face us, great progress can be made.
I thank you.
[1] "Letter from the President," 22 December 2006.
Issued by: Department of Education
9 January 2007
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za/)
