Programme director, Mr Tana
President of the Christ Ambassadors Gospel Church (CAGC), Pastor David Tabane
Mrs Makhathini
Our learners and educators
Fellow Christians and distinguished guests,
It feels so good to be among members of the Christ Ambassadors Gospel Church and the community of Vosloorus in this very important occasion, meant to open the door to a brighter future for the children of Ekurhuleni.
Allow me to start by thanking, from the bottom of my heart, all the learners who have put aside all youthful pleasures to be part of this Career Expo. Thank you for coming. In your absence, we would not have a proper Career Expo.
At the end of the day, it is your brilliant minds we hope to spark off. Your presence among us is indeed a powerful statement. It says you have swallowed your pride and mustered up the courage to say,“rush to my aid” (Psalm 70:5).
As the Bible says in Psalm 18:27, “you rescue those who are humble”. You have truly humbled yourselves, and have openly pronounced that ‘with a little help, I can make it to the top’.
We must also thank deeply all our dedicated and hard-working teachers for being here, and most importantly, for the good work they do, everyday, in our schools.
Indeed we are indebted to all teachers for guiding the process of humanising the children of our nation. Through your noble and tireless efforts in the classroom, against all odds, we have among us most daring Grade 10 to 12 learners from the City of Ekurhuleni, a smart, creative and developmental city.
Your City can better achieve its development goals when provision is made for quality education for the young.
We are grateful to Pastor Tabane and the Christ Ambassadors Gospel Church for bringing all of us here to work together to do more for our youth.
Through this timely Career Expo, you have revived in me the spirit of the days of struggle for change. Then, Christians ‘brought the church closer to the people’, by making a clear ‘option for the poor’.
In the tradition of our people who in 1955 gathered in Kliptown to adopt the Freedom Charter, today’s Career Expo must help us open the doors of learning and culture for all our youth.
It is this vision, the vision of delivering an education that is “free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children”, that has brought us here together, under the guidance of the Most High.
We all know that education is the best form of empowerment. The major challenge facing our country is to reduce poverty, by among other things, creating decent jobs and transforming our economy. These challenges can best be tackled by giving South Africans a better educational start in life.
This is precisely what makes education the top priority of our government; the real reason for us to work together to build a delivery-driven education system.
On the education front, one of our challenges is to address inequalities. Our educational outcomes continue to reflect our country’s socio-economic patterns of inequalities mainly based on race and apartheid settlement patterns.
We have done extremely well in broadening universal access to primary education. To improve quality of our teaching, we are providing a bursary for young people who aspire to become teachers, Funza Lushaka. Through this programme, we have produced close to 5 534 teachers in only four years.
Last year, we provided food to over 10 million learners in approximately 21 000 schools. This year, the National Schools Nutrition Programme conditional grant is R915 million.
Our learners have more reason to remain in school, and we are doing our best to ensure this happens.
Given the importance of gateway subjects in accelerating economic transformation, we are doing more to improve performance in Mathematics and Science. This is one area I want to urge our learners to focus on. We need to produce more skills required by the economy.
But all these efforts by government will come short of providing for all the needs of our children as your Church has rightly pointed out. We need all your support to build a better future for the children – the future leaders of our nation. Education, as we have said repeatedly, is a societal issue.
All of us have a duty to stem the tide of violence and criminality in some schools better to create a conducive environment for learning.
We all have a duty to create functional, safe and productive schools where children are prepared for various careers and roles in society whilst they are simultaneously taught the values and ethos of a democratic society.
All of us, faith-based communities, government, teachers, parents, organised labour, learners and the whole of civil society, must do more to promote quality learning and teaching in the classroom, for better opportunities for our children.
The President has directed all of us to focus on job creation. By treating education as a serious investment, we will ensure that all our people, young and old, benefit from the democratic changes we have made since 1994.
The theme of this Career Expo transmits a very important message which every learner must take home. I’m happy that these things are said in the presence of the youth. As they say, ‘you cannot shave a man’s head in his absence’. Today’s theme is “Youth taking charge of their destiny”. That’s why I’m happy you are here to receive these good tidings.
For indeed, we can do our very best as parents, teachers, pastors, unions and school governing bodies, but, without your will, we cannot pave the way for you. Here lies the logic of the song that says: “none but ourselves can free our minds”.
Choices you make today, will stay with you forever. This brings me to another choice we must all make concerning the future of this country. The youth must take charge of their destiny by also choosing who should represent them.
I agree with your Executive Mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, that all of us, above 18, have a duty to vote because “many people the world over have fought and died in order that every citizen can have the right to vote” (Ekurhuleni Press Release, 29 April 2011).
It is your vote that will help in building better communities.
As our children and as future citizens of this country, you are our hope for defeating the scourge of poverty. You are our hope for building an economically-viable society of educated, enlightened and employable people with the right skills.
To the Class of 2011, I want to say, this is your chance. Make the most of it while the sun shines.
I would like to thank warmly the Christ Ambassadors Gospel Church for the remarkable work it is doing. We further commend the Church for the noble decision to set up a bursary fund. This will indeed help in opening the doors of learning for our youth.
Working together we can improve the quality of education and together build a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
My final message to our learners is that through this Career Expo, we intend to assist you to take charge of your destiny. By giving you education, the most potent tool of success, we can “shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths” (King Lear, Act I, Scene i).
I thank you.
Source: Department of Basic Education
