Speech delivered by the Deputy Minister of Basic Education Honourable Mr. Enver Surty at the launch of e-Libraries at the Vodaworld – Midrand, Gauteng
Programme Director: Lebohang Mokoena
Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO: Sello Hatane
Vodacom CEO: Shameel Joosub
Huawei Vice President: You Jiangtao
Executive Head of CSI Projects: Mthobeli Tengimfene
All Business Executives, Partners and Sponsors
Members of the Media
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my singular honour and privilege to address this occasion that takes basic education firmly into the 21st century – the launch of e-Libraries. The e-Libraries project is poised to catapult our schools and learners to be on par with the rest of the world. Our event today is proudly brought to us by a variety of sponsors and partners with passion for basic education and who care deeply about the future of our country. Through your bold investment is this project you’re proving once and for all that we indeed have a shared destiny. In the government circles we would say; you’re indeed taking South Africa Forward.
The educational needs of learners in the 21st century’ extends beyond the triple Rs. The traditional three Rs refer to the foundations of a basic skills-oriented education programme within schools: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. Today’s educational landscape is becoming dramatically different given the conditions and challenges we are facing as a nation and as a society. The co-founder of the world’s largest PC software company, Microsoft, Bill Gates correctly summed up the nature of the 21st education landscape when he said: “As we enter the twenty-first century, it is clear that education is, indeed, the best investment that we can make, for information economy depends upon a knowledgeable, skilled, educated workforce. The better educated our students are, the better we will perform economically.”
In this regard, Programme Director, we do indeed owe all of you an immeasurable debt of gratitude for taking the future of country so seriously. There can be no better investment than investing in young people thus ensuring a bright future for our learners. This is corporate citizenship at its best.
The President of the Republic of South Africa His Excellency Jacob Zuma has enjoined all of us to treat education of our children as a societal issue. This means that one state department cannot change the learning landscape of the entire education system alone. It will take the full might of multitudes of dedicated educators, civil society, parents, the business sector, non-government organisations working together with government to achieve equal and quality education for all for all our children in our lifetime.
It is always humbling to see South Africans rising to the call to contribute to the advancement of the basic education sector. It is through education that this great nation will move towards prosperity. To echo the words of our founding President of the new South Africa, International icon and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate uTata Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
We are indeed grateful as the department for the on-going contribution of our various partners towards improving the quality of education in our country.
Equally pleasing is that this event occurs at the time when South Africa celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter. This is an apt and a fitting tribute to the visionaries who conceptualised the idea of the Charter and despite great difficulties managed to succeed. The Freedom Charter became a rallying call for the oppressed and it guided the anti-apartheid movement led by the African National Congress to the 1994 democratic breakthrough.
Programme Director; please allow me to explain the importance and significance of the 60 year old document. The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies - the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. The Charter was officially adopted on June 26, 1955 at a Congress of the People in Kliptown, Johannesburg. The meeting was attended by about roughly three thousand delegates but was broken up by police on the second day, although by then the Charter had been read in full. The crowd had shouted its approval of each section with cries of 'Afrika!' and 'Mayibuye!’
The Freedom Charter proclaimed boldly that, “The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!” It enjoined the future government to discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life. It further implored the future government that;
- All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;
- The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;
- Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;
Equally significant is that today’s launch of this revolutionary initiative occurs during the month of July – mere days before the world marks 6th Nelson Mandela International Day. The Mandela Day is a celebration of one of our own, the son of the soil; dubbed by the US President Barack Obama as, “the greatest liberator of the 20th century”. Madiba’s passion for education knew no bounds. He understood education to be foundational to the success of country. We do know that education alone helps to break the inter-generational chains of poverty.
Programme director, Manuel Castells one of the world's leading thinkers on the new information age, hailed by The Economist as "the first significant philosopher of cyberspace," likens the power of ICT to the impact that access to electricity and clean running water in a community has had on human development. In his seminal book, The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society, Castells argues quite correctly that we are "entering, full speed, the Internet Galaxy, in the midst of informed bewilderment." Castells provides no glib solutions, but asks us all to take responsibility for the future of this new information age.
It was within this context of the 21st century evolving education landscape that one of the Mangaung Resolutions taken at the ANC’s 53rd Conference called for the development of a detailed sectorial plan to strengthen the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) in order to maximise the value of the development of ICT, and also accelerate the uptake and usage of ICT tools.
The ANC conference also called for the promotion of an e-literate society by making e-skills a compulsory subject in all public schools. This requires the curriculum to focus on end-user computing as well as encouraging young people to pursue careers in the ICT sector.
These resolutions are in line with the 2014 Election Manifesto of the ANC that advocates for all schools to be connected through broadband by 2020 and the introduction of mobile devices such as tablets into school to enable learners to access the wealth of educational content available in cyberspace.
It is within this context that at its 1st Lekgotla in 2014, the Council for Education Ministers’ (CEM) resolved that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is to be one of key priorities for the sector to act as an anchor for the radical transformation of the basic education. We have come to the determination within the sector that ICT is crucial to improve the quality and efficiency of the system from a number of aspects including administration, e-learning and teacher training.
We are indeed mindful that for the ICT rollout to succeed requires an interdepartmental approach looking at various issues of connectivity, broadband, devices, electricity, and budget amongst others. In this regard:
- We are steaming ahead with the implementation of Access and Utilisation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) both for teaching and learning.
- Together with our local and international partners we have already convened a preparatory workshop on ICT laboratory as part of the Presidential fast track programme known as Big Fast Result project or Operation Phakisa.
- Phakisa is a Sesotho word, which means “Hurry Up”, this highlights the urgency with which government wants to deliver on some of the priorities encompassed in the National Development Plan (NDP). The President said the methodology was designed to answer fundamental implementation questions and find solutions, as the country tries to address poverty, inequality and unemployment, among other challenges, as stipulated in the NDP 2030.
Programme Director it is my pleasure to announce that the actual Operation Phakisa ICT Lab in Education is taking place as we speak. With the technical and facilitation collaboration with the World Bank and the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) at Treasury, the Lab brings together approximately 250 ICT in Education stakeholders for six intensive weeks to produce a systematic and detailed roll-out plan for the delivery of curriculum through ICT infrastructure to all schools across the nine provinces of South Africa.
The Lab focusses on four main strategic objectives namely, a) Electronic content resource development and distribution, b) ICT professional development for management, teaching and learning, c) Access to ICT infrastructure and lastly d) Connectivity.
During our Budget Speech we announced the launch of the new conditional grant to fast track the implementation of the new groundbreaking Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) Sector Plan. The new MST conditional grant has been allocated funding of R347 million in 2015/16, R362 million in 2016/17 and R385 million in 2017/18 respectively.
The grant will also provide ICT resources to schools, ensure teacher training especially at senior phase is accelerated and targeted learner support is prioritised to improve success and participation in MST subjects.
In conclusion, I would like to thank you all of you for sacrificing your time and resources in order to contribute and support Government in its efforts of improving the quality of education for our children. Our special thanks go Vodacom, Huawei, Ikando CC, Mindset Trading, Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Department of Basic Education senior officials.
I thank you
