SAOU CEO, Dr Chris Klopper
Campus Head, Prof Herman van Schalkwyk
Distinguished Guests
A reality I must share with you today is that, focus schools are not optional. They are not a fancy add-on to the educational mix. Excellent innovative schools which endow the young with specialised skills and competitiveness are the future. The power they wield derives from connecting learning with work. Consider yourself blessed to work in this area. We have a plan.
We have no choice but to fix them, revitalise them, properly resource them and turn them into cutting-edge incubators for the technology-driven economy of the 21st Century. If we don’t do that, people will starve, perish of want; wallow in sorrow, joblessness, sickness and wanton wretchedness.
If we don’t prioritise them, we may as well forget about any new growth path or any better life for South Africans.
When last we met in Port Elizabeth, on 5 September 2011, courtesy of the 16th SAOU School Principal Symposium, I took the liberty to ‘instruct’ educators to action the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) Accord on Basic Education. I said this accord, endorsed devotedly by organised labour, is predicated on the assumption that:
“Performance in the schooling system is at the heart of building the skills base for economic growth and development and ensuring that the society is able to achieve our equity and development goals.”
It is in the spirit of building an equitable and prosperous society truly belonging to all who live in it, that South Africa has positioned education as a pillar of its development agenda.
It is in this context that education constitutes the apex priority of the nation on which hangs our hopes of building a better life for all our people, regardless of race, gender, class or ethnicity.
It is this important role of education that underlies government’s carefully-considered decision to adopt, in 2010, improving the quality of basic education as Outcome 1 of its top 12 outcomes.
Government’s outcomes approach to improving quality of life compels us all in the field of basic education to seek, find and implement effective ways of providing a quality and delivery-driven education system for the 21st Century.
For these reasons, we developed an outcomes-driven strategy to strengthen weak areas in the system – Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. It draws direction from government’s guiding document for better results and better service delivery, titled Improving Government Performance: Our Approach.
I believe by improving performance in key areas of concern, the Plan will ensure learners benefit from a higher quality of education, including learners in focus schools of technology, agriculture, the arts and music.
The Action Plan, with the Delivery Agreement for Basic Education, is no attempt, whatsoever, at reinventing the wheel. We’re in no way throwing-out the baby with the bathwater.
Informed by the state and status of our ordinary and focus schools, our strategy is to build on, intensify and top-up our accomplishments as a new nation.
You know that since 1994, we’ve placed emphasis on transforming the education system better to advance the development of a national democratic society, by entrenching new values, from the cradle to the grave.
Our huge strides prompted Sue Fontannaz, editor of Education Handbook, (2009) to suggest that: “We now have one of the most enlightened education policy frameworks”.
The 2009 General Household Survey shows 30% of 0 to 4 year olds have attended an education institution. More than 78% of 5 year olds have attended an educational institution. There has been an increase in Grade R enrolment from 15% in 1999 to 60% in 2009 – a 45% increase between 1999 and 2009.
Levels of participation among children of compulsory school-going age are high with almost 99% enrolment in an education institution in 2009. In 2009, South Africa had 12 313 899 learners in 27 461 public and independent schools taught by 365 447 educators. In comparison with 1999, there were 85 937 more learners in school, taught by 47 620 more teachers.
Our twin challenge is efficiency and quality. This, I think, is why you chose as today’s theme:
“The role of technical and agricultural schools as focus schools in the operationalisation of Section 4(b) of the National Education Policy Act 27 of 1996: [saying] national education policy shall be directed toward enabling the education system to contribute to the full personal development of each student, and to the economic development of the nation at large.”
I agree with you that adequate attention to focus schools is essential. Upping the quality of focus schools is a requisite for economic development and dismantling inequalities.
Focus schools, with a career-orientated slant, are an important pillar for the development of human resources demanded by the economy particularly in light of the global economic decline.
Properly run, with state-of-the-art equipment and material for demonstrations and practical training for learners, they hold the golden key substantially to reverse South Africa’s skills deficit.
With appropriate support and efficiency, through these schools, we will accelerate the production of engineers, artisans and agriculturalists in line with the national Human Resource Development Strategy. We also need another Miriam Makeba, another Mandla Feni, and our own homebrewed Mozart.
Accordingly, we’re giving this area, and the entire schooling system, undivided attention precisely because education is a top priority, for a better life for all.
According to the Education Management Information System (EMIS) database of 2010, there are 1046 technical schools in South Africa, of which 960 are public schools, 86 independent.
EMIS lists 49 agricultural schools, of which 29 have their own farms. There are about 19 different production enterprises permeating the landscape of agricultural schools which offer rich practical activities for learners. There are 33 arts focus schools: 22 in Gauteng; 1 in the Free State; and 10 in the Western Cape.
This year, we’ve finalised comprehensive Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements. We’ve taken conscientious steps to ensure the system is ready for implementation. I’m glad this symposium coincides with your CAPS training for Grade 10 for agricultural and technological subjects.
To give an edge to technical schools, our Department has undertaken an ambitious recapitalisation project. Focus is on 200 technical schools identified by provinces in accordance with agreed criteria, including teaching of technology subjects at Grades 10-12 and the need to upgrade the school’s facilities to enhance learning and teaching of technology subjects.
The breakdown of the 200 schools is as follows: Eastern-Cape (31 schools); Free State (18); Gauteng (39); KwaZulu-Natal (32); Limpopo (24); Mpumalanga (15); Northern Cape (10); North West (22); and Western Cape (9).
The plan entails building new workshops, refurbishing old and structurally unsafe ones, procuring equipment, tools and machinery, and training and up-skilling teachers.
Accordingly, we were allocated R80 million for 2010/11, R200 million for 2011/12, R210 million for 2012/13 for this purpose. Implementation commenced in April 2010, through provinces. Completion date is 2014. The ultimate goal is to improve and modernise technical schools.
Quality demands a true marriage of theory and practice, enriched with high-tech resources, quality teachers, strategic management and support, passionate learners and community participation.
What I want to see is improvement enhancing curriculum delivery while advancing the repositioning of focus schools.
I am happy SAOU takes these issues seriously. Creating centres of excellence will help us increase the number of learners venturing into universities and FET colleges to take on careers in engineering and technology; thus advancing the National Skills Development Strategy III and placing South Africa firmly on a trajectory of inclusive growth and development.
If you were to ask ‘what are the key milestones?’ I would cite:
- Development of provincial and national business plans, with compliance certificates compiled and submitted to Treasury in March 2010
- Improved implementation in six provinces
- 10 of 26 new workshops built
- 106 of 144 existing workshops upgraded, and
- 364 of the projected 474 technical school teachers trained in subject content delivery and new practical teaching methodologies.
While there are reasons to celebrate, there are mountains to summit. We have revised provisions of the recapitalisation grant framework, to assist provinces fast-track implementation, by improving procurement processes.
On the agricultural front, we intend bridging the skills divide by bringing all citizens into the mainstream economy.
Agriculture is a weapon for dispelling the ravenous cloud of poverty and joblessness, thus the relevance of agricultural schools, particularly for rural communities wherein is located the poorest of the poor – the proverbial ‘wretched of the earth’.
To improve performance, we’ve aligned the CAPS for Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Management Practices and Agricultural Technology to key challenges facing the agricultural sector.
Particular focus is on the needs of emerging farmers and on national priorities of food security, rural wealth-creation and sustainable development.
We need partnerships with Higher Education, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and unions like SAOU, to improve teacher content knowledge. Greater advocacy is required to market their value.
We welcome your efforts in this regard and in the field of music and the arts.
The National Strategy For Dedicated Arts and Culture Schools is shaped by the imperative to provide high-quality specialised arts education in preparation for higher education and the world of work, and the need to strengthen the teaching of performing and visual arts in schools. Our task is to encourage schools offering arts subjects to be committed to the creation of an environment within which the arts can flourish.
To round-off, as patriots we should make focus schools efficient and quality-driven to “contribute to the full personal development of each student, and to the economic development of the nation at large.”
As educators you’re at the coalface of delivery, the classroom. You pick-up challenges first-hand. So, devise and draw our attention to compelling strategies. Together we can make focus schools viable business incubators primed to defeat poverty, jobless growth and inequality.
Our vision we can achieve if we pay attention to the type and quality of skills we impart to the young; if we all invest in targeted teacher empowerment; if we secure state-of-the-art equipment and resources; if we support and accelerate focused-planning; if we’re outcomes and delivery driven.
Thank you for the invite and I wish you success in your endeavours.
