Welcome address by MEC for Education Ishmael Kgetjepe at the AMESA 21st Annual Congress, University Of Limpopo, Turfloop Campus
Programme Director,
AMESA President,
Vice chancellor and Principal of the University of Limpopo,
AMESA Congress director,
Chairperson of AMESA Limpopo,
Mathematics educators and researchers,
Invited guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
A very good evening to everyone in attendance here tonight.
African American human rights activist, Malcolm X in his Autobiography says: “I am sorry to say that the subject I most disliked was mathematics. I have thought about it. I think the reason was that mathematics leaves no room for argument. If you made a mistake, that was all there was to it.”
While you are still pondering on the words of Malcolm X, Let me take this opportunity to thank the leadership of the University of Limpopo, who are the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today. I would like in the same breath to thank the leadership of AMESA for inviting me to speak to you this evening in your 21st annual congress under the theme “Deepening the Quality of Mathematics Teaching and Learning”.
What comes out clearly from the theme is that the teaching and learning is been going on for years but there has to be quality. In other words it must never be teaching and learning of mathematics as usual. You are particularly saying, there is a serious need to shift the gear to the kind of teaching that will see us producing quality results and quality learners. Learners who will not fail us at universities. Learners who can cope in high skill jobs in the private sector. We need to be in our fifth element to bring about the quality and I am sure that come the end of your deliberations, you would have figured that out a plan and we shall engage as a collective on a proper way forward and implementation.
From your theme, we can also deduce that there is serious need to stimulate and deepen interest on the part of learners to learn mathematics in our schools. We must demystify the notion that has been prevailing since time in memorial that mathematics and science are for the selected few. To date some people still believe mathematics is not for everybody but the question is which subject or subjects are for everybody.
Our learners must know that they have abilities to handle mathematics and science subjects and it is us who must create conducive environments and all the requisite resources for the teaching and learning of mathematics to take place successfully.
I am happy that this congress is taking place and we are going to change the way we teach mathematics in a manner that will ensure that our learners do well in the fields of mathematics, science and technology. Obviously, part of your plan is to share good practices and even the worst ones so that together we focus on what works for us and discourage all the things that will not help to deepen the quality of mathematics teaching and learning.
In this sector, It is incumbent on all of us never to stop looking and searching for solutions when it comes to the education of our children. This gathering here demonstrates exactly that you take issues of teaching and learning mathematics very seriously and this has to be applauded. The reality has been and still is, mathematics is part and parcel of everyday life in our complex modern world.
You will know that modern day computing relies on mathematics and so do a host of applications in medicines, economics, business, finance, weather forecasting, digital forecasting and of course education.
This simply means mathematical sciences are continuing to play an increasingly important role and your role as educators in the teaching of mathematics become paramount. Your importance cannot be underestimated and we must intensify our efforts with regard to teacher development.
Part of it as you would know is the training programme called 1+4 for grade 8 and 9 mathematics teachers as introduced by the Department of Basic Education. We continue to provide Continuous Professional Development Programmes for Mathematics, Sciences, Accounting, Economics and Business Studies teachers.
We hope that this will pick up performance in mathematics which remains low, here in the province particularly in grade 9. So we must not shy away from being honest with ourselves when analysing results in order to develop strategies and approaches that will respond to pertinent aspects that make things difficult for teachers to teach and learners to learn.
This congress must be able to dissect such aspects so that we address low achievement levels not only in those grades that are of dire concern but across the schooling system. Our biggest challenge, from a national point of view, is that we must rapidly increase the number of Grade 12 learners passing matric with a mark above 50 percent in order to meet the county’ skill needs.
Remember that 2015 has been declared the year of the freedom charter and unity in action to advance economic freedom. It will be difficult to achieve economic freedom in our lifetime if we do not produce sufficient learners who pass well enough mathematics and science.
Research and in this case mathematical research cannot be emphasised. Our ability to conduct proper research is something that must receive attention. We need to know why learners think what they do about mathematics and find a way of instilling in them that learning mathematics is enjoyable and fun. We must as we conduct our business of the congress try and give every challenge proper context, progress made, challenges faced and what should be done practically as we can’t afford to theorise at this point in time. Luckily mathematics is about practice and practical stuff.
Mathematics is a critical subject and the mobilisation of resources becomes very crucial, more especially if we are to reach our learners in the far flung areas of our province. We must together mobilise resources from the private sector to augment that which government provides. The provision of quality teachers at our rural schools in order to ensure that quality learners in mathematics and science come from all parts of our provinces.
We recently handed over some school infrastructure programme through the public-private partnership to five schools in the Greater Tubatse Local municipality in partnership with the Samancor Eastern Chrome mines. Two of the projects handed over are a laboratory and an engineering workshop and obviously mathematics will be needed because mathematics and science go hand in hand, not easily divorceable. We need more and inspiring public-private partnership.
The fact that we spend as a country about 5 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on basic education should tell us that education is a very serious matter. We are not investing this much just for the sake of it. Just like in any investment, we expect returns especially in the area of mathematics and science for us to reverse the systematic impact of apartheid education.
The world over knows that developing successful problem solvers is a complex task requiring a range of skills and dispositions. Our learners, who are future leaders, need deep mathematical knowledge and a general reasoning ability for solving non-routine problems. That says to us that a fundamental aim of the mathematics curriculum is to educate our learners to be active, thinking citizens, interpreting the world in which we live mathematically and using mathematics to help form their predictions and decisions.
In closing, I wish to urge you to be at the forefront of efforts to sustain and improve the quality of teaching and learning mathematics. We must also be an integral part of making the national curriculum reflect our development imperatives and we must not forget that the education continues to be our number one priority. Our job is not finished irrespective of the great strides in ensuring that education and training is available to all. More still needs to be done.
Let me also emphasise the obligation that we all hold to ensure that the doors of learning mathematics remain open. This must be accompanied by the creation of a functional and conducive environment for all our children: environment in which sustainable human development is founded on principles of democracy, equality, non-discrimination, peace and social justice, especially children.
All of us have to give far greater attention to achieving positive outcomes through our work in the interest of advancing the objective of quality education for all.
Tobias Dantzing once said: “Mathematics is the supreme judge, from its decisions there is no appeal”
We welcome you to this part of our country. I wish you well with your deliberations and have a successful 21st congress.
I thank you!
