Address by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Blade Nzimande on the ocassion the Education Lekgotla of the Department of Basic Education, Birchwood Conference Centre, Gauteng
Minister of Basic Education, Ms. Siviwe Gwarube;
Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
Senior government officials;
Head of schools and colleges;
Heads of Academic and Science institutions;
Leaders of business;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:
Thank you for the honour of inviting me to take part in this important gathering, whose focus is one of the most potent instruments for the development of any human being, education.
Your chosen theme for this Lekgotla, which is "Strengthening foundations for learning for a resilient future fit education system.", is particularly apt as it recognises the importance of ensuring that our education system is responsive, relevant, and agile.
I have been asked to speak on the topic ‘The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in Enabling Education.’ In approaching this topic, I wish to reflect on three interrelated issues.
Science as an essential enabler for national development
The first is the role of science as an enabler for national development. As the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation, we take the view that no nation can hope to achieve its development goals if it fails to invest in the development of its scientific capabilities.
As Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, I am proud to state that South Africa has one of the most advanced and largest public science systems in Africa.
Over the past three decades, we have made significant investments which greatly enhanced our capabilities in science and the prestige of our scientists.
For instance, we have expanded our system by creating new entities specialist entities such as the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the National Intellectual Property Office.
More recently, we made strategic policy shifts with the aim of making our public system science more responsive to our national priorities. In this respect, in 2019, we adopted our White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation.
To drive targeted research and the development of technologies in key economic sectors such as energy, agriculture, mining, health, and the circular and digital economies, with a strong focus on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence- we adopted a Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation, for the period 2022-2032.
As an outcome of our investments, our share of global research output (0,98%) has increased and making a difference in areas such as health innovation (HIV/Aids) and the development of rural livelihoods.
Our investments also have made it possible for us to win the bid to cohost big international science projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which upon completion will be the single biggest science infrastructure.
Recently, humanity’s biggest challenge has been the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the height of this pandemic, it was South African scientists who first identified the genome of a new and virulent SARS-CoV-2 variant, later named 501Y.V2.
In line with our new mantra of placing science, technology, and innovation at the centre of government, education, industry, and society, over the next five years, we will increase our focus on helping our country to develop credible pandemic preparedness capacity, more specifically local vaccine manufacturing capacity.
We will continue our focus of supporting the development of scarce and critical skills, through among others the Presidential PhD Programme (PPhP).
The relationship between basic education and STI
The second issue is that of the relationship between education and science. Education and science are both instruments for unlocking human potential and therefore, education and science are both complementary and mutually reinforcing.
For instance, as part of our work to build a strong research workforce for our country, we are running a comprehensive postgraduate programme to equip students with the necessary research skills.
This programme cannot succeed unless the basic education system provides a reliable supply of school leavers with quality passes to pursue STEM disciplines at universities.
In a similar way, the basic education system must supply school leavers who qualify for engineering studies at TVET colleges who are needed to build and maintain the equipment used to conduct research.
Furthermore, for the basic education system to operate optimally, there is a need for policies and practices that are evidence-based. Available data, which we constantly compile, analyse, and interpret, and the new research knowledge that is generated through research constitute the evidence used to inform policy decisions and practices.
As part of exposing learners to scientific methodologies, in Cofimvaba, in the Eastern Cape, we have a partnership science centre project involving Intsika Yethu Local Municipality, the DBE, and the Eastern Cape Department of Education.
We selected learners from two local schools (St. James and Cofimvaba), and they are collaborating with scientists in a research project to assess the performance of innovative building and other technologies used at the science centre.
The learners are responsible for data collection, and lately they volunteered to escalate their role in data analyses.
Interestingly, a conference paper has since been produced and presented to an international conference on acoustics with full acknowledgment of the role played by these learners.
The DSTI and the DBE have a longstanding strategic relationship that must be strengthened.
The third and final issue is that of the partnership between our two departments. Minister Gwarube and I agree that the work of our two departments is intricately linked, and our mandates are interdependent.
This is why we recently had a bilateral agreement wherein we agreed to strengthen and diversify the partnership between our two departments. As part of our existing partnership, we are enabling the mandate of the basic education department in the following ways:
Our National Science Week, which attracts over 4000 learners each year and engages them in a week long programme of exciting activities which are meant to spark their curiosity and encourage them to take up careers in science. We are currently looking at extending our National Science Week to become National Science Month.
Our Stem Olympiads- This creates a platform for learners to informally experiment with scientific theories and is important for the development of such skills as problem-solving, critical, and computational thinking, communication, and creativity.
Our SET Careers Material- We produce and distribute a well-researched STEM career publication that explains STEM careers and associated paths. It can be downloaded from our website for free and can also be delivered to schools, upon request.
Finally, as part of contributing to 4IR literacy in schools, our Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town trained close to 200 educators from all nine provinces as trainers in the basics of coding.
We will be continuing with this project in the next three years in partnership with DBE, incorporating the latest ideas and learning methodologies.
Building and sponsoring a few but important computer laboratories, including in primary schools
Working together to improve stem passes in STEM disciplines in our schooling, including ratching up the numbers of STEM passes in matric results.
Lastly, but not least, working with the DHET in producing qualified and competent STEM educators, including creative pedagogy to teach STEM disciplines in our schooling systems
Basic education is an absolutely important foundation in building a strong STI system in our country, and in the struggle to overcome the fear of maths and Science in our schools!
We wish you a successful Summit and I am looking forward to engaging with it resolutions.
Thank you.
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