Programme Director, Professor Nkomo
Chairperson: SA National Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Professor Figaji
UNESCO Director and Representative, Professor Wright
Representatives of higher education institutions
Representatives of stakeholder organisations
Representatives of government departments
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I feel especially honoured to have been given the singular privilege again, of addressing this year’s stakeholder meeting on the important matter of education for all. I must have done something right last year!
A year has passed since we gathered at the Burgerspark Hotel to present and analyse South Africa’s 2009 Country Report on Education for All (EFA). We sought to enhance the depth and quality of the report. The overriding aim was to ensure our country is assisted to deliver on all six goals of education for all, as agreed to by the international community in Dakar, in 2000.
At the 2009 meeting, everybody acknowledged that South Africa has made significant strides towards the attainment of almost all EFA Goals.
But, as stakeholders, you also pointed out gaps, most of which we are ourselves acutely aware of. Our results in international testing programmes have clearly indicated the pressing need urgently to produce quality learning outcomes.
Most importantly, you made a number of valuable recommendations for which we are very grateful and appreciative. Allow me to refresh your minds on some of them.
For goal one: early childhood care and education, you recommended, among other things, greater coordination between government departments, more information about gender parity in ages 0 to 4, improvement in the training of practitioners, more attention to quality, for example, literacy and numeracy, and more attention to facilities, especially for vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
We are convinced of the correctness and efficacy of this approach and have given it serious attention. By far, the most engaging presentation at the First World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education entitled ”Building the Wealth of Nations” was given by Dr Jack Shonkoff, Professor of Child Health and Development and Director of the Centre on the Developing Child at Harvard University.
It shows compellingly why the first years are so crucial; what science has to tell us about brain development in early childhood; the effects of “toxic stress” and the meaning of “brain plasticity”; and what conditions are needed to ensure that children’s early years provide a solid foundation for the rest of their lives.
Dr Jack Shonkoff has clearly demonstrated that quality early childhood care and education is not just common sense, but a wise investment towards sustainable development.
For goal two, on access, you recommended urgent training of more foundation phase teachers and the provision of targeted and effective teacher support, getting the right people to develop a realistic system for success, encouraging massive participation in education, and getting the educational basics right, including the provision of adequate schools, classrooms and playgrounds and more serious use of indigenous languages.
For goal three on skills development, you recommended a coordinated approach to vocational and skills training and a multi-pronged strategy focusing on diverse and differentiated provision, as well as a coordinated funding approach that draws on multiple resources.
For goal four: literacy, you called for more coordination between Government literacy campaigns, while for goal five on gender, you felt that our report had left out geographic, socio-economic and racial variables, and correctly pointed out that counting numbers does not sufficiently deal with the discrimination which girls (or boys) experience as a result of their sex.
On goal six, quality, you called for a clear vision of excellence and innovation, the training of more black teachers, the return of teacher-training to specialised teacher development institutions, multi-stakeholder involvement and partnerships in the struggle for quality education.
As shown in succeeding presentations, this year’s report shows how we have responded to most of these recommendations, by highlighting improvements, changes and developments since last year’s gathering. These will be in the form of new or improved policies, methodologies, plans and programmes which clearly demonstrate government’s commitment to the centrality of education as a driver of development.
Without going into details, I would like to briefly mention that one of the major steps we have taken as a Department efficiently and effectively to address the gaps in our schooling system was to develop a comprehensive plan – action plan to 2014: towards the realisation of schooling 2025. It sets clear outcomes, targets and activities for improving the quality of basic education in South Africa.
Most importantly, being a sector-based plan, consciously enriched by a thoroughgoing process of stakeholder-engagement and consensus-building, the action plan responds directly to the recommendation on the need to harness multi-stakeholder involvement and partnerships in the struggle for quality education.
In a nutshell, progress indicated in the 2010 report includes:
- An increase in the percentage of 5 year old children attending an education institution, from 39% in 2002 to approximately 78% in 2009
- Almost all school-age children (7 to 13 years) are enrolled in schools. Overall, 99% were attending education institutions in 2009 compared to 96% in 2002
- Attendance of learners by gender is almost equal for both females and males
- The proportion of functionally literate adults increased from 70% in 1995 to 79% in 2009.
I invite you all to scrutinise the 2010 report, to vigorously discuss its content and to once more make insightful input.
I was pleased to note a very good departure in this year’s programme, namely a slot for civil society formations to present on what they are doing further to promote education for all. This clearly demonstrates not only government’s recognition that we cannot go it alone, but also our appreciation of the commendable contribution of civil society role-players to our nation’s struggle to improve our education system. As President Zuma has said: ‘education is a societal issue’.
I wish to congratulate UNESCO for the excellent work it has done in promoting the goals of education for All and the education-related Millennium Development Goals. A look at UNESCO’s annual EFA Global Monitoring Report, and at its report at the recent MDG Summit in New York, clearly demonstrates the seriousness with which the organisation takes its mandate, not to mention the five major international education conferences it has organised in the past two years, namely:
- The 48th International Conference on Education: “Inclusive Education: the Way of the Future” (25-28 November 2008, Geneva, Switzerland)
- The World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development: “Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade” (31 March-2 April 2009, Bonn, Germany)
- The World Conference on Higher Education: “The New Dynamics of Higher Education” (6-8 July 2009, Paris, France)
- CONFINTEA VI (International Conference on Adult Education): “Learning and Living for a Viable Future: the Power of Adult Learning” (1-4 December 2009, Belém, Brazil
- The First World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, 27-29 September 2010, Moscow, Russian Federal Republic.
I would also like to thank our officials, and in particular, the Directorate for Monitoring and Evaluation, for putting together this report, which demonstrates a sincere process of self-introspection and self-analysis.
Once more, a warm welcome to all of you and thank you for your continued interest in and support for the work of this department, and most importantly, for taking time from your busy schedules to participate in this very vital exercise.
Lastly, allow me to thank and congratulate the South African National Commission for UNESCO, for providing this important platform in the light of growing consensus that a system of democratic governance has to involve ample opportunities for citizens and their organisations to engage government.
A special word of thanks to Professor Brian Figaji, Chairperson of the Commission, and Professor Mokubung Nkomo, Chairperson of the Commission’s Education Sector Committee, for their sterling work and unsurpassed dedication. We are fortified by the professional manner in which you have carefully guided the Commission in publicising and promoting UNESCO’s programmes in South Africa.
Working together we can do more to realise children’s right to education and rights within education. I wish you a successful meeting.
Thank you.
