Ms Judith O'Connell from Equip
Dr Lydia Abel from the UCT Schools Development Unit Mr Jannie Beukes, EMDC Director and other officials of WCED Rev. Ngculu, Ms Cally Kühne, Dr Cynthia Fakudze, Mr Pierre Boonzaaier Principals of all the schools involved in the programme Teachers, Learners and Parents Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
Although I am always delighted to officiate at ceremonies that celebrate achievement and progress, I am starting to run out of words, with which to describe and praise the work of Judith O'Connell and her Equip team.
Teacher development and support hold the key to the provision of quality education. It does not matter whether a school is well-resourced or not, fact is, without highly qualified, skilled and motivated teachers, the quality of learning and teaching will suffer.
As always, I must commend the initiative of both the UCT Schools Development Unit, and the Equip project members, for this schools-based Professional Development Programme.
I am sure the five Mbekweni schools, which benefited - it is the Desmond Tutu High School, Ihlumelo Junior High School, and the three primary schools: Imboniselo, Mbekweni and Langabuya - will have benefited greatly from this programme, and ultimately the community as a whole will have benefited.
Your programme to offer support in Mathematics, Science, Life Orientation, and Literacy in all the phases in the schools, and the various interventions, are spot-on in terms of the priorities for me as Minister, as well as the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED).
As you very well know, our Premier Ebrahim Rasool is passionately driving the vision of the provincial government of a Home for All. Whilst this is our vision, we must be sober in our assessment as to where we are in terms of this vision. It is clear we cannot, today, here, now say, that the Western Cape is a Home for All. We are still very far from that vision.
If one analyzes the levels of literacy and numeracy; if one analyzes the performances of our schools and learners in the subjects of maths, science and accountancy; if one looks at inequalities that persist among our various communities, then it is clear that we will have to work harder to realize the vision of the Western Cape as a Home for All.
Therefor, we have adopted an economic development strategy - Ikapa Elihlumayo - to grow and share the Cape, to realise that vision. As one of the lead strategies, which underpin Ikapa Elihlumayo, we as education have been tasked with the Human Capital Development Strategy, with a focus on youth. The key values that underpin the vision and mission of this strategy, are based fundamentally on our Constitution.
Our strategy seeks to increase participation and success rates of our learners in the General Education and Training band; and FET in both schools and colleges; and increase the number of FET learners who qualify to enter higher education institutions, especially from poor backgrounds.
But we face some serious challenges in our task of providing the Cape with citizens with the necessary knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to build this Home for All.
Last week I was in England and Ireland, where I was privileged to visit various schools to interact with principals about the impact that school business managers had on the development of their schools.
In some schools we visited, I found that primary school children were using computers, and even roamed the internet without restriction. The primary school children are introduced to technology at a very early age, and this impacted positively on their development later.
Information and Communication Technology is at the heart of our country's future growth. With technology comes greater access to information, the development of IT skills, more effective administration of schools, a higher level of accountability and increased confidence for entire communities.
I have come to learn how Ireland managed to turn their economy around. It was based on two key elements, which was entry into, and participation in the European Union, which then led to direct investments in their education system. In other words, capacity building through networks.
Believe it or not, England and Ireland have similar problems when it comes to the levels of literacy and numeracy. However, what impressed me about what they are doing, is that their definition of literacy now includes the use of everyday technology.
They have established a dedicated independent national agency, funded by government, to run literacy programmes. Workers who want to participate in these programmes, are given time off by their employers. The President of the country is the patron of this agency, which is a clear indication of the seriousness with which they are tackling the issue.
I have already identified and committed myself to making literacy and numeracy one of my five key priorities during my term of office. The others include school safety, infrastructure provisioning, the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement in schools and FET Colleges, and the re-engineering and transformation of the Western Cape Education Department.
All challenges in education are very important, but reading, writing and counting, in proper, safe facilities, are absolutely fundamental to quality education. The WCED has an ongoing programme to address the low levels of numeracy and literacy. Results have shown that while there has been a slight improvement, they still fall far short of what is required.
Whilst on the one hand we are making progress to varying degrees, we are now coordinating and monitoring our various strategies more effectively to make a real difference.
I believe that the key ingredients to making a decisive breakthrough in the levels of literacy and numeracy, are Early Childhood Development, mother-tongue based education, class sizes and competently, qualified and highly motivated teachers.
Mobilising partnerships, friends and business acquaintances in fighting poverty and creating work, is a key component of our Human Capital Development Strategy, which is about social networks - communities taking responsibility for, and leadership in projects that are designed to improve the conditions of the collective in that community.
Social responsible corporate citizens and the commitment of business can contribute enormously to sustainable social and economic development. The involvement of business in education, training and skills development creates opportunities for business to transfer skills and share ideas. These networks provide a platform for business and government to talk and strategise together.
So I want to thank the University of Cape Town and the National Business Initiative for their sustained involvement and commitment to the education of our children. By investing in our teachers, you are making a very valuable contribution to our overall efforts of building a learning home for all.
The interventions to develop teachers' discourse on education and building confidence, knowledge and understanding, are important for the development of content within the new National Curriculum Statement framework, especially as we get ready for its introduction next year.
The challenge of providing the necessary human capital and skills requires huge investments on the part of government. But for education and training to be successful, it requires all partners and stakeholders to join hands and deliver on what our communities and country need.
As government, we are already putting in place a myriad of initiatives and programmes to fast-track the skills profile of our country, including providing an innovative framework for developing and implementing sector and workplace strategies to improve workers' skills.
President Thabo Mbeki has challenged us to grow the economy by six percent, to halve unemployment in the next decade and fight poverty. However a key barrier to growing the economy, is the lack of the necessary human resources and skills.
Some of the biggest areas of growth in the job market in the next few years, are going to be in the fields of engineering, science, information technology and accountancy. Therefor we need to produce more learners taking the subjects of maths, science and technology to move into these careers.
However, last year, in the whole of the country only five percent of almost 500,000 candidates passed maths on the higher grade. In the Western Cape alone, of the 4,268 Maths Higher Grade candidates, only 1,478 were black. Even worse, only 305 African learners passed Maths Higher Grade.
These figures, together with the low levels of literacy and numeracy, makes one begin to understand why Sasol this year had to import about two-thousand engineers. And economists estimate that our country will need at least 13,000 engineers a year, of which we currently produce just above 3,000. I am sure the captains of industry present here can confirm this.
Right now, say our economic experts, there is about half-a-million vacancies in the industries of communications and information technology, finance and accounting services, and other professional services. But it cannot be filled because we do not have enough students who study mathematics, science or accountancy, who opt for these career paths.
The International Soccer ruling body FIFA, has just inspected some of our stadiums, and the Premier has given the commitment that the Athlone stadium will be upgraded extensively, as well as other infrastructural programmes.
But the question is: do we have enough engineers and other skills to be able to cope with this? Even here in the Western Cape, in the Department of Transport and Public Works 74% of posts for engineers are vacant.
And therefor, unless we are able to improve the quality of our performance in mathematics, science and accountancy, or seek innovative ways of meeting these targets, our economy is not going to grow at the targeted rate of 6%, and we are going to have to rely on imported skills for a very long time.
The Western Cape Education Department has already put in place various initiatives designed to improve learner performance in these subjects across the board in the Western Cape. The strategy includes teacher training, materials development, diagnostic testing and special interventions.
Over the weekend the Premier has announced that we will set up special focus schools, to provide our youth with high quality skills in maths, science, technology, business management and arts and culture. This is an integral part of our objective to grow the economy, to create work and fight poverty.
We are increasing the number of maths focused Dinaledi schools from 10 to 50. As part of ensuring curriculum redress to support strategic programmes such as the Dinaledi schools, we are allocating 50 posts to improve mathematics results.
In addition to the normal allocation, which a school qualifies for, 21 further posts will be allocated to other focus areas, to support subjects in Arts and Culture, Engineering, Agriculture and Business Management.
We are considering allocating 70 additional posts to our Education Management and Development Centres (EMDCs) in each district, to provide additional support to clusters of schools.
Educators holding these posts could include lead teachers for subjects such as Mathematics or Science, education project managers, itinerant isiXhosa teachers and experienced school managers who could provide support for principals. I am confident that these measures will ultimately have a positive impact on our overall efforts of building a Learning Home for All.
Besides the fact that I was awarded an Honourary Fellowship by the Institute of Administrative Management in London, I have also studied the concept of School Business Management, and the positive impact it had on the confidence of those who participated in the various courses and programmes.
From the experiences of schools principals in the UK, it is clear that school business managers had been a fantastic investment for education in the country.
It has transferred skills in a real way, giving new opportunities and confidence to thousands of administrators and school secretaries, whose value is not often recognized and appreciated.
I am sure that kind of investment in the human capital of a country will be felt for decades to come. Without exception head teachers, which in our case are school principals, whom we met and spoke to, all agreed that the managers added considerable value, and have brought greater efficiency in the running of their schools.
The role of the school managers has allowed the principal to concentrate on his core function, which is the delivery of the curriculum and enhancing academic performance.
The school business managers we met in the schools we visited, spoke of a new lease on life, a new confidence and a passion for making a real difference in their schools.
Many of the school business managers, who were once receptionists, secretaries or administrators, are now integrated into school management teams, which is a very positive development.
I have yet to compile a report and make a presentation to the national Minister and the rest of the MECs in the country, but I have already an idea in my mind to call a forum of school secretaries and administrators, to consult with them on input into a possible curricula for school managers, which can perfectly be offered by our FET colleges. The idea is still in its infant stages, but I am committed to the idea of well-run efficient schools, which is essential for the delivery of quality education.
Once again, many thanks to the various role-players, including officials in my department, the Cape Teaching Institute, and again, NBI and UCT, for your role in this programme, which is an integral part of the answer to the President's call to grow the economy, and the Premier's vision of building a Home for All.
I thank you...
For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.
Gert WitbooiMedia Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za
