Madam Mayor of the Saldanha Municipality Johanna Stoffels;
Mr Louis Penzhorn, Managing Director of Sea Harvest;
Ms Itumeleng Gush, Sea Harvest Corporate Affairs Director responsible for the company's Social Investment Programme;
Mr Maxwell Moss, ANC MP and member of the Board of Trustees of the foundation, and other members;
Mr Jannie Beukes, EMDC Director; and Mr Lennie Davids, Circuit Manager, and other officials from my dept;
The Leadership of the Unions and their members;
Staff Members of the Foundation;
Recipients of the bursaries and parents;
Dignatories and Guests
Thank you very much for inviting me to this function of yours. It is always good to be here with the people of the West Coast, who have shown that they are a warm and caring community.
The Mayor Mrs Stoffels last week donated R20,000 towards stationery for the learners of Langa, who have been victims of the fires. Thanks very much Madam Mayor.
Also, last year Mr Moss received the Premier's Award as a Member of the Order of the Disa for his perseverance and personal dedication to improving the lives of the people of the West Coast and the Province. Congratulations Max.
This bursary programme of Sea Harvest is further confirmation that this community is a community hard at work, constantly pushing back the frontiers of poverty. Mr Penzhorn and Ms Gush, thank you very much.
Both you, together with our Mayor and our Member of Parliament Mr Moss, all of you are a shining example to all of us and the whole community.
Let me inform you that our matriculants of 2004 in the West Coast, specifically, Mr Lennie Davids' circuit, achieved a 91,25 percent pass rate, which is way above the provincial mark of 85 percent.
The pass rate for the different schools were as follows: Diazville Secondary 86,21%, Hopefield High School 100%, Veldrift High School 100%, Vredenburg High School 98.8%, and Weston Secondary 85.2%. Congratulations to all of you and well done.
But whilst this is a wonderful achievement we must acknowledge, we must also be honest and admit that we can do more to increase the number of endorsements from our previously disadvantaged communities.
We all know that poverty levels is a significant factor that influences the provisioning of education, especially here on the West Coast where the unemployment rate is at about 30 percent.
But I want to put a challenge to our schools, to steadily improve on this and double the numbers this year. As you double the number of endorsements, I also want to urge you to work hard to retain our learners in the school system until the end.
At the moment about half of the 80,000 learners who enter the education system, drop out of the system.
But having said that, I want to say to those matriculants who did not pass, it is not the end of the world. Go back to school, or enroll for ABET classes, or use any other opportunity to upgrade your skills. We are going to need people with skills to help build this country.
This week saw the start of the new school year for 2005. I am glad that in this circuit there were no reports of serious problems, like transport or accommodation issues.
I am told that the process of enrolling learners at Hopefield and Vredenburg High is going smoothly.
Perhaps you would know that Mikro Primary School in Kuilsriver is challenging the department in court over our instruction to enroll an English speaking class. I am not going to say too much because it is sub judice, except that we as government have a constitutional obligation to provide access to education to all our learners, and we are determined to fulfill that duty.
The Montague High School also wanted to mount a legal challenge, but I am glad that good sense prevailed and the learners are now having access to the school within their town for the first time.
Back here in the West Coast, I am particularly glad that the pressure on Weston Secondary has now been relieved, because we must work towards a situation where we bring our numbers down to acceptable levels, in order to enhance our ability to deliver quality education.
I know that we have some outstanding challenges, for example when I was here with the rest of Cabinet on the imbizo roadshow, many people complained about the issue of language, and the shortage of especially Xhosa-speaking teachers.
The issue of accommodation is also a constant challenge for us, especially in the light of the recent and future economic developments in the pipeline for this area.
I am thus looking at ways of speeding up the building of another school in Vredenburg. Currently we are in contact with Petro SA regarding this matter, but cannot say too much as it is not yet concluded.
At the same time, I am committed to looking for additional resources to build more schools and improving infrastructure in our poorest schools. It means that we will have to start dispensing of some of our school land to raise additional money, which we can use for this purpose.
These are but a few issues, which present enormous challenges for us in education this year. And for Government to effectively address these challenges, we will need to seek partnerships with labour, business, local government, NGO's and other social partners.
Schools cannot operate in a vacuum and require wider, sustained support from all of us. Our Western Cape Education Foundation, which we are going to revitalize, must be a dynamic vehicle to build partnerships with the private sector and our social partners.
Central to our task this year will be the development of a provincial human resource development strategy with a focus on youth. Our Premier, Ebrahim Rasool has put forward the vision of the Western Cape as a Home for All.
Our strategic path to achieve this vision is the economic development strategy, Ikapa Elihlumayo (to grow and share the Cape).
Our President Thabo Mbeki has defined South Africa's key challenge as the fight against poverty and for the creation of work. It is only a united effort by all of us that can meet this call.
The introduction of the FET curriculum from 2006 presents great and exciting challenges and opportunities for the people of the province and in the West Coast. With the FET curriculum we can accommodate demands, which are relevant to the needs of the local economy.
The potential economic developments in the West Coast in the next few years, present enormous opportunities for maths and science learners. We have a dire need for more black and women engineers. Because at the moment we produce only a third of the country's required 16,000 engineers per annum.
Last year the Premier launched the <b>100 days </b>deposit campaign. Similarly, this year will see the <b>April Targets Campaign.</b> To this end, education has been instructed to deliver before the end of April:
- Start-up kits for 30 Grade R sites in poor areas
- 80 Bursaries for Maths and Science teachers
- Sod turning for 7 new schools
- 320 high schools to have computer labs
I am also excited about the fact that all our historically disadvantaged secondary schools will be equipped with a satellite dish, TV and VCR by the end of this year. This holds great potential as it will give access to MINDSET and other learning programmes.
With regards to our programme of building human capital, we must make sure that every school has a dynamic Representative Council of Learners (RCL) and School Governing Body (SGB), and that these are organised at a provincial level to become a partner with the WCED in the provisioning of education.
I also want to form an Association of Retired and ex-Teachers, to utilise their skills to further improve the quality of our education.
Similarly, I am committed to improving the service conditions for our educators to keep them in the classroom, and to attract learners to choose teaching as a profession, especially in maths and science.
We must build on some of the successes of last year, which includes the fact that every school in our province now has electricity. Last year's highlight was the fact that not only did we secure the posts of our existing teachers, but grew our teachers by 365, including 50 new posts for FET colleges.
This was a great achievement, thanks to the Premier, MEC Lynne Brown and our national Minister Naledi Pandor.
I believe that with the additional R186 million for the 2005/06 year and allocations for subsequent years, we can now look forward to stability and growth in Western Cape Education.
We must work hard to ensure quality education in each and every one of our 1,471 schools. In this way we will create a learning home for all our children.
A special word of congratulations to those who are receiving bursaries tonight. Your parents must be proud of you.
I trust you will use the money wisely and eventually reward the trust that your community has put in you. Congratulations!
Thank you
For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.
Gert Witbooi
Media Secretary
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za
The Western Cape - A Home for AllINtshona Koloni - iKhaya loMntu wonke
Die Wes-Kaap - 'n Tuiste vir Almal
