I wish to acknowledge:
Trevor Southworth, Deputy CEO of the National College for School Leadership
Jill Staley and Barry Joy from the Teacher Development Agency
Bill Simmonds, Chief Executive Officer of the National Bursars Association
Micheal Totterdale of the Manchester Metropole University and also Director of the Institute of Education
Trevor Summerson of the National College for School Leadership
Liz Harris and other officials from the Institute of Administrative Management
Ray Moorcroft of the Manchester Metropole University
Kevin Scott, representative of SERCO
Graduates and your families and friends
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Thank you for the honour and opportunity to address this 6th School Business Management Graduation Ceremony of the National College for School Leadership.
I know the event is organized by the Institute of Administrative Management and sponsored by the National College for School Leadership. Congratulations to all of the graduands and their families.
I think you will all agree with me, that education is the most fundamental aspect of the life of any nation anywhere in the world. Without a sound education system, no nation can prosper and develop its full potential .
I want to quote a great South African, who said the following: "Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation."
Of course, that person, whom we in South Africa hold very dear, is former president Nelson Mandela.
I think most, if not all of you, are familiar with the history of our country. In the last eleven years of democracy we have made great strides in the reconstruction of our nation and the creation of a better life for our people.
We have achieved the UN Millenium Development goal of universal enrolment for primary schooling; we have successfully united 19 disparate education departments; we have increased the number of successful black and women graduates; and the transformation of the apartheid curriculum into a new , national curriculum is almost complete.
Whilst we are proud of our achievements, we are also the first to acknowledge the continuing challenges, especially in respect of equity and redress; the drop-out rate (50%); the levels of literacy and numeracy; the performance of our learners in the subjects of maths and science; teacher support and development, learner behaviour and parental involvement in the education system. To meet these challenges we need strong partnerships within our province and country and also internationally.
All of us in South Africa are deeply aware and appreciative of the bonds between your country and ours. These historical ties and the current relationship between our governments , continue to strengthen our young democracy.
In this regard I must express my profound thanks to your Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, and M Gordon Brown, for their efforts in addressing African debt relief, together with President Mbeki and our Minister of Finance ,Trevor Manuel.
We know that your country also benefits from the fruits and products of our education system, in the form of teachers and especially qualified medical personnel and other professionals.
Marking the first Decade of Democracy, our country can rightfully be proud of many achievements.. At this point in time, our key national imperative is to create work and fight poverty.
To this end, our President Thabo Mbeki has called on all of us to work hard to increase economic growth to six percent and to halve unemployment by 2014 However, one of the main obstacles in achieving this target, is the scarcity of relevant skills.
As you know, our country has been awarded the honour of hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup. This has massive implications in terms of infrastructural investment and job opportunities.
Experts and economists predict that in the run-up to 2010, we are going to have to produce at least 13,000 engineers per annum to cope with the expected economic development boom. However our local engineering council is registering just above 3,000 new graduates per annum.
Earlier this year, a major oil company, Sasol, had to import about two thousand engineers to refurbish their plants. At this moment, there are about half-a-million vacancies in the industries of information technology, accountancy, and communications. And this in a country with a massive unemployment problem.
Our education system therefore has a fundamental role to play in addressing the skills gap. In pursuit of building a better life for all our people, our Premier of the Western Cape, which is one of nine provinces of South Africa, has articulated the vision of our provincial government as building a Home for All.
To arrive at this vision, we have adopted an economic development strategy, which we refer to as Ikapa Elihlumayo, which means "Growing and Sharing the Cape".
This strategy is underpinned by five major sub-strategies - Infrastructural Development, Spatial Development, Micro Economic Development, Social Capital Development, and Human Capital Development.
As the Provincial Minister of Education, I am responsible for the development and implementation of the Human Capital Development Strategy, which is about producing young citizens with sound knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to grow and share the Cape.
Whilst we have made great strides in terms of the transformation of our education system, we acknowledge that much more needs to be done. Some of the major challenges that we are facing, are remarkably similar to yours.
For example, I was astounded to hear that, just in this week, as we were preparing to come to London, a teacher had been compensated for emotional damages and injuries incurred after an attack on her by a twelve-year-old learner.
I also know that your country has just completed a major study on the performance levels and experiences of black students in the system. Just yesterday, in a meeting with Lord Adonis, the minister responsible for secondary schools, he informed me that they are deeply concerned with the performance levels in literacy and numeracy.
Without effective and well managed schools, we will not develop the human capital our province requires. We are committed to lifelong learning and believe that our families, communities and schools must themselves be learning organizations. Inspired, passionate and dedicated school leadership can unlock the potential of a learning community. Our school principals, both in South Africa, in your country, and indeed all over the world, face a myriad of complex challenges. Not only do our principals have to ensure the effective delivery of the curriculum in the classroom, but they also have to look after the social well-being of children, and at the same time ensure that every teacher has his basic needs. In essence our principals are managing large, complex and challenging institutions. The concept of the school business manager as a dedicated individual who is able to manage human resource, budget, infrastructure and provisioning issues at school can add massive value to a school community and enhance learning.
As school business managers, your task is to release the principal from administration, so that he or she can focus on the core mandate, which is the delivery and development of the curriculum. I had the opportunity to engage with some of you earlier and I want to commend the National College for School leadership - the graduates are confident and committed to using the skills they acquired to strengthen their schools. This is a credit to you and all your partners. I believe that the decision by your government to set up the College was an inspired move, the benefits of which will be seen for years to come. That is why our provincial education education department would like to partner with the College, Manchester Metropolitan University and our Independent Schools Asoociation to develop and implement a course for school business managers in our province starting in 2007.
A key element of success of all great nations, is the building of social capital, which is about building networks, partnerships and capacity. The partnerships we are building on this visit have the potential to greatly increase our human and social capital. I hope that we would be able to consider an exchange programme between South African and UK school business managers which could result in further twinning of our schools.
A key aspect of any social network, including the school , is building trust. And here I want to quote the words of a South African businessman, Tony Manning. He says: "The only way to build trust is to act in a trustworthy way, consistently and over time. Individuals and organizations are judged by what they do, not what they say. It's essential that you live the philosophies you espouse and keep the promises you make.". For you as school business managers, the building of trust between you and your head teacher and other members of senior management is critical.
I am hoping that, with the help of our friends here in the UK, we can develop the idea of the school business management programme as soon as possible, with a view to implement a pilot programme in 2007. I will submit a report to my national Minister of Education, Minister Naledi Pandor, on my return to South Africa.
Schools are central to the building of communities and the development of human capital . For us, the levels of literacy and numeracy, and the performance of our schools in maths and science, are important indicators of the liberation from and the reversal of legacy of apartheid education.
Without a doubt, our education system has an essential role to play in producing young citizens with the relevant knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to grow and sustain our economy.
The qualifications of the School Business Management programmes, if developed successfully and if we get it right, can hold exciting opportunities all over the world.
Therefore, I want to thank our hosts and all our friends here for indicating their support for the development of our education system. As technology develops, the global village is increasingly getting smaller.
Thank you for the support and friendship of your country during the dark days of apartheid. Now, as we are standing on the threshold of the next decade of freedom and democracy, we come to solicit your support once again, on a mutual basis. We know we can count on you, and we thank you for this.
Finally, some more advice to our graduates from Tony Manning, this time on integrity He writes : "To have integrity is to accept who you are, to honour your uniqueness, to live your own life in your own way, and not to pretend you are someone else in order to win approval".
Once again, congratulations to all of the graduates and all those who have made this possible. I know that your schools and communities stand to benefit from your dedication , passion and commitment.
Gert Witbooi
Media 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
