Master of Ceremonies: Dr Michael Le Cordeur, Circuit Manager
Thank you for the Opening Prayer Reverend van der Rheede
Thank you Khayamnandi High School for the Choir, and the Weber Gedenk Primary School for the Traditional Dance
I wish to acknowledge the Executive Mayor of Stellenbosch Alderman Willie Ortell
Ms Sindi Shayi, Chief Director for Rural Schools and other officials of the Western Cape Education Department
Ms Val Geen, Director of Equip, and Mrs Judith O'Connell of NBI
Mr Neville Williams, Financial Manager of Remgro and other representatives of Venfin/Remgro
Mrs Annabel Rosholt, Vice Chairperson of the Stellenbosch Community Development Programme (SCDP)
Principals and teachers of the five participating schools
Parents and members of the SGBs
Business leaders, distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I think you will agree with me that education is fundamental in the development of our country, our province and our communities. In terms of the National Objectives of the country, education is a fundamental weapon in the fight against poverty and for creating work.
I have attended quite a few ceremonies of the NBI's Equip launches or exit programmes in the last year. Indeed I have noted some of your achievements, of which you can rightfully be proud of. Your valuable contribution is in line with our emphasis on effective governance, good management and sound curriculum delivery.
Some of the successes include the Rural Schools Project, which deals with multi-grade teaching. I am told that NBI's multi-grade project has proved to be so successful; it was adopted, expanded and rolled out to all 352 multi-grade schools in the Western Cape, funded by Old Mutual.
You also supported the Education Department in the training of the officials in the Multi-functional Team approach of supporting schools and their development, thanks to the support of Engen Petroleum.
It is no accident therefor that four of the 18 secondary schools that have participated or are participating in this Education Quality Improvement Partnership project, have been the recipients of Ministerial Awards for sustained improvement in grade 12 pass rates.
Very significantly, almost all of the schools involved in Equip have been put on the Khanya Project after demonstrating their ability to use learning support material in an effective way. No doubt, it could only have been achieved through sound leadership, management and governance.
Through Equip, most schools have been able to access additional government support for capital projects, which is a direct result of the success of the School Management and Development Programmes. Your continued and hopefully increased investment in education in this province could not have come at a better time.
The vision of our provincial government is to build a Home for All. To arrive at this vision, we have adopted an economic development strategy - Ikapa Elihlumayo - to grow and share the Cape.
But we face some serious challenges to grow and share the Cape. In fact, just this week we have been brutally reminded of some of the challenges we face in providing the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to build the Western Cape as a Home for All.
The levels of numeracy and literacy among our learners in all grades, and the performance of our schools in mathematics and science, are important indicators of our reversal of, and liberation from, the legacies of apartheid in education.
Therefor the research statistics provided by Stellenbosch economics professor Servaas van der Berg, published in an article for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, is worrying, and yet not surprising; it confirms some of the findings of our own research.
I have therefore made a decision, that, if nothing else during my term, turning the tide against the low levels of literacy and numeracy, is going to be one of my five key priorities. All issues in education are very important, but reading and writing, in proper, safe facilities, are absolutely fundamental to quality education.
Numeracy and literacy are fundamental components of our curricula, as well as our Human Capital Development Strategy in the Western Cape. The curricula recognizes that the development of high levels of language use and numeracy are key to all learning.
The Western Cape Education Department 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, it is clear that we have to coordinate, monitor and evaluate more effectively to make a real difference. And therefor we have set up a high-level task team and introduced various strategies to improve performance in numeracy and literacy.
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.
In terms of our Human Capital Development Strategy, the objective in regard to ECD is to "ensure an integrated approach to the physical, social and cognitive development of all 0 to 4 year olds living in the province". The strategy aims to ensure that all those who care for children are trained to promote cognitive development of toddlers.
Therefor we are working in a coordinated, integrated approach to expanding access to ECD by all pre-schoolers in the province, especially in our poorest communities, in conjunction with our colleagues and partners in health, social services, the provincial and local government and civil society.
The second goal of the Western Cape's Human Capital Development Strategy is "to provide high quality Grade R tuition to all five year olds so that they are ready for school learning".
While we have universal enrolment of children aged 6 to 15, not all 5 year olds have access to Grade R. Our goal is to provide quality Grade R schooling for all 5-year-olds by 2010, and to make it compulsory from 2014.
Various studies have shown a direct link between language and performance, and professor Van der Berg's findings have also indicated to this. I therefor think that we must launch a massive advocacy campaign to make our parents aware of the need for their children to have a solid foundation in their mother-tongue.
Next year we are looking at allocating the equivalent of about 100 posts to employ teacher assistants, to assist Foundation Phase teachers in their efforts to improve numeracy and literacy results. Funding for the 100 posts could potentially provide resources for between 300 and 600 assistants.
And there is some debate about what the level of payments should be, and whether such assistants should be funded by the department directly, or via school governing bodies. My view is that these assistants should be deployed to the poorest, overcrowded schools, especially on farm schools where there is multi-grade classrooms. We shall also be guided by the research results.
Besides addressing the poor literacy and numeracy levels, the other priorities for me 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
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.
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?
Sasol this year had to import about two-thousand engineers. Economists estimate that our country will need at least 13,000 engineers a year, of which we currently produce just above 3,000.
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.
So, whilst more learners have been completing grade 12 and tertiary education in our first decade of democracy, it is clear that we are simply not producing sufficient learners for higher education and also not providing the knowledge and skills in sufficient numbers required by our economy.
If we want to extend and sustain our economy, then our schools are a critical part of this. Our schools are part of the answer to the President's call for a six percent growth in the economy, to create more work and fight poverty.
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 other lead strategies are: the Micro Economic Development Strategy led by MEC Tasneem Essop; the Social Capital Development Strategy led by MEC Koleka Mqulwana; and the Infrastructural Development Strategy led by MEC Marius Fransman.
The key values that underpin the vision and mission of our Human Capital Development Strategy are based fundamentally on our Constitution, namely democracy, social justice and equity, equality, non-racialism and non-sexism, human dignity, an open society, accountability, the rule of law, respect and reconciliation.
Our strategy seeks to increase participation and success rates of 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 for learners from poor families.
The task of education provisioning and skills development require significant investment, both in terms of human and financial capital. The challenges of improving the performances of our schools and the implementation of the new curriculum, are huge and Government needs partners if it wants to succeed.
Therefor, the National Business Initiative's (NBI) Venfin/Remgro Equip Stellenbosch project could not have come at a better time. I think the schools and the community must be extremely inspired by the desire of people like Ms Annabel Rosholt and her father-in-law Mr Mike Rosholt (who I am told is chairman of the NBI Board) to make a difference.
Mobilising partnerships, friends and business acquaintances in support of this initiative, is exactly what our strategy in building social capital refers to. Building social networks is a key component of our Human Capital Development Strategy, which is about communities taking responsibility for, and leadership in projects that are designed to improve the conditions of the collective in that community.
I am told that Venfin and Remgro Limited were the first companies to respond to the call to contribute to the development of quality education in the challenged schools.
Also that individuals such as Mr and Mrs Ferreira have made personal contributions of up to R10 000.00. For that, and on behalf off all the learners and parents who are going to benefit, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Socially 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.
As a coalition of 130 leading South African and international corporations, I know that the NBI, which was established in 1994 with a view to contributing to our democracy, is about nurturing partnerships and inspiring and promoting good corporate citizenship and responsible leadership.
So once again, thanks very much for your sustained involvement and commitment. We all know that good leadership and management skills can make a huge difference to the performance of a school, which in turn can inspire confidence in the whole community.
Thank you very much?
For enquiries:
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
