Date: 22/11/2002
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Asmal: Education For All consultative meeting
SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE MEETING ON EDUCATION FOR ALL IN SOUTH AFRICA, BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, KADER ASMAL, MP, Pretoria, 22 November 2002
Members of the provincial and national departments of education
Members of civil society groupings, NGOs, development agencies, students associations, unions, school governing bodies, the private sector
Distinguished delegates
Distinguished guests
I am pleased to welcome you to this national consultative meeting on Education For All in South Africa. This meeting is the first in our country since the global review of education development progress took place in Dakar in April 2000.
The first internationally agreed set of global education goals were set in Jomtien in Thailand in 1990. We were not represented at that gathering as apartheid made our country a pariah among nations. The apartheid government's legacy of education inequity and under-development is still regrettably evident in the education system we have now.
However, in Senegal in 2000, South Africa was able to join other nations in making a commitment to achieve the six Education For All goals which today, represent a framework for strengthening and guiding education development for social and economic growth. We presented the 2000 Education For All Assessment country report at the Dakar forum, the first of its kind.
Several development initiatives recognise the significance of a good quality education as a basis for improving social and economic opportunities for all our learners and our people. The Millennium Development goals and the education implementation plan released by the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development refer to achieving the goals of gender parity by 2005 and equality by 2015 in the system, and achieving universal primary education for all children. The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) human resource development initiatives, international financing and development agencies, and regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) Human Resource Development programmes all incorporate education development as a key driver for development.
The Dakar Framework for Action for sub-Saharan countries recognises the need to consider African solutions to African educational problems. The framework for action also recognises the need for prioritising the focus of our efforts towards the poor and vulnerable in our system.
In this meeting, I would urge you to come up with concrete proposals on how we can ensure that all the Education For All goals are achieved for all learners, particularly the poor. Whether we talk about improving funding and investments, quality, curriculum reform, restructuring, coordination, textbook provisioning, educator provisioning and provision of other support and resource material for teaching and learning - including infrastructure and nutrition, our focus must continue to be the poor.
What I would also urge you to do in your deliberations is not just to be complacent in the fact that at a national level, we look good compared to other developing countries or in relation to the Education For All goals. We need to look at what happens at a more local level, particularly in the remote parts of our country. The challenge for all of us in this room is to consider how we can improve the participation of learners, especially female learners in key subject areas, in early childhood programmes, and the quality of education outcomes in further and higher education as well as performance in the world of work.
We have made progress in many areas in our education system. The fruits of education reform are beginning to show. Early Childhood Development enrolment in the Reception year has increased by 9% annually in recent years. Further Education and Training participation rates have increased since the mid-1990s and participation in Adult Basic Education is increasing at an average rate of just under 1.2%. As many female as male learners in the population participate in the schooling system as well as in literacy programmes. Basic education participation rates show that nearly all (95%) children who should be in school are indeed in school. We know however that our focus on quality must underline all the efforts we make in the development of our education system.
Apart from benefiting individual learners, education is an investment for our collective future. In order to strengthen capacity in the areas of management, governance, analysis and planning, it will be necessary to involve those outside traditional education systems. Success in achieving our development goals will require the coordination of different sectors and partnerships between organisations. The involvement of the private sector and employers in quality lifelong learning of workers, learners and educators will enhance existing local and national development initiatives, and sustain the development of our countries and our continent.
My Ministry recognises and acknowledges organisations outside the Government that provide assistance and support to particular schools, learners and educators. I hope that one of the outcomes of this meeting will be suggestion on how these partnerships can assist in improving education that is provided to the poor. Civil society can play a role in lobbying and monitoring performance in our system, as it is able to penetrate those areas of society that the Government cannot reach. In Government, we welcome such contributions from our partners as my Ministry has a responsibility to take care of all the issues of concern and of interest in education.
In your discussions, I would like you to consider responses to the following questions. What role can our education partners play in establishing and sustaining these partnerships and what would be the nature of this cooperation to ensure education for all - with quality? For example, what role can civil society play in eliminating discrimination or in discouraging those who want to drop out of school? What is the role of student organisations in reducing the number of learners who participate in unsafe behaviour? What is the role of other partners at local, provincial and national levels in achieving education for all learners?
As I implied earlier, Education for All is not a separate initiative in South Africa. It is integrated into the fabric of the education reforms that our Government started in 1994. It is part of our vision for an education and training system for the 21st century. It provides an opportunity to strengthen policy, initiatives, funding focus, curriculum reform and implementation efforts. It is part of the foundation of education and training in South Africa.
The 2002 status report on Education For All, which incorporates country plans for 2002 to 2015, summarises progress made towards the Education For All goals and builds on the 2000 Assessment report. You will see that many of the plans are not new or specially formulated. They are based on the plans, policies and initiatives that exist in the system and which have been designed, developed and consulted on for implementation in our education system. You will also note that the report attempts to show changes and trends in education service delivery by province in many cases.
The 2002 status report was therefore developed for readers interested in education in South Africa, not just for international reporting requirements. References are made to our constitutional obligation to provide basic education. The report also refers to the goals we have set for ourselves in improving the quality of teaching and learning in scarce skills areas (such as mathematics, science and technology), enhancing further education and training, improving organisational effectiveness, and transforming our higher education landscape.
In addition, the report identifies challenges in implementation and opportunities for strengthening education provision. Deepening poverty and high HIV infection rates and unsafe behaviour and practices present particular challenges to social service delivery in general and education in particular. It is these responses and possible solutions to these challenges that you will need to consider in your deliberations today.
I wish you well in your discussions and I hope that through these conversations, we can find ways to ensure the sustainable development of our people today, and for future generations to come.
I thank you
Issued by Ministry of Education
22 November 2002
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Asmal: Education For All consultative meeting
SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE MEETING ON EDUCATION FOR ALL IN SOUTH AFRICA, BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, KADER ASMAL, MP, Pretoria, 22 November 2002
Members of the provincial and national departments of education
Members of civil society groupings, NGOs, development agencies, students associations, unions, school governing bodies, the private sector
Distinguished delegates
Distinguished guests
I am pleased to welcome you to this national consultative meeting on Education For All in South Africa. This meeting is the first in our country since the global review of education development progress took place in Dakar in April 2000.
The first internationally agreed set of global education goals were set in Jomtien in Thailand in 1990. We were not represented at that gathering as apartheid made our country a pariah among nations. The apartheid government's legacy of education inequity and under-development is still regrettably evident in the education system we have now.
However, in Senegal in 2000, South Africa was able to join other nations in making a commitment to achieve the six Education For All goals which today, represent a framework for strengthening and guiding education development for social and economic growth. We presented the 2000 Education For All Assessment country report at the Dakar forum, the first of its kind.
Several development initiatives recognise the significance of a good quality education as a basis for improving social and economic opportunities for all our learners and our people. The Millennium Development goals and the education implementation plan released by the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development refer to achieving the goals of gender parity by 2005 and equality by 2015 in the system, and achieving universal primary education for all children. The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) human resource development initiatives, international financing and development agencies, and regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) Human Resource Development programmes all incorporate education development as a key driver for development.
The Dakar Framework for Action for sub-Saharan countries recognises the need to consider African solutions to African educational problems. The framework for action also recognises the need for prioritising the focus of our efforts towards the poor and vulnerable in our system.
In this meeting, I would urge you to come up with concrete proposals on how we can ensure that all the Education For All goals are achieved for all learners, particularly the poor. Whether we talk about improving funding and investments, quality, curriculum reform, restructuring, coordination, textbook provisioning, educator provisioning and provision of other support and resource material for teaching and learning - including infrastructure and nutrition, our focus must continue to be the poor.
What I would also urge you to do in your deliberations is not just to be complacent in the fact that at a national level, we look good compared to other developing countries or in relation to the Education For All goals. We need to look at what happens at a more local level, particularly in the remote parts of our country. The challenge for all of us in this room is to consider how we can improve the participation of learners, especially female learners in key subject areas, in early childhood programmes, and the quality of education outcomes in further and higher education as well as performance in the world of work.
We have made progress in many areas in our education system. The fruits of education reform are beginning to show. Early Childhood Development enrolment in the Reception year has increased by 9% annually in recent years. Further Education and Training participation rates have increased since the mid-1990s and participation in Adult Basic Education is increasing at an average rate of just under 1.2%. As many female as male learners in the population participate in the schooling system as well as in literacy programmes. Basic education participation rates show that nearly all (95%) children who should be in school are indeed in school. We know however that our focus on quality must underline all the efforts we make in the development of our education system.
Apart from benefiting individual learners, education is an investment for our collective future. In order to strengthen capacity in the areas of management, governance, analysis and planning, it will be necessary to involve those outside traditional education systems. Success in achieving our development goals will require the coordination of different sectors and partnerships between organisations. The involvement of the private sector and employers in quality lifelong learning of workers, learners and educators will enhance existing local and national development initiatives, and sustain the development of our countries and our continent.
My Ministry recognises and acknowledges organisations outside the Government that provide assistance and support to particular schools, learners and educators. I hope that one of the outcomes of this meeting will be suggestion on how these partnerships can assist in improving education that is provided to the poor. Civil society can play a role in lobbying and monitoring performance in our system, as it is able to penetrate those areas of society that the Government cannot reach. In Government, we welcome such contributions from our partners as my Ministry has a responsibility to take care of all the issues of concern and of interest in education.
In your discussions, I would like you to consider responses to the following questions. What role can our education partners play in establishing and sustaining these partnerships and what would be the nature of this cooperation to ensure education for all - with quality? For example, what role can civil society play in eliminating discrimination or in discouraging those who want to drop out of school? What is the role of student organisations in reducing the number of learners who participate in unsafe behaviour? What is the role of other partners at local, provincial and national levels in achieving education for all learners?
As I implied earlier, Education for All is not a separate initiative in South Africa. It is integrated into the fabric of the education reforms that our Government started in 1994. It is part of our vision for an education and training system for the 21st century. It provides an opportunity to strengthen policy, initiatives, funding focus, curriculum reform and implementation efforts. It is part of the foundation of education and training in South Africa.
The 2002 status report on Education For All, which incorporates country plans for 2002 to 2015, summarises progress made towards the Education For All goals and builds on the 2000 Assessment report. You will see that many of the plans are not new or specially formulated. They are based on the plans, policies and initiatives that exist in the system and which have been designed, developed and consulted on for implementation in our education system. You will also note that the report attempts to show changes and trends in education service delivery by province in many cases.
The 2002 status report was therefore developed for readers interested in education in South Africa, not just for international reporting requirements. References are made to our constitutional obligation to provide basic education. The report also refers to the goals we have set for ourselves in improving the quality of teaching and learning in scarce skills areas (such as mathematics, science and technology), enhancing further education and training, improving organisational effectiveness, and transforming our higher education landscape.
In addition, the report identifies challenges in implementation and opportunities for strengthening education provision. Deepening poverty and high HIV infection rates and unsafe behaviour and practices present particular challenges to social service delivery in general and education in particular. It is these responses and possible solutions to these challenges that you will need to consider in your deliberations today.
I wish you well in your discussions and I hope that through these conversations, we can find ways to ensure the sustainable development of our people today, and for future generations to come.
I thank you
Issued by Ministry of Education
22 November 2002
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