Date: 15/08/2003
Source: Department of Education
Title: Asmal: Nonhlevu Secondary School, KwaZulu-Natal
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, AT NONHLEVU SECONDARY SCHOOL KWADUKUZA, KWAZULU-NATAL, 15 August 2003
MEC, Narend Singh
Mr Roy Naicker, the Principal
All the staff of Nonhlevu Secondary
Parents and Members of the Community
Students
Ladies and Gentlemen
Sanibonani
Ninjani
I am always honoured to visit this part of South Africa. For two reasons. Firstly, as many of you know, I come from Stanger, I was born here and many of my family still live here. This is my home. Secondly, it was here many years ago that I met a great South African who was to have a lasting impact on my life. He was Chief Albert Luthuli, my mentor and someone who inspired me to work for freedom in this country. I want to acknowledge the presence here today of some his family as well.
Nevertheless my office staff still warned me not to get lost in KwaDukuza. They told me KwaDukuza is a place where people wander and get lost in the mist. Well I am not lost. I am home. I am home with the great pioneers of Nonhlevu.
And of course I am privileged to be here for another reason, the reason why I am here today at this particular school. Over the last 4 years it has made remarkable progress, under the capable leadership of Mr Naicker and his staff. This is no where more evident than in the matric pass rate which has gone from 4% in 1999, to 13% in 2000, to 53% in 2001 and 80% in 2002. For those of you who are mathematically inclined, and I hope many of you are, this is an increase of 200%. No! I'm wrong, not 200% but 2000%. This is an enormous achievement and I congratulate you all.
Of course we look forward to even better results in 2003. In particular it is my wish that you will begin also to focus on areas where there is still considerable room for improvement and growth, especially in Mathematics and Science where I notice there are still too few students taking these subjects and too few passing.
The challenge in this area results from the untold damage that was done to our education system by the apartheid government through their policy of restricting educational access to the mathematics and the sciences mainly to white students. Chief Luthuli remarked as far back as 1962 that "The monstrosity of Bantu education and Indian education will have to go. In fact, the aim of Bantu education as stated by Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, is to give the African an education to fit him for his station in life" which was that of unskilled and semi-skilled labour where mathematics and sciences were not needed. So we need to fight this legacy - it has left a terrible hole in our education system which we are trying to fill with initiatives such as our 100 Dinaledi schools which are focusing on improving maths and science teaching and pass rates.
Chief Luthuli had strong and insightful views into what education should become in South Africa. More than 40 years ago he anticipated our values in education programme which is designed to promote the values of tolerance and acceptance, of equality and democracy, of dialogue and negotiation and conflict-resolution that make us so uniquely South African. Albert Luthuli urged us to realise that "Education provides a common language, creates common attitudes and norms for citizens. It is an important unifying factor in building national consciousness and pride." Indeed he would have been proud if he had been here today to witness the progress that is being made here at this school and in many other schools around the country.
We take great pride in our values in education initiative. Whilst we have great diversity in our country we signify that we are all South Africans through our national symbols; our flag, our anthem, coat of arms and our other national symbols. All of these make us proud to be South Africans and just as we continue to build our South African identity so too we continue our fight against those who would want to divide us by race and religion and language.
Being proud does not mean we must suppress anybody or that we must exclude anybody but rather that we develop a sense of South African solidarity that also recognises the plight of the poor, the deprived and the disabled. In benefiting from a good quality education I hope that you will make the best use of your talents and skills and the further training and education you get to help fight poverty and disadvantage in our country. This is a serious appeal that I make to all young people.
The progress in developing young people at this school is further evidence of its success because we cannot judge success only by the matric pass rate. Rather we need to look more deeply at the type of students the school is producing. Are they well-rounded (and I don't mean physically rounded) in the way in which they are prepared to meet the challenges of adulthood and a life of work, being parents, and members of the community. From everything I see here today I am sure that this school is succeeding also in this area. And of course you must use your ingqondo to succeed!
In less than a year we will be celebrate 10 years of freedom, 10 years for freedom to build a truly free an democratic South Africa. 10 and 20 and 50 years ago there were those who responded to calls from the ANC, from Chief Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and others for democracy and non-racialism in South Africa by saying that a Black government would never be able to run this country, not ever. Yet today we are proving those bigots, those apartheid ideologues, wrong. We have made enormous progress in re-building our country.
We faced a daunting challenge but we faced it head on. In 10 years millions of people have been given access to housing, water, electricity, basic health care and education. In less than a decade we have transformed the fragmented apartheid era education system into a single system with a new and vibrant curriculum fit for the 21st Century. We have left hardly a single area of schooling system untouched from early childhood development to matriculation, from school governance to school infrastructure, from language in education to religion in education.
Our new religion in education policy, which was unanimously approved earlier this month by the Council of Education Ministers, will be released in Cape Town on 9 September. The Policy recognises the rich and diverse religious heritage of our country and adopts a cooperative model that accepts mutual recognition and the possibility of creative interaction between the state and religion whilst protecting citizens from religious discrimination or coercion. In the policy we have achieved a balance between freedom of religion and education that has not been achieved anywhere else in the world.
But we cannot rest on our achievements. We still have a long road ahead of us and still many challenges to tackle. Particularly we have to look at the quality of our teaching to ensure that our teachers are properly trained and equipped to meet the demands of our curriculum. With very few exceptions teachers have risen to the challenge and are embracing the changes we have made with great enthusiasm. I am very encouraged by this. We have a high level task team of eminent university professors looking at all aspects of teacher development. The proposals they make will be important in helping us to tackle the gaps that still exist.
And in this respect I want to encourage the students at the school here to seriously consider teaching as a profession, and not as a second or third choice but as a first choice. There are few better ways that you could serve your country.
But no matter what career you decide to follow I urge you to make full use of the opportunities available to you to study further, particularly at our higher education institutions, our universities and our technikons. Chief Luthuli wanted "substantial aid" to "be given to universities with a generous system for bursaries and loans to students". 40 years later, in 2003, our National Student Financial Aid Scheme is disbursing R850 million to nearly 100 000 students so that they can enjoy the benefits of higher education.
Teachers are one of our greatest resources and I urge the community to work with schools, to take a keen interest in our schools, to ensure that teachers and schools are assisted in whatever ways possible to make teaching possible in and the best of environments. Over the last 10 years we have been re-defining what community means. When I was young the community consisted mainly of one's family and friends, perhaps the religious grouping to which one belonged and maybe even one's racial grouping. But now we have real communities which are rich in diversity and which reflect our multicultural society. Increasingly our new communities are breaking down the barriers of race, and religion and language which apartheid so carefully cultivated.
We celebrate the achievements of this school today because of the commitment of the teachers, the management of the school, the community and also the sponsors who I will thank shortly. But it is due primarily to the dedication and commitment of the principal and staff of the school that it was able to be lifted out of the depths of despair and despondency to the heights of excellence and achievement we celebrate here today.
I want the provincial authorities here today to take note of how this school has managed to turn itself around and to use it as an example for other schools that find themselves in similar situations with seemingly no solution to their plight.
In closing I would like to thank the sponsors who have assisted this school and in particular, SAPPI, Alexander Forbes, Bonanza Hardware, Industrial Builders and Hardware Supplies, Mulitpro, Loungefurn and Britaiar Engineering, and any others I may have missed. We must continue to forge partnerships with the private sector such as has happened here to ensure that our education system can benefit from the very best that we can give it.
The miracle of change in South Africa is borne out of a lot of hard work from everyone who is so committed to the development and the future of our country and by the hope and aspirations of our people. In so doing we are making history and it is a history which has come together with hope, in the spirit of Vuk'unzenzele, building a new South Africa through service and dedication using our own ingqondo from the depths of our hearts.
Siyabonga, Salani kahle
I thank you.
Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)
Source: Department of Education
Title: Asmal: Nonhlevu Secondary School, KwaZulu-Natal
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, AT NONHLEVU SECONDARY SCHOOL KWADUKUZA, KWAZULU-NATAL, 15 August 2003
MEC, Narend Singh
Mr Roy Naicker, the Principal
All the staff of Nonhlevu Secondary
Parents and Members of the Community
Students
Ladies and Gentlemen
Sanibonani
Ninjani
I am always honoured to visit this part of South Africa. For two reasons. Firstly, as many of you know, I come from Stanger, I was born here and many of my family still live here. This is my home. Secondly, it was here many years ago that I met a great South African who was to have a lasting impact on my life. He was Chief Albert Luthuli, my mentor and someone who inspired me to work for freedom in this country. I want to acknowledge the presence here today of some his family as well.
Nevertheless my office staff still warned me not to get lost in KwaDukuza. They told me KwaDukuza is a place where people wander and get lost in the mist. Well I am not lost. I am home. I am home with the great pioneers of Nonhlevu.
And of course I am privileged to be here for another reason, the reason why I am here today at this particular school. Over the last 4 years it has made remarkable progress, under the capable leadership of Mr Naicker and his staff. This is no where more evident than in the matric pass rate which has gone from 4% in 1999, to 13% in 2000, to 53% in 2001 and 80% in 2002. For those of you who are mathematically inclined, and I hope many of you are, this is an increase of 200%. No! I'm wrong, not 200% but 2000%. This is an enormous achievement and I congratulate you all.
Of course we look forward to even better results in 2003. In particular it is my wish that you will begin also to focus on areas where there is still considerable room for improvement and growth, especially in Mathematics and Science where I notice there are still too few students taking these subjects and too few passing.
The challenge in this area results from the untold damage that was done to our education system by the apartheid government through their policy of restricting educational access to the mathematics and the sciences mainly to white students. Chief Luthuli remarked as far back as 1962 that "The monstrosity of Bantu education and Indian education will have to go. In fact, the aim of Bantu education as stated by Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, is to give the African an education to fit him for his station in life" which was that of unskilled and semi-skilled labour where mathematics and sciences were not needed. So we need to fight this legacy - it has left a terrible hole in our education system which we are trying to fill with initiatives such as our 100 Dinaledi schools which are focusing on improving maths and science teaching and pass rates.
Chief Luthuli had strong and insightful views into what education should become in South Africa. More than 40 years ago he anticipated our values in education programme which is designed to promote the values of tolerance and acceptance, of equality and democracy, of dialogue and negotiation and conflict-resolution that make us so uniquely South African. Albert Luthuli urged us to realise that "Education provides a common language, creates common attitudes and norms for citizens. It is an important unifying factor in building national consciousness and pride." Indeed he would have been proud if he had been here today to witness the progress that is being made here at this school and in many other schools around the country.
We take great pride in our values in education initiative. Whilst we have great diversity in our country we signify that we are all South Africans through our national symbols; our flag, our anthem, coat of arms and our other national symbols. All of these make us proud to be South Africans and just as we continue to build our South African identity so too we continue our fight against those who would want to divide us by race and religion and language.
Being proud does not mean we must suppress anybody or that we must exclude anybody but rather that we develop a sense of South African solidarity that also recognises the plight of the poor, the deprived and the disabled. In benefiting from a good quality education I hope that you will make the best use of your talents and skills and the further training and education you get to help fight poverty and disadvantage in our country. This is a serious appeal that I make to all young people.
The progress in developing young people at this school is further evidence of its success because we cannot judge success only by the matric pass rate. Rather we need to look more deeply at the type of students the school is producing. Are they well-rounded (and I don't mean physically rounded) in the way in which they are prepared to meet the challenges of adulthood and a life of work, being parents, and members of the community. From everything I see here today I am sure that this school is succeeding also in this area. And of course you must use your ingqondo to succeed!
In less than a year we will be celebrate 10 years of freedom, 10 years for freedom to build a truly free an democratic South Africa. 10 and 20 and 50 years ago there were those who responded to calls from the ANC, from Chief Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and others for democracy and non-racialism in South Africa by saying that a Black government would never be able to run this country, not ever. Yet today we are proving those bigots, those apartheid ideologues, wrong. We have made enormous progress in re-building our country.
We faced a daunting challenge but we faced it head on. In 10 years millions of people have been given access to housing, water, electricity, basic health care and education. In less than a decade we have transformed the fragmented apartheid era education system into a single system with a new and vibrant curriculum fit for the 21st Century. We have left hardly a single area of schooling system untouched from early childhood development to matriculation, from school governance to school infrastructure, from language in education to religion in education.
Our new religion in education policy, which was unanimously approved earlier this month by the Council of Education Ministers, will be released in Cape Town on 9 September. The Policy recognises the rich and diverse religious heritage of our country and adopts a cooperative model that accepts mutual recognition and the possibility of creative interaction between the state and religion whilst protecting citizens from religious discrimination or coercion. In the policy we have achieved a balance between freedom of religion and education that has not been achieved anywhere else in the world.
But we cannot rest on our achievements. We still have a long road ahead of us and still many challenges to tackle. Particularly we have to look at the quality of our teaching to ensure that our teachers are properly trained and equipped to meet the demands of our curriculum. With very few exceptions teachers have risen to the challenge and are embracing the changes we have made with great enthusiasm. I am very encouraged by this. We have a high level task team of eminent university professors looking at all aspects of teacher development. The proposals they make will be important in helping us to tackle the gaps that still exist.
And in this respect I want to encourage the students at the school here to seriously consider teaching as a profession, and not as a second or third choice but as a first choice. There are few better ways that you could serve your country.
But no matter what career you decide to follow I urge you to make full use of the opportunities available to you to study further, particularly at our higher education institutions, our universities and our technikons. Chief Luthuli wanted "substantial aid" to "be given to universities with a generous system for bursaries and loans to students". 40 years later, in 2003, our National Student Financial Aid Scheme is disbursing R850 million to nearly 100 000 students so that they can enjoy the benefits of higher education.
Teachers are one of our greatest resources and I urge the community to work with schools, to take a keen interest in our schools, to ensure that teachers and schools are assisted in whatever ways possible to make teaching possible in and the best of environments. Over the last 10 years we have been re-defining what community means. When I was young the community consisted mainly of one's family and friends, perhaps the religious grouping to which one belonged and maybe even one's racial grouping. But now we have real communities which are rich in diversity and which reflect our multicultural society. Increasingly our new communities are breaking down the barriers of race, and religion and language which apartheid so carefully cultivated.
We celebrate the achievements of this school today because of the commitment of the teachers, the management of the school, the community and also the sponsors who I will thank shortly. But it is due primarily to the dedication and commitment of the principal and staff of the school that it was able to be lifted out of the depths of despair and despondency to the heights of excellence and achievement we celebrate here today.
I want the provincial authorities here today to take note of how this school has managed to turn itself around and to use it as an example for other schools that find themselves in similar situations with seemingly no solution to their plight.
In closing I would like to thank the sponsors who have assisted this school and in particular, SAPPI, Alexander Forbes, Bonanza Hardware, Industrial Builders and Hardware Supplies, Mulitpro, Loungefurn and Britaiar Engineering, and any others I may have missed. We must continue to forge partnerships with the private sector such as has happened here to ensure that our education system can benefit from the very best that we can give it.
The miracle of change in South Africa is borne out of a lot of hard work from everyone who is so committed to the development and the future of our country and by the hope and aspirations of our people. In so doing we are making history and it is a history which has come together with hope, in the spirit of Vuk'unzenzele, building a new South Africa through service and dedication using our own ingqondo from the depths of our hearts.
Siyabonga, Salani kahle
I thank you.
Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)
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