Date: 29/07/2003
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Asmal: Opening of new premises of READ Education Trust


SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW PREMISES OF READ EDUCATION TRUST, Ormonde, Johannesburg, 29 July 2003

The Board of Trustees of Read Education Trust
National Director of Read Education Trust, Ms Cynthia Hugo
Business Trust representatives, Mr Ndlovu and Ms Gordhan
Your Excellencies
Officials from various government departments
Invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen:

I want to start by thanking READ for inviting me to address you on this special occasion. Today we are here to open another chapter in the history book of this special organisation. I am excited to be part of this special occasion. We have come to celebrate with READ in their new home, but most importantly, we have come to acknowledge the work of this organisation.

Let me congratulate the Board of Trustees for providing READ with excellent guidance for the past 24 years. As you are all aware READ was formed in 1979 in response to community concerns over the lack of reading and library facilities in black communities in the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising, and in response to community demands for improved access to library services.

READ has come a long way. It stood firm during the apartheid era and it is growing strong in the new democratic South Africa. It is pleasing to note how READ has always stood for one thing - better education for all. READ's vision is not far from that of my Ministry. My Ministry seeks to fulfil its constitutional mandate and make education accessible to all citizen of this country. Non-governmental organisations like READ were established to address the injustices visited on our people by the apartheid regime. It is an appropriate coincidence that the new READ offices are located behind the new Apartheid Museum, a few steps away from here.

As you may be aware, my Ministry introduced a new National Curriculum Statement, which requires a new approach to teaching and learning. READ operates within the framework of the National Curriculum Statement. Given READ's contact with poor communities, I am confident that the new curriculum will reach the most remote of places through READ's own programmes. The learning support materials produced by READ are very relevant for the new National Curriculum Statement.

Poverty has robbed our communities of several things including access to a wide range of reading materials for educational purposes and for pleasure. I am satisfied that READ plays a pioneering role in the area of school library services and the promotion of reading for all our people, especially the poor.

Since its inception, READ has focused its operations at school level, particularly on schools that are situated in remote areas of our country. The school-based activities of the organisation began in 1980 when READ developed and implemented a secondary school programme aimed at developing effective central libraries. Since then the programme has been expanded to provide a teacher development programme former teachers at secondary school level. I have received several reports about the quality of READ's work - I am proud that my Ministry has a partner like READ, who is committed to developing our teachers to face the challenges of educational transformation.

In 1981, READ incorporated primary schools in its focus. Interventions included the provision of classroom resource collections, supplied together with the training of classroom teachers in the use of books to enhance teaching and learning, and to assist teachers to move away from depending on methods that promoted rote learning. READ must be applauded for its role in pioneering teaching methods which are consistent with outcomes-based education.

I am pleased to acknowledge the presence of the Business Trust here this afternoon. I should like to remind you that the first principal beneficiary of the Business Trust was READ International. The support of READ International by the Business Trust represented a major investment in education by the private sector. I hope that many more members of the business community will see the benefit of throwing their weight behind programmes aimed at improving the lives of our people in partnership with the Government.

I also wish to acknowledge that in all its efforts, READ has strived to develop the current generation to be more aware of the pleasure and importance of reading in their daily lives. It has worked hard to develop the key skills of writing, computer literacy, and numeracy, which are crucial for life in the twenty-first century.

We have seen READ establishing itself as a leader in the field of school-based literacy and language development, both in South Africa and other African countries, and it has achieved great success.

The transformation of education in South Africa is not an easy process. Many of our schools do not have access to basic services. Basic services range from good sanitation to rudimentary library services. I appreciate the tireless efforts of READ in collaborating with my Ministry to provide resources and teacher training to a variety of educational institutions.

The shortage of libraries remains a problem. However, the Government cannot provide libraries to all schools. Instead, the Government has prioritised the provision of access to information and communication technologies. This will open new vistas for our teachers and students in the form of a range of digital learning materials. In this regard, my Department is working on a draft White Paper on e-Education. I shall shortly present the draft White Paper to Cabinet.

Educational transformation in our country has embraced a full range of areas. These include early childhood development - where we are making good progress; new curricula for general and further education; the development of inclusive education; increased provision of adult basic education; and increased access to quality higher education. As you can see, this signals a firm commitment to making lifelong learning accessible to all our people.

I urge READ to sustain its good record of assisting us in our endeavours to transform our education system. In doing so, READ contributes to the development of our young people. We are duty bound to educate our young people about the nature and beauty of our diverse cultures and backgrounds, to provide relevant skills for the labour market, and to develop an entrepreneurial spirit to bolster the creation of new jobs.

I call on all other stakeholders to participate in our efforts to overhaul completely the system we inherited in 1994. Nine years ago we took responsibility for the education of over 12 million children in schools and colleges, and another half a million students in universities and technikons. The system was a chaotic collection of nineteen Departments, defined by apartheid's racial geography and ethnic illogic, and with huge discrepancies in the resourcing, curriculum, and administration of each department.

I am pleased that in less than a decade there is a new enthusiasm from our students to work, learn and study. There is greater self-reliance and discipline, although I should emphasise that respect for authority is something that must be earned. Our education system is working. We have turned a dysfunctional system around in a very short space of time. This is the miracle of our great country.

Let me say categorically that our school system will fail if it does provide space for the blossoming of the potential of all our children. Our Constitution urges us in its preamble to "free the potential of each person". This calls on us to encourage bright children to express their full potential. We are not in the business of 'dumbing down' as some have accused us of doing.

Our schools should provide bright children with opportunities. All children, and in particular bright children, get easily bored, so we should continuously challenge them with expanded opportunities to free their potentials. If we do not do this, we are likely to encourage truancy and all other sorts of deviant behaviour.

Let me hasten to add that bright children are not only found in historically advantaged schools or in the cities only. The system has to provide opportunities for bright children from Ingwavuma, through Bushbuckridge, and through Dimbaza, to the foothills of Table Mountain.

I should also state clearly that I do not subscribe to the idea of isolating bright children in special schools as is done in some countries. Bright children should be in the same schools as all other children. Children who are leaders are not selfish individuals. They can add great value to the potential of other children through collaboration. This is exactly what the progressive Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, meant when he said a child learns more effectively in his or her zone of proximal development, with the help of more capable peers.

Some of you might be surprised on my emphasis on bright children today. It is a fallacy that the Government does not value bright children because it wants to reduce every child to a lowest common denominator. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, most opposition to valuing bright children comes from misguided notions of the anti-elitist standpoint. As I said before, bright children come from all social backgrounds - the rich, the poor, urban, rural, boys and girls.

In the democratic South Africa, we are fortunate to be in a position to be recording falling illiteracy levels, as an increasing number of adults complete the ABET Level 1 programme and fewer people live without the benefit of a basic education. But let me warn you, there is no room for complacency. Literacy is not a fixed asset - unless it is utilised regularly and properly, we lose the skill and the interest in reading and writing.

I would like to conclude by wishing Cynthia Hugo and her staff good luck in their new offices. I hope and believe that the space would be of great benefit not only to them but to the entire education community.

I thank you, and wish you well.

Re a leboga.

Enquiries: Molatwane Likhethe on 082 573 0397
Issued by Ministry of Education
29 July 2003