Date: 23/03/2005
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Dugmore: Education Conference

Opening address by Western Cape MEC for Education Minister, Cameron Dugmore, at the Education Conference, Athlone

23 March 2005


Thanks very much SG, Ron Swartz, for the introduction
Premier Ebrahim Rasool
Honourable Deputy Minister Enver Surty
Mr Yusuf Gabru, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and other MPs and MPLs Deputy Directors General, Chief Directors, Directors and all officials from our department and sister departments
Business Leaders
Leaders from Education NGOs and Service Providers
All distinguished Comrades and Friends
This provincial education conference is I believe one of the more representative gatherings of the education sector yet seen in our province. Together, the participants here represent our 1 471 schools, our six FET colleges, our 990 000 learners, our 1,5 million parents and our 33 000 educators and officials.

I think it is important that we gather in this way to reflect on the challenges facing our sector as we try and create a learning home for all. Our President called for a People's Contract to fight poverty and create work and it is critical for us in the education sector to come together and ensure that our work strengthens this partnership.

If we can unite around a common vision and strategy, focus on the basics and do our work, education in our province will play a key role in the fight against poverty.

Our provincial government is working towards the realisation of the vision set by the Premier of the Western Cape becoming a Home for All. The strategic path to achieve this vision is the economic development strategy Ikapa Elihlumayo. It means to grow and share the Cape.

There are a number of lead strategies, which underpin Ikapa Elihlumayo. All these strategies need to be finalised by June 2005. As MEC for Education, I and the WCED have been given the task by the Premier to develop a Human Capital Strategy with a focus on youth.

This then is our basic mandate. Education is also expected to work in a seamless way with other departments around building social capital in the province and contribution for example to the micro-economic development lead strategy.

This conference provides an opportunity for the sector to begin to engage with the draft strategy, which will be present by Mr Swartz later today.

The commissions, which will be held tomorrow, should provide a platform for robust engagement on key challenges facing education in the province. My appeal is for open and frank discussion, which is driven by our collective desire to find solutions to the challenges, which confront us and also make use of the opportunities to build a learning home for all.

It is perhaps very fitting that we have this conference now, having just concluded the celebrations of the country's first Ten Years of Democracy; as well as celebrating Human Rights Day on Monday. This is also the 50th Anniversary Year of the Freedom Charter.

I am sure over the next two days we will engage in serious debate on the challenges in education. In my view, the critical question we must ask ourselves, is: "Have we been successful in Opening the Doors of Learning and Culture?"
In answering this question, one can certainly feel proud of what we have achieved. In the last ten years, one of the key programmes identified as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, was the development of our human resources, which included the transformation of our education system.

We now have one single education department, with a uniformed curriculum and examination standards. There has been a shift away from apartheid allocation of resources, to a more equitable and just regime.

Learner enrolment numbers across all grades have increased, there are now slightly more girls enrolled than boys. Learner-to-class ratios are down; and literacy rates have increased. And whilst there has been an increase in the matriculation pass rate, there has been a decline in the absolute numbers.

There have been slight increases in the number of people completing grade 12 and in completing tertiary education, suggesting that the skills profile of the country is improving.

It is clear however that we are not producing sufficient learners for higher education and also not providing the knowledge and skills in sufficient numbers required by our economy. Thus the critical need for a very targeted and directed strategy to develop our human resources.

In this second Decade of Freedom our debates on the challenges in education will increasingly have to shift to the improvement in the quality of outcomes, and less on resources and input. I believe that teacher development, the ability of all our institutions to deliver the curriculum and partnerships in education will be critical factors in our success.

One of the most serious challenges facing education is the drop-out rate. At the moment only half of the 80,000 learners who enter Grade 1, complete matric.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), we have a functionally illiterate population of about 1,13 million people in the Western Cape. In other words, all those with less than seven year,