Date: 12/08/2004
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: C Dugmore: Opening of Learning Cape Festival
SPEECH BY MR CAMERON DUGMORE, WESTERN CAPE MEC FOR EDUCATION AT THE OPENING OF THE LEARNING CAPE FESTIVAL, Cape Town, 12 August 2004
Honourable Colleague Lynn Brown
Distinguished guests
It is a pleasure to be having these few words with you today as we open the annual Learning Cape Festival, to showcase and explore the opportunities this festival offers.
In the next four weeks, learners as well as educators will be exposed to a range of career options and training opportunities.
The festival will highlight and profile the best of education, training and development resources and services in the province.
It is amazing to think that this festival was initiated only three years ago, and has already brought together hundreds of stakeholders in various fields of education, training and development!
This venue itself is a fine symbol to capture and express the artistic aspirations of the learners of this province. The focus on the stars is a metaphor nobody could misunderstand.
The emphasis on Maths, Science and Technology underlines one of the education department's main strategic thrusts.
I want to applaud the vision of our sister department, that is the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism, in initiating this Learning Cape Festival three years ago.
This is a sound launching pad they have given to the festival and hence to the learners of this province.
We know that the SETAs are currently well groomed and ready for action and we look forward to exploring their range of options in the weeks ahead. At every point on the learning continuum, from Early Childhood Development to Adult Learning, the system is facing a daunting spread of challenges and it is clear that the festival is poised to tackle some of the issues head-on and with intent. This is not a feeble affair - it means business.
The education department embraces the opportunities the festival offers for alignment. Learners facing choices will be exposed to a range of options; Educators looking for knowledge about training opportunities will be given a vast store of information.
We are intrigued by the exploration of options for education providers to partner and network in the "business" of education. All of us in the world of education are involved on a huge scale in investment - of time, money, expertise, dreams and aspirations. This learning enterprise needs macro-management.
President Thabo Mbeki has set clear targets about what needs to be done in education before the end of the financial year in March 2005.
* No student learning under a tree;
* All schools to have access to clean water and sanitation;
* And recapitalising our FET colleges to ensure relevance to the needs of our economy.
Central to the vision of this new provincial government is to build the Western Cape as a Home for All. The economic development strategy, which we have adopted to build this home for all, we refer to as Ikapa Elihlumayo, which means, "Growing the Cape".
Premier Ebrahim Rasool has challenged the Department of Education to provide the human resources needed to grow and build the Cape.
The Premier has committed this government to clear targets in the first 100 days. The first of which is that the Usasazo School in Maitland will be moved to Khayelitsha, which will make it unnecessary for hundreds of pupils to get up in the early hours every morning. Not only will this provide a proper learning environment but will save the department R3 million per year in bus transport.
The second is that 50% of schools still without electricity must be electrified. Now I am pleased to say that on both these commitments, we will deliver.
In all this work we are guided by the President's call for partnerships. And I have committed the department to building a people's contract to provide the knowledge, skills and values for iKapa Elihlumayo.
This means that our department will take active steps to build this partnership in particular with learners, educators and parents.
One of the major challenges we currently face is to improve the reading and writing abilities of our children. As you may well know, in the Western Cape a test result has shown that our Grade 6 children operate at Grade 3 level. To this end we have taken a number of initiatives in addressing this matter.
The number of pre-primary schools offering Grade R has grown steadily in recent years, mainly in poor communities, thanks to changes in our subsidy policy. We currently subsidise more than 930 pre-primary schools offering Grade R. Our long-term plan is to provide Grade R education to all five year olds by 2010.
The introduction of Further Education and Training in our schools is potentially the most radical policy shift to date in our schools in this country. The National Minister of Education Naledi Pandor has committed government to implementing FET from 2006. If managed correctly, we can go a long way in overcoming the legacy of the past.
International education practices dictate that sixty per cent of learners ought to be in the vocational stream and roughly only forty per cent in the academic stream.
At the moment we have a too strong focus on the academic stream of our education and this is not sustainable. Our education system must adjust to the new demands and realities of the increasingly challenging global economic order.
With FET we aim to introduce a wide range of subject options to learners in schools. We are seeking to balance enrolment in schools and colleges, by way of our Grade 8 assessment programme and guidance on study options and careers in Grade 9. We also aim to introduce new courses at FET colleges, and extend loan schemes for FET colleges.
The WCED currently supports ABET for nearly 26,000 learners at about 300 ABET sites. While numbers have grown in recent years, we must do more to increase enrolment for ABET for it forms an essential part of our strategy to push back the frontiers of poverty and unemployment.
Technology is an important part in our ongoing efforts to provide quality education for all our learners. To this end our Khanya Technology in Education Project plans to ensure that every high school in the Western Cape has a computer laboratory by the end of 2005. With this we aim to support teaching and learning, using information and communication technologies (ICT).
It is heartening to note that we have quite a number of local government councils here present, especially from the rural areas. About 20% of our learners in the Western Cape attend rural schools, either in towns or on farms.
Over the past ten years, the WCED has been amalgamating rural schools to ensure an equitable distribution of resources in rural communities. Features of rural education include large numbers of small primary schools. In some cases you will find two primary schools in one town, with one school almost empty and the other one full.
We are currently finalising our Rural Education Plan that will guide the continued provision of education in rural areas. This includes merging and integrating schools.
As MEC I am absolutely not going to tolerate a situation where the department supports segregation by carrying learners past existing schools.
Mindful of the financial implications and the need for equity, I must also inform you that I have been in discussions with the MEC for Local Government and Housing Marius Fransman, about the need for us as partners in government, to look at the possibility of a special deal for schools with regards to the payment of services, electricity and water. I would welcome an opportunity to engage with you directly on this issue as well.
Ladies and Gentleman, in conclusion, this initiative is an important one if indeed we are going to realise our dream of growing and building the Cape as a Learning Home for All.
We are particularly delighted at the notion of a genuinely futures-focused initiative. The stars have been a very satisfactory navigational tool since the beginning of time: so let's take this month to read them, to learn from the young and older ones we have around us and then to move steadily once we know for sure which way we must travel.
But as we gaze upon the stars, let us keep our feet firmly on the ground.
Enjoy as many of the events as you can and then take up the challenge to be an "all year round" Learning Cape with energy.
I thank you
For enquiries, contact: Gert Witbooi
Tel: 021 467 2523
Cell: 082 577 6551
gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
12 August 2004
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za)
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: C Dugmore: Opening of Learning Cape Festival
SPEECH BY MR CAMERON DUGMORE, WESTERN CAPE MEC FOR EDUCATION AT THE OPENING OF THE LEARNING CAPE FESTIVAL, Cape Town, 12 August 2004
Honourable Colleague Lynn Brown
Distinguished guests
It is a pleasure to be having these few words with you today as we open the annual Learning Cape Festival, to showcase and explore the opportunities this festival offers.
In the next four weeks, learners as well as educators will be exposed to a range of career options and training opportunities.
The festival will highlight and profile the best of education, training and development resources and services in the province.
It is amazing to think that this festival was initiated only three years ago, and has already brought together hundreds of stakeholders in various fields of education, training and development!
This venue itself is a fine symbol to capture and express the artistic aspirations of the learners of this province. The focus on the stars is a metaphor nobody could misunderstand.
The emphasis on Maths, Science and Technology underlines one of the education department's main strategic thrusts.
I want to applaud the vision of our sister department, that is the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism, in initiating this Learning Cape Festival three years ago.
This is a sound launching pad they have given to the festival and hence to the learners of this province.
We know that the SETAs are currently well groomed and ready for action and we look forward to exploring their range of options in the weeks ahead. At every point on the learning continuum, from Early Childhood Development to Adult Learning, the system is facing a daunting spread of challenges and it is clear that the festival is poised to tackle some of the issues head-on and with intent. This is not a feeble affair - it means business.
The education department embraces the opportunities the festival offers for alignment. Learners facing choices will be exposed to a range of options; Educators looking for knowledge about training opportunities will be given a vast store of information.
We are intrigued by the exploration of options for education providers to partner and network in the "business" of education. All of us in the world of education are involved on a huge scale in investment - of time, money, expertise, dreams and aspirations. This learning enterprise needs macro-management.
President Thabo Mbeki has set clear targets about what needs to be done in education before the end of the financial year in March 2005.
* No student learning under a tree;
* All schools to have access to clean water and sanitation;
* And recapitalising our FET colleges to ensure relevance to the needs of our economy.
Central to the vision of this new provincial government is to build the Western Cape as a Home for All. The economic development strategy, which we have adopted to build this home for all, we refer to as Ikapa Elihlumayo, which means, "Growing the Cape".
Premier Ebrahim Rasool has challenged the Department of Education to provide the human resources needed to grow and build the Cape.
The Premier has committed this government to clear targets in the first 100 days. The first of which is that the Usasazo School in Maitland will be moved to Khayelitsha, which will make it unnecessary for hundreds of pupils to get up in the early hours every morning. Not only will this provide a proper learning environment but will save the department R3 million per year in bus transport.
The second is that 50% of schools still without electricity must be electrified. Now I am pleased to say that on both these commitments, we will deliver.
In all this work we are guided by the President's call for partnerships. And I have committed the department to building a people's contract to provide the knowledge, skills and values for iKapa Elihlumayo.
This means that our department will take active steps to build this partnership in particular with learners, educators and parents.
One of the major challenges we currently face is to improve the reading and writing abilities of our children. As you may well know, in the Western Cape a test result has shown that our Grade 6 children operate at Grade 3 level. To this end we have taken a number of initiatives in addressing this matter.
The number of pre-primary schools offering Grade R has grown steadily in recent years, mainly in poor communities, thanks to changes in our subsidy policy. We currently subsidise more than 930 pre-primary schools offering Grade R. Our long-term plan is to provide Grade R education to all five year olds by 2010.
The introduction of Further Education and Training in our schools is potentially the most radical policy shift to date in our schools in this country. The National Minister of Education Naledi Pandor has committed government to implementing FET from 2006. If managed correctly, we can go a long way in overcoming the legacy of the past.
International education practices dictate that sixty per cent of learners ought to be in the vocational stream and roughly only forty per cent in the academic stream.
At the moment we have a too strong focus on the academic stream of our education and this is not sustainable. Our education system must adjust to the new demands and realities of the increasingly challenging global economic order.
With FET we aim to introduce a wide range of subject options to learners in schools. We are seeking to balance enrolment in schools and colleges, by way of our Grade 8 assessment programme and guidance on study options and careers in Grade 9. We also aim to introduce new courses at FET colleges, and extend loan schemes for FET colleges.
The WCED currently supports ABET for nearly 26,000 learners at about 300 ABET sites. While numbers have grown in recent years, we must do more to increase enrolment for ABET for it forms an essential part of our strategy to push back the frontiers of poverty and unemployment.
Technology is an important part in our ongoing efforts to provide quality education for all our learners. To this end our Khanya Technology in Education Project plans to ensure that every high school in the Western Cape has a computer laboratory by the end of 2005. With this we aim to support teaching and learning, using information and communication technologies (ICT).
It is heartening to note that we have quite a number of local government councils here present, especially from the rural areas. About 20% of our learners in the Western Cape attend rural schools, either in towns or on farms.
Over the past ten years, the WCED has been amalgamating rural schools to ensure an equitable distribution of resources in rural communities. Features of rural education include large numbers of small primary schools. In some cases you will find two primary schools in one town, with one school almost empty and the other one full.
We are currently finalising our Rural Education Plan that will guide the continued provision of education in rural areas. This includes merging and integrating schools.
As MEC I am absolutely not going to tolerate a situation where the department supports segregation by carrying learners past existing schools.
Mindful of the financial implications and the need for equity, I must also inform you that I have been in discussions with the MEC for Local Government and Housing Marius Fransman, about the need for us as partners in government, to look at the possibility of a special deal for schools with regards to the payment of services, electricity and water. I would welcome an opportunity to engage with you directly on this issue as well.
Ladies and Gentleman, in conclusion, this initiative is an important one if indeed we are going to realise our dream of growing and building the Cape as a Learning Home for All.
We are particularly delighted at the notion of a genuinely futures-focused initiative. The stars have been a very satisfactory navigational tool since the beginning of time: so let's take this month to read them, to learn from the young and older ones we have around us and then to move steadily once we know for sure which way we must travel.
But as we gaze upon the stars, let us keep our feet firmly on the ground.
Enjoy as many of the events as you can and then take up the challenge to be an "all year round" Learning Cape with energy.
I thank you
For enquiries, contact: Gert Witbooi
Tel: 021 467 2523
Cell: 082 577 6551
gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
12 August 2004
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za)
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