Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Dugmore: Provincial Teachers Awards
Address by Western Cape Education MEC Cameron Dugmore at the Provincial Teachers Awards Ceremony, Cape Town
Programme Director
SG - Mr Ron Swartz
DDGs, Chief Directors and Directors
Officials from the national and provincial education departments,
Present distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentleman,
And last but not least those teachers who will receive awards tonight
Thank you for the introduction.
Celebrating the important role of teachers is something that we probably do not do often enough.
I have been in this post now for a little more than a year. During this past year, teachers have raised various issues with me, ranging from learner behaviour, to school safety and curriculum matters.
Sometimes the issues were raised very sharply, many at times teachers were irate, sometimes it was urgent, at times not. But I have always walked away with the impression that what the teacher was raising, was because he or she had the best interest of the children at heart.
Our country has achieved a lot in the last 11 years, and our teachers have been making outstanding contributions towards the development of our country. Because of your dedication and commitment we have been able to achieve many national goals.
And therefore these awards are just one of many ways in which we want to show our appreciation to you, and acknowledge and encourage you in your efforts to develop our young people as better South Africans.
Our President Thabo Mbeki has tasked all of us with growing the economy by six percent. This is critical if we hope to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014. However, the growth of our economy is directly related to education and training - there cannot be one without the other.
In the last 10 years the Western Cape economy has grown and consistently outperformed the national economy. But unemployment keeps rising. A disproportionate 46% in the age group 16 to 25 years are unemployed. That means that, right now, nearly half of our recent graduates are sitting at home.
At the same time our provincial population is growing, and we are experiencing ,
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