FREE DAILY EMAIL

Date: 26/05/2003
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Mangena: Anniversary celebration & AGM of Project Literacy


ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE 30th YEAR CELEBRATION AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF PROJECT LITERACY, Johannesburg Country Club, 26 May 2003

Chairperson, Ms Ruda Landman,
Members of the Board,
Distinguished Guests,
Staff,
Ladies and Gentlemen

I have been engaging with this organisation on a number of occasions. It is always a pleasure to share my thoughts on various issues related to ABET and Literacy. The 30th celebration of this organisation takes place in a month where the nation has been celebrating the life of Xhamela Walter Sisulu. It is also taking place in a month where a domestic worker, Ms Johanna Baloyi, is celebrating her achievements - from a domestic worker to a BA graduate who has majored in Political Science and Communication Science. But what the media is silent about, perhaps because of lack of understanding, is that Johanna Baloyi obtained her school education up to matric through ABET centres. There are many success stories out there of people who have managed to break out of the vicious cycle of ignorance and poverty through education. And no one is too old to begin to learn how to read and write.

More importantly, your 30th year celebration takes place a day after the celebration of Africa Day. These celebrations continue to highlight the importance of the strides made by the continent in ridding itself of the legacy of colonialism. We must remember that our scholars from the 12th to the 19th centuries used the written word extensively to guide leaders of multi-ethnic states spanning vast areas of Africa, and that most of their writings preached tolerance and peaceful means of resolving conflicts. At its height, the University of Timbuktu, established across many cities and desert camps, enrolled more than 25 000 students. But today, the peoples of Mali are said to be endangered, and their cultural heritage, recorded in over 700 000 manuscripts, is also said to be endangered. We have to ask: What really went wrong in Africa that her peoples and their civilisations, after being the best in the world could be so utterly destroyed? For now, we must all try to contribute in whatever way we can to ensure that organisations such as the African Union and the NEPAD initiative succeed in addressing the intractable problems faced by the African continent. The Burundi peace process is already bearing testimony to some of the successes being achieved.

Annual General Meetings afford an organisation space to critically reflect, rethink and revitalise its strategies and tactics. As one astute author cautions:

All too often, as the collective memory of past events fades with the passage of time, mythologies, constructed in conformity with current political agendas and contemporary fashion, replace critical evaluation and judgement.

It is this "critical evaluation and judgement" that needs to permeate your thinking in this annual general meeting. My task this morning is to raise critical matters in relation to your contribution as an organisation to the broader ABET sector.

Let me start by congratulating Project Literacy for continuing to lead in the field of ABET. Project Literacy has held successful conferences on ABET - "The ABET on Trial Conference", and another one on "The Role of Adult Education in Sustainable Development" - as a contribution towards strengthening the sector. Among your many achievements and successes, you were the first organisation to be accredited in this sector, and now you have been awarded a tender for the training of ABET educators by the Sector Education and Training Authorities. Your highly innovative strategies for sustaining and growing the organisation are indeed impressive. It is also encouraging to see that Project Literacy is engaging the structures and mechanisms that government has put in place such as the SETAs, the Umsobomvu Fund, and others, to the full. It is through persistent engagement that these tools could become useful to those they are intended to serve.

These are impressive achievements in a sector which is said to be experiencing "massive haemorrhaging" - a sector in crisis, a sector that has been on trial. Why is it that Project Literacy can survive this seemingly harsh context of delivery? Why is it that Project Literacy has been able to access funds from the sources from which others have been unable? Is it because there is a lack of visible, accountable and legitimate leadership that is able to drive ABET and Literacy delivery? These are indeed hard questions to ask of those who work in the ABET sector.

In your Annual Report you indicate that good governance and management, the diversification of your sources of revenue and, I suppose, the provision of quality services contribute to the sustenance of your organisation. If indeed, these are strategies for sustaining organisations, why does the ABET and Literacy sector continue to be weak? Why are ABET organisations not surviving in a much more favourable climate in terms of policy, planning and interaction with the state?

The Ministry of Education has demonstrated its commitment and dedication to transform the Adult Basic Education and Training services provided to learners countywide. Not only is Adult Basic Education and Training a powerful vehicle that must be used to transform the communities, but also the most important component in Education to strengthen the economic development of the country. The Ministry has been engaged in developing the relevant systems and structures to ensure that adult basic education and training programmes contribute to socio-economic development.

The "ABET Policy Document" and "A National Multi-Year Implementation Plan for Adult Basic Education and Training: Provision and Accreditation", were developed in 1997. While the Policy document expresses the state's parameters for Adult Basic Education and Training, the Multi-Year Implementation Plan reflects the collective effort of all sectors that are actively involved in adult education and training. Very importantly, for the first time in this country we see the emergence of a truly national plan, which gives expression to the collective efforts and contributions of all sectors in formulating an effective and efficient, fully functioning Adult Basic Education and Training system.

The policy provides a good foundation for growth, development and coherent delivery of quality ABET programmes. It guides ongoing development of adult education and related services that will benefit the adult learners. The policy also provides the basis for all future plans that will strive to improve the quality of services.

This plan responds to realistic target setting and identifies ways of unlocking the necessary resources. It presents implementation strategies that will see us making a significant dent in the backlogs existing in this sector. Reaching the 12 million people of this country, who have had less than 9 years of schooling, is a mammoth task which government cannot undertake alone. The plan correctly identifies Adult Basic Education and Training as the foundation for further and higher education and training and for entry into the workplace. The plan also recognises that adult education and training goes beyond literacy and numeracy and thus underscores our commitment to preparing our adult population for lifelong learning and development.

The greatest challenge facing this country continues to be poverty. For some time it has been recognised that poverty encompasses not only low monetary income and low consumption; it also includes poor health, poor nutrition, and a lack of basic education. An additional dimension is highlighted in the "World Development Report for 2000/1 - Attacking Poverty". Poverty is seen as deprivation of a social and political kind, lack of self-respect, lack of dignity, lack of "voice", and powerlessness.

The 2000/1 World Development Report presents a framework of action that rests on a number of pillars. The first pillar mentioned is "empowerment". The other pillars are: helping the poor to manage the risks they face in their everyday lives, managing national downturns to minimise their impact on the poor, and providing economic opportunity for the poor by building up their assets and increasing the returns on these assets through a combination of market-oriented and non-market actions. Empowering the poor is seen as helping to change state institutions so that they become more pro-poor.

The second major challenge facing us is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. During this month, the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, which continues to remind us about those who have died as a result of this scourge took place. Under the theme "Remembering the Cause, Renewing our Commitment", the memorial challenges governments, individuals and organisations to contribute meaningfully to the eradication of this virus. An article in a recent issue of a business magazine, Convergence, paints a very gloomy scenario about the effects of HIV and AIDS in Africa. The authors of this article claim,

By 2020, Africa has been decimated by the disease. Many international businesses have left the subcontinent because the lack of educated staff makes hiring and training too expensive."

If this prognosis can come true, then Africans, from Cape to Cairo, like the peoples of Mali already alluded to, would definitely be under threat of extinction.

That is why we are pleased to note that Project Literacy has developed materials for adult learners on this particular challenge. A successful fight against the spread of HIV infections begins with the proper education of individuals and families. Parents who understand how the virus is spread are in a better position to guide their children correctly.

It is clear that solutions to the challenges referred to cannot be found and implemented by government alone. The complexity of the issues facing South Africa require the collective effort of all of us in the ABET sector. Accordingly, the starting point should be a common understanding of the desirability, inevitability and the form and content of our social transformation. This understanding is important as we travel along the long road of social transformation. An observation made by Manuell Castells captures this dilemma more aptly. He claims that:

The world is in the midst of a historical transformation at the turn of the millennium. As all major transformations in history, it is multidimensional - technological, economic, social, cultural, geopolitical. Yet, in the end, what is the real meaning of this extraordinary mutation for social development, for people's life, and well being?

It is this question that needs to inform what we do. If any of our policies and plans does not contribute positively to people's lives and well-being, then we are failing future generations and ourselves.

Chairperson, allow me to once again congratulate Project Literacy on its 30th anniversary. We hope that the issues we have raised indicate the importance of the organisation as a vehicle towards contributing to the development of our country. More importantly, Project Literacy needs to continue to provide lessons on models of success for other ABET providers so that the so-called 'massive haemorrhaging' of the sector can be reversed.

I thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Education
26 May 2003

SPONSORED BY

Advanced