Date: 17/10/2003
Source: Deputy Ministry of Education
Title: Mangena: NPI school debate competition on productivity
ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE AWARD CEREMONY FOR THE NPI SCHOOL DEBATE COMPETITION ON PRODUCTIVITY, Pretoria University, 17 October 2003
Programme Director, Members of the Board of the National Productivity Institute, Executive Director, Dr Yvonne Dladla, Principals, Educators, Parents, Learners, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen
All organisms, be they of plant or animal origin, exist because of their ability to reproduce and sustain their own kind against competition. All species that succumb to competition face the grim reality of extinction. Yet, at the same time, competitors that become too dominant soon turn out to be vulnerable, because they lose the edge to improve their internal flaws. It is the cumulative effects of these weaknesses that ultimately undermine the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire species, resulting in its degeneration and eventual demise.
Societies, organisations and institutions function the same way as the natural order. The survival of all establishments depends solely on their ability to continuously engage and improve on the productive capacities of their individual parts and sections. Government, through its legislative and other frameworks, is about creating enabling conditions for individuals, companies and institutions to hone their skills and competencies to ensure their own and their country's survival against the outsiders. For a country to succeed, the talent, energy and genius of every citizen must be harnessed to the full. Therefore, by taking the productivity and economic development challenge to the school level, the National Productivity Institute is not only teaching the learners to embrace productivity as a part of their lives, but is also inculcating in our youth the values that would ensure their survival in the fiercely competitive world.
As a department, we would like to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all the citizens by providing them with lifelong education and training opportunities to ensure that each person becomes productively and gainfully employed. Well-trained and productive employees greatly enhance the competitiveness of the businesses employing them. Our curriculum statement for the economic and management sciences regards this learning area as being fundamental in preparing our citizens to understand the critical importance of reconstruction, development and economic growth for a sustainable future. Through this learning area we would like to:
* Equip our learners with the knowledge and economic and management skills and competencies that would enable them to play a vital role in the process of transforming the country's economic, social, political, technological, physical and demographic environments; and
* Introduce them to an understanding of the wealth creation processes by equipping them with knowledge about the different aspects of the economic system, such as basic economics, management, administration and economic institutions.
We believe that the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes will enable our learners to become future contributors to the improvement of our national standards of living and productivity levels in all spheres of human endeavour, and the provision of opportunities for our people to realise their full potential.
The Department has developed curriculum frameworks for the General and Further Education and Training bands. These have been widely supported by the public. The NPI also provided positive responses to the curriculum frameworks, which it perceives as a good foundation for a productive society.
Implemented properly, the curriculum frameworks should yield a world-class learner that is able to think creatively, and can engage with the contents of the learning areas as opposed to the traditional models of learning that promoted memorisation. But this requires serious investments and collaborative efforts between the Department and its business partners and labour. We are convinced that this curriculum holds definite promise in ensuring that our learners do become citizens that are able to contribute positively to make our economy one of the best in a family of nations.
Apart from the development of enabling curriculum frameworks, the department has also embarked upon, and is making positive strides in programmes aimed at addressing some of the strategic objectives of the Human Resource Development Strategy. Among these is the National Strategy for Improving Learner Attainment in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, popularly known as the Dinaledi Project, which is intended to improve learner performance in mathematics and science as a foundation for creating greater opportunities for them to follow higher education disciplines in scarce skills such as engineering, technology and natural and economic sciences. Although the Dinaledi Project is currently run in only 102 high schools nationally, plans are underway to extend the reach of this initiative to all public schools, including primary schools. Within the next fifteen years we are hoping to achieve sustainable higher education enrolment rates in the MST: EMS: Humanities of, respectively, 30%: 30%: 40%. In this way we are expecting to develop a nation of mathematically, scientifically and technologically literate population that would be able to hold its own in the global economic, information and knowledge competition scales.
In order to ensure that those adults who missed out on the opportunity of becoming literate are not once again left out in the cold, the department is also running successful Literacy, Reading and ABET programmes. Although the Literacy and Reading programmes are still largely depended on private sector and foreign donor funding, the department is committed to ensuring that these programmes succeed in making sure that the majority of our disadvantaged citizens become literate, and that those who are able to read and write continue to practise these skills throughout their lives. I am proud to announce that a number of semi-governmental, non-governmental and private organisations are doing a sterling job in support of these initiatives.
Education systems the world over, have an obligation to deliver on quality education for economic growth and social development. In the context of developing countries such as South Africa, efforts to achieve quality and excellence are often thwarted by, among others, fiscal constraints, capacity-related limitations and global trade barriers. We rely on organisations such as the NPI to assist us in overcoming some of these challenges.
The need for building a prosperous society that shares its wealth equitably is long overdue. The debate should now be on how the negatives facing our new democracy, such as hunger, joblessness, homelessness, the prevalence of curable diseases, and unacceptable racial, gender and geographic disparities in terms of distribution of wealth, income and opportunity are dealt with earnestly and decisively. To be able to achieve this ideal, we need the commitment of all role players to ensure that we build a motivated and productive citizenry and business community.
If we define productivity as a simple relationship between the output of goods and services, and the various inputs required for production such as labour and capital, then we will have a narrow outcome. However, if we see productivity as a multifactor variable, which takes into account the simultaneous influences of several factors on production, including qualitative factors such as better management and profitability of enterprises, improved quality of inputs and outputs, and the welfare of the workforce, then productivity is bound to make a positive difference to the performance of our economy and lives. The sustainable growth of our living standards, employment opportunities and economic performance, all depend on the acceptance and maintenance of such a broad understanding of productivity.
We must all strive to bring to an end millennia of suffering that Africans have been subjected to by foreign invaders. Through the millennia, the world has come to believe the fallacy that Africans were created to become cogs in the international productivity wheel of goods and services. The NEPAD programme seeks to create a socio-economic environment that would enable Africans to break the shackles of exploitation and degradation to become important participants in the world economy. By embracing a broader definition of productivity, we will go a long way towards cultivating an environment in which our continent is able to thrive economically, to enable its respective countries to support peaceful, democratic and just political dispensations.
Productivity and competitiveness have the potential of reducing our unacceptably high unemployment levels, especially among the youth. If many of our young people can engage in and develop highly productive economic enterprises, we stand a good chance of not only containing the current spiralling unemployment levels, but also of building sustainable socio-economic development systems for the future.
Programme director, the attainment of all these noble and lofty ideals, stands and falls on the quality of education delivery, and the commitment and dedication of our young people towards their studies and their work. We must all understand that education has value. It is the only sustainable and far reaching means of developing the talents and potentialities of all our citizens. Economic giants such as Japan were able to turn the corner for the better by investing massively in their education system over a long period of time. If we want to become one of the winning nations, we too must be prepared to sacrifice and work hard.
As the department we would like to ensure that our youth inherit a better future. We also want them to play a more meaningful role in the processes aimed at the creation of a better world. There is nothing that is preventing the youth from being the makers of history, even as we are striving to attend to the many difficult tasks that are confronting our society in its path of reconstruction and development. Our youth played a very crucial role in our struggle for liberation. That struggle is not yet over; we must still achieve economic and social emancipation. We would like to call upon all of us to put our shoulders to the wheel to make this a reality; to build a more equal society. Without greater equality, our democracy will be in jeopardy.
In closing, we once again wish to commend and congratulate the NPI and its partners for their valuable contributions to our education system and the development of our children. Initiatives such as the one we are celebrating today contain the essential ingredients for building a successful nation.
Ke a leboga
Issued by the Deputy Ministry of Education, 17 October 2003
Source: Deputy Ministry of Education
Title: Mangena: NPI school debate competition on productivity
ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE AWARD CEREMONY FOR THE NPI SCHOOL DEBATE COMPETITION ON PRODUCTIVITY, Pretoria University, 17 October 2003
Programme Director, Members of the Board of the National Productivity Institute, Executive Director, Dr Yvonne Dladla, Principals, Educators, Parents, Learners, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen
All organisms, be they of plant or animal origin, exist because of their ability to reproduce and sustain their own kind against competition. All species that succumb to competition face the grim reality of extinction. Yet, at the same time, competitors that become too dominant soon turn out to be vulnerable, because they lose the edge to improve their internal flaws. It is the cumulative effects of these weaknesses that ultimately undermine the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire species, resulting in its degeneration and eventual demise.
Societies, organisations and institutions function the same way as the natural order. The survival of all establishments depends solely on their ability to continuously engage and improve on the productive capacities of their individual parts and sections. Government, through its legislative and other frameworks, is about creating enabling conditions for individuals, companies and institutions to hone their skills and competencies to ensure their own and their country's survival against the outsiders. For a country to succeed, the talent, energy and genius of every citizen must be harnessed to the full. Therefore, by taking the productivity and economic development challenge to the school level, the National Productivity Institute is not only teaching the learners to embrace productivity as a part of their lives, but is also inculcating in our youth the values that would ensure their survival in the fiercely competitive world.
As a department, we would like to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all the citizens by providing them with lifelong education and training opportunities to ensure that each person becomes productively and gainfully employed. Well-trained and productive employees greatly enhance the competitiveness of the businesses employing them. Our curriculum statement for the economic and management sciences regards this learning area as being fundamental in preparing our citizens to understand the critical importance of reconstruction, development and economic growth for a sustainable future. Through this learning area we would like to:
* Equip our learners with the knowledge and economic and management skills and competencies that would enable them to play a vital role in the process of transforming the country's economic, social, political, technological, physical and demographic environments; and
* Introduce them to an understanding of the wealth creation processes by equipping them with knowledge about the different aspects of the economic system, such as basic economics, management, administration and economic institutions.
We believe that the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes will enable our learners to become future contributors to the improvement of our national standards of living and productivity levels in all spheres of human endeavour, and the provision of opportunities for our people to realise their full potential.
The Department has developed curriculum frameworks for the General and Further Education and Training bands. These have been widely supported by the public. The NPI also provided positive responses to the curriculum frameworks, which it perceives as a good foundation for a productive society.
Implemented properly, the curriculum frameworks should yield a world-class learner that is able to think creatively, and can engage with the contents of the learning areas as opposed to the traditional models of learning that promoted memorisation. But this requires serious investments and collaborative efforts between the Department and its business partners and labour. We are convinced that this curriculum holds definite promise in ensuring that our learners do become citizens that are able to contribute positively to make our economy one of the best in a family of nations.
Apart from the development of enabling curriculum frameworks, the department has also embarked upon, and is making positive strides in programmes aimed at addressing some of the strategic objectives of the Human Resource Development Strategy. Among these is the National Strategy for Improving Learner Attainment in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, popularly known as the Dinaledi Project, which is intended to improve learner performance in mathematics and science as a foundation for creating greater opportunities for them to follow higher education disciplines in scarce skills such as engineering, technology and natural and economic sciences. Although the Dinaledi Project is currently run in only 102 high schools nationally, plans are underway to extend the reach of this initiative to all public schools, including primary schools. Within the next fifteen years we are hoping to achieve sustainable higher education enrolment rates in the MST: EMS: Humanities of, respectively, 30%: 30%: 40%. In this way we are expecting to develop a nation of mathematically, scientifically and technologically literate population that would be able to hold its own in the global economic, information and knowledge competition scales.
In order to ensure that those adults who missed out on the opportunity of becoming literate are not once again left out in the cold, the department is also running successful Literacy, Reading and ABET programmes. Although the Literacy and Reading programmes are still largely depended on private sector and foreign donor funding, the department is committed to ensuring that these programmes succeed in making sure that the majority of our disadvantaged citizens become literate, and that those who are able to read and write continue to practise these skills throughout their lives. I am proud to announce that a number of semi-governmental, non-governmental and private organisations are doing a sterling job in support of these initiatives.
Education systems the world over, have an obligation to deliver on quality education for economic growth and social development. In the context of developing countries such as South Africa, efforts to achieve quality and excellence are often thwarted by, among others, fiscal constraints, capacity-related limitations and global trade barriers. We rely on organisations such as the NPI to assist us in overcoming some of these challenges.
The need for building a prosperous society that shares its wealth equitably is long overdue. The debate should now be on how the negatives facing our new democracy, such as hunger, joblessness, homelessness, the prevalence of curable diseases, and unacceptable racial, gender and geographic disparities in terms of distribution of wealth, income and opportunity are dealt with earnestly and decisively. To be able to achieve this ideal, we need the commitment of all role players to ensure that we build a motivated and productive citizenry and business community.
If we define productivity as a simple relationship between the output of goods and services, and the various inputs required for production such as labour and capital, then we will have a narrow outcome. However, if we see productivity as a multifactor variable, which takes into account the simultaneous influences of several factors on production, including qualitative factors such as better management and profitability of enterprises, improved quality of inputs and outputs, and the welfare of the workforce, then productivity is bound to make a positive difference to the performance of our economy and lives. The sustainable growth of our living standards, employment opportunities and economic performance, all depend on the acceptance and maintenance of such a broad understanding of productivity.
We must all strive to bring to an end millennia of suffering that Africans have been subjected to by foreign invaders. Through the millennia, the world has come to believe the fallacy that Africans were created to become cogs in the international productivity wheel of goods and services. The NEPAD programme seeks to create a socio-economic environment that would enable Africans to break the shackles of exploitation and degradation to become important participants in the world economy. By embracing a broader definition of productivity, we will go a long way towards cultivating an environment in which our continent is able to thrive economically, to enable its respective countries to support peaceful, democratic and just political dispensations.
Productivity and competitiveness have the potential of reducing our unacceptably high unemployment levels, especially among the youth. If many of our young people can engage in and develop highly productive economic enterprises, we stand a good chance of not only containing the current spiralling unemployment levels, but also of building sustainable socio-economic development systems for the future.
Programme director, the attainment of all these noble and lofty ideals, stands and falls on the quality of education delivery, and the commitment and dedication of our young people towards their studies and their work. We must all understand that education has value. It is the only sustainable and far reaching means of developing the talents and potentialities of all our citizens. Economic giants such as Japan were able to turn the corner for the better by investing massively in their education system over a long period of time. If we want to become one of the winning nations, we too must be prepared to sacrifice and work hard.
As the department we would like to ensure that our youth inherit a better future. We also want them to play a more meaningful role in the processes aimed at the creation of a better world. There is nothing that is preventing the youth from being the makers of history, even as we are striving to attend to the many difficult tasks that are confronting our society in its path of reconstruction and development. Our youth played a very crucial role in our struggle for liberation. That struggle is not yet over; we must still achieve economic and social emancipation. We would like to call upon all of us to put our shoulders to the wheel to make this a reality; to build a more equal society. Without greater equality, our democracy will be in jeopardy.
In closing, we once again wish to commend and congratulate the NPI and its partners for their valuable contributions to our education system and the development of our children. Initiatives such as the one we are celebrating today contain the essential ingredients for building a successful nation.
Ke a leboga
Issued by the Deputy Ministry of Education, 17 October 2003
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