Keynote address by Gauteng MEC for Education Angie Motshekga at the Tshwane West District (Bojanala) Education Summit

Programme Director
Our public representatives: MPs, MPLs, MMCs, Councillors
The HOD and members of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) senior management staff
The principals and School Management Team members
The leadership of the learners in this area
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Dumelang bagaetsho. Re a le amogela ka matsogo a mabedi a bollo mo Profinsing e ya Gauteng. It is indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to be probably the first Provincial Member of the Executive Committee to address a gathering in this newly-acquired area of Gauteng.

We are gathered here to address issues pertaining to education in particular; a very critical area in the empowerment and development of our communities. This summit is the last, but by no means the least, of four regional Education Summits. These regional summits were a sequel to the Premier's Special Education Summit that took place on the 24 March 2007.

All these summits were convened as a result of the directive of the Premier of the Gauteng province in his State of the Province Address on 19 February 2007. In that speech the Premier articulated the concerns of all of us about the sorry state of education in our African communities.

Quote: "It is the African child who learns in overcrowded schools. It is the African children who have a higher failure rate. It is the township schools where the African child is based that are dysfunctional. This we must bring to a complete halt."

We are here today as public representatives, school stakeholders and role-players and organised civil society to "agree on a programme of action to improve the quality of education of the African child in our province." Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of time! We are like a driver who is fixing a car whilst it is in motion!

Fellow patriots in this area, this Summit is like a baptism of fire for you because whilst we introduce ourselves to one another there is already a line of march drawn. There are delivery imperatives that require urgent attention. We have to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

This very week I have already visited five schools in the Tshwane West district to get a sense of where we are. I visited Matshediso Primary in Mabopane Block D and discovered that this particular school needs a lot of jerking up, particularly in view of its low learner numbers. Next on my list was Holy Trinity High in Winterveldt. This school can compete favourably with any school in the province. The enthusiasm of the principal in particular, was a marvel to watch. We then visited Sekampaneng Primary (Sekampaneng Village) Tipfuxeni Secondary (Stinkwater) and Makgetse Secondary (Temba) in Hammanskraal.

These schools presented the following challenges and needs to us:

Human Resources matters: These schools do not have sufficient PS Staff i.e. security personnel, ground staff (general assistants). Makgetse Secondary in Temba has no PS staff at all.

Infrastructure: Generally schools need refurbishment/renovation of existing buildings and even additional buildings, some schools still use pit toilets.

Curriculum delivery: A need was expressed to provide more support i.e. materials and training on the new National Curriculum Statements.

Role of the Tshwane City Municipality: A feeling was expressed that the municipality does not collect refuse regularly. To this end I will communicate with my colleague, the Executive Mayor, to try to address these issues.

All I can say now is that we have noted these challenges and will address them in due course. I, however, do not want to convey the impression that these needs can be satisfied overnight.

We nonetheless commit ourselves as a department to provide as much support to you as is humanly possible. We would love to induct you into our institutional culture with its work ethic that is premised on our vision of delivering quality public education to all our learners. This quality education should enable our young people to help realise the ideals of Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisitions Skills Revolution. The Premier captured this imperative thus:

"Education and skills development must therefore remain our top priority in our efforts to reverse inequality and improve the standard of living of our people."

Fortunately, as I have stated earlier, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in general and the District Director, Tim Makofane and his team, in particular, are ready to support you to the best of their abilities. Tim, this enormous task of carrying our baby district rests on your strong shoulders. We know that you and your team will be equal to the task. Even as early as now, the District leadership has a tentative turn around strategy ready for this district. You, together with your district will find time to fine-tune the strategy to address your specific needs taking into account the context of your situation.

All the regional (district) turnaround strategies are informed by our comprehensive provincial strategy that aims at creating fully functional, productive and effective schools. To this end we will soon be sending our quality assurance team with their whole School Evaluation instrument. All these attempts are geared at providing support to all our schools.

All these attempts at improving the productivity and efficiency of our institutions will come to naught if there is not commitment on the part of our school communities. We need commitment from the educators, learners, management (principal and School Management Teams) and School Governing Bodies Learners must commit to learn, educators must commit to teach, managers must commit to manage and governors must commit to govern.

Learners: I want to urge the learner leadership to encourage their constituencies to take charge of their education. Do not allow yourselves to be short-changed by educators who do not deliver. You are also expected to apply yourselves to your work, as the Chinese proverb goes: "The teacher only opens the door, you enter by yourself." When we announce the matric results at the end of this year, I want to see learners from this district being amongst the 'Top 100 learners' in the province. You can do it.

To the teachers: Please open the doors of learning to your charges by honouring and protecting teaching time. That interaction in the classroom between you and your learners is vital. Only time will tell if it was meaningful and fruitful.

We should all view this transfer from the North West province to Gauteng positively. Let us see it as an opportunity to reposition ourselves and our schools. In my church denomination and also in the political organisation that I belong to, we speak of 'imvuselelo.' Imvuselelo means that you re-commit, re-dedicate, re-energise yourself to uphold the values, principles and ideals that you subscribe to.

Conclusion: Let us never lose sight of the fact that for us as African communities Education is the only inheritance from our parents. "As we intensify the struggle against poverty and unemployment in our communities" let us remember that our youth are the future of this country, we dare not let them down. The famous Afro-American basketball player, Michael Jordan once said:

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."

In which category are you? Remember we have a target to meet for 2007: 80% matric pass rate for the Gauteng province. Are we getting it?

Thank you, Re a leboga, Hi khensile

Issued by: Department of Education, Gauteng Provincial Government
23 May 2007