Date: 03/05/2007

Source: Department of Education

Title: Pandor: Adult Literacy Colloquium

Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor MP, at the adult literacy colloquium, St Georges Hotel in Pretoria

Good morning and welcome.

Last year in November, Cabinet approved in principle the ministerial committee's findings on the need for a mass literacy campaign and assigned me the task, with other ministers, of designing an effective implementation plan, which is what we are here to discuss. Cabinet welcomed the steps taken by the Department of Education (DoE) to craft a realistic responsive programme to address illiteracy in South Africa. The programme we intend to develop will build on our past successes and will be directed at assisting South Africa to make real inroads in the fight against illiteracy.

We have learned from past and existing initiatives, [Ithuteng: Ready to Learn Campaign, South African National Literacy Initiative (SANLI)]. They have assisted us in understanding the complex tasks of teaching adult learners. Moreover, they highlighted the institutional and programme weaknesses in the adult basic education and training system. Despite the challenges, they have provided valuable experience in how to take projects to scale.

We have long known (eloquently expressed in the Yellow Book) that effective responses by the education system to Adult Based Education and Training (ABET) and Early Childhood Development (ECD) could boost the performance of our whole education system completely out of proportion to the amount of money invested in them. Think of the importance of parents reading to children. The ripple effect of early reading can have a transformative effect on the learning standards of children throughout our schools. At the moment we do not spend enough on ECD and ABET. We will spend more. The challenge is not solely financial. We have to be very focused in how we spend the money. The entire sector has to show that it can work smarter in a collaborative programme. Developing such an approach requires careful planning, realistic budgeting and the setting of clear targets and timeframes.

Cuba, Venezuela and New Zealand have been successful with adult literacy; we can also be successful. The campaign will kick off in 2008 with 1,2 million students for a five-year period. Let me take this opportunity to thank the Chairperson and members of the Committee for their sterling work.

Economic urgency

The growing gap between the rich and poor, the critical shortages of skills in key economic sectors point to a need for a massive intervention on skills development. The programmes on Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) reflect the growing urgency within the country around ensuring sustained growth and development. Such growth and development requires a concomitant intervention in literacy and basic education. It is critical that information is gathered in order to feed into the programmes of the literacy campaign. While the focus of the campaign is on foundational skills in reading, writing and arithmetic, aspects of these can begin to talk to some of the critical skills required. Post-literacy programmes will be crucial in this regard.

Social cohesion

Literacy campaigns have been effectively utilised in other countries to foster an understanding and appreciation of the national goals and objectives of a country. Within the implementation plan, we need to look into this aspect. The mass literacy intervention we are planning can and should contribute to social cohesion. The participation of youth in the campaign as well as the mass nature of the campaign should enable us to contribute to this aspect of social cohesion.

International obligations

In line with international initiatives, it would be proper that the structures and processes we put in place enable scope for comparability. In this regard, our monitoring and evaluations systems must enable us to report to the country as well as to international bodies. For us to achieve the goal of being declared a country free of illiteracy requires us to be mindful of some of the international indicators. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) initiatives around the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) as well as the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) would have implications for the nature of the Monitoring and Evaluation system that is put in place.

Summary of the recommendations

The plan has a clear set of operational principles including those related to service to the disabled and the role of youth in a planned campaign. Clear learning outcomes related to alphabetisation and functional literacy, mother tongue literacy, the language of the economy and numeracy have been described in the context of the aim to provide a base for sustainable literacy. The proposed organisational model for delivery takes into account the legislative context and proposes structures to handle governance (policy and oversight), co-ordination (administration), curriculum and teaching, and monitoring, evaluation and research. The plan proposes that the overarching governance body be a Presidential Commission.

Proposals are also presented on co-operation and partnerships, advocacy, publicity and mobilisation, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) requirements and the financial management and control of the campaign. Curriculum and assessment principles have been compiled and recommendations made for a mode of delivery that relies on face to face instruction using carefully prepared text materials (with special provision for the disabled who need other media) mediated by well trained tutors supported by a range of other media support - videos, audio-tapes, computer aided instruction, radio and television broadcasts.

A detailed plan has been made for the materials development process that would make use of the best expertise in South Africa and the resources of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for radio and television broadcasts. A training and support plan for the educational staff and volunteers has also been devised that will take into account the existing supply of people trained in ABET instruction and the needs of youth and the unemployed. Special training will be available for those working with the disabled.

A strong and relatively autonomous monitoring, evaluation and research component is built into the plan to ensure the integrity of the campaign in its implementation and outputs and statistics. This component will make considerable use of higher education capacity. The period of the campaign (three intensive years and two years closure) and the number of registrations (it suggests two registrations per year) and the gear-up requirements (which are vital if the campaign is to succeed). Though the campaign will rely heavily on volunteers, the plan proposes the payment of a basic stipend to these educators. A preliminary costing of the plan has been undertaken.

In closing, the Colloquium has been called to engage with various aspects of the Mincom report. In engaging with the report, it should be clear that I am not calling for comments on the report but engagement towards refinement of the implementation plan.

Issued by: Department of Education
3 May 2007