Date: 23/01/2006 Source: Ministry of Education Title: Pandor:
Renaming of Agisanang Primary School
Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, MP, at the renaming of Agisanang Primary School as the Tim Modise Primary School, Ga-rankuwa
Tim Modise
Teachers and learners
Distinguished guests
It gives me enormous pleasure to say a few words at this renaming ceremony. Thank you for inviting me.
Ke rata go nka tshono e ke leboge Foundation ya ga Tim Modise go menagane. Le dira tiro e e tswileng mabogo segolo bogolo go re ema nokeng re le Lefapha la Thuto go tsweletsa thuto ya bana ba rona pele!!
Tim Modise has a special place in the hearts of our people and I am sure that the young pupils at this school will, in time, come to realise what an honour it is to have started their education in a school that is named after him.
They may not know it now, but they will know it in the future. In this ceremony Tim Modise has added great impetus to the crucial initiative of ‘giving back’ to the schools that shaped our media, business and political leaders.
Last year I called on media celebrities and business people to donate their time and resources to improving state schools. All our schools need to cultivate a closer relationship with their past pupils - their alumni. Understandably, this was not a pattern under apartheid for the majority of our pupils.
However, we have enjoyed 11 years of freedom and enough time has elapsed for past pupils to seek to improve the schools that shaped their future prospects and values.
It is time for our new role models to give back and to develop a culture of giving back. The decision taken by Tim Modise Foundation to adopt-a-learner, adopt-a-school will make a huge difference to the school and the Ga-rankuwa community.
Even if the province abolishes school fees for this school, it will still need community support. All state schools, fee-free or not, welcome donations; because the richer the resources available for learning the richer the experience of learning is for our children.
Despite our education success in many regards, the opening of the school year appears to have been better managed and received by parents and pupils than ever before, many challenges remain in our primary school sector.
The gross enrolment rate is excellent but reading and writing skills are not. We need to give our primary school pupils the best foundation we can in reading and writing and number work.
We need to ensure that they learn the basics in the first few years at school. We need to ensure they learn the basics, because if they do not, it becomes more and more difficult to catch up as they grow older.
And it is critically important that in the foundation phase our pupils learn in their mother tongues. Children who learn in their mother tongue in the early years of schooling become more competent in the basic skills of reading, writing and number work. We need to nourish our pupils in the best way we can right from the start of their school careers and even before in Grade R and in early learning centres.
Our aims are simple, learn to read, learn to write and learn in a language that is your mother tongue. The best way to do that is in a learning environment that is rich in resources of a variety of kinds. Teachers need adequate resources to teach. Teachers need book collections, internet connections or a resources centre. They are the crucial to school effectiveness. They enable effective learning and teaching to develop and flourish.
The Tim Modise Foundation is setting a wonderful example to other foundations and other individuals who have a lot to give back to their schools and communities.
Well done and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
23 January 2006
Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, MP, at the renaming of Agisanang Primary School as the Tim Modise Primary School, Ga-rankuwa
Tim Modise
Teachers and learners
Distinguished guests
It gives me enormous pleasure to say a few words at this renaming ceremony. Thank you for inviting me.
Ke rata go nka tshono e ke leboge Foundation ya ga Tim Modise go menagane. Le dira tiro e e tswileng mabogo segolo bogolo go re ema nokeng re le Lefapha la Thuto go tsweletsa thuto ya bana ba rona pele!!
Tim Modise has a special place in the hearts of our people and I am sure that the young pupils at this school will, in time, come to realise what an honour it is to have started their education in a school that is named after him.
They may not know it now, but they will know it in the future. In this ceremony Tim Modise has added great impetus to the crucial initiative of ‘giving back’ to the schools that shaped our media, business and political leaders.
Last year I called on media celebrities and business people to donate their time and resources to improving state schools. All our schools need to cultivate a closer relationship with their past pupils - their alumni. Understandably, this was not a pattern under apartheid for the majority of our pupils.
However, we have enjoyed 11 years of freedom and enough time has elapsed for past pupils to seek to improve the schools that shaped their future prospects and values.
It is time for our new role models to give back and to develop a culture of giving back. The decision taken by Tim Modise Foundation to adopt-a-learner, adopt-a-school will make a huge difference to the school and the Ga-rankuwa community.
Even if the province abolishes school fees for this school, it will still need community support. All state schools, fee-free or not, welcome donations; because the richer the resources available for learning the richer the experience of learning is for our children.
Despite our education success in many regards, the opening of the school year appears to have been better managed and received by parents and pupils than ever before, many challenges remain in our primary school sector.
The gross enrolment rate is excellent but reading and writing skills are not. We need to give our primary school pupils the best foundation we can in reading and writing and number work.
We need to ensure that they learn the basics in the first few years at school. We need to ensure they learn the basics, because if they do not, it becomes more and more difficult to catch up as they grow older.
And it is critically important that in the foundation phase our pupils learn in their mother tongues. Children who learn in their mother tongue in the early years of schooling become more competent in the basic skills of reading, writing and number work. We need to nourish our pupils in the best way we can right from the start of their school careers and even before in Grade R and in early learning centres.
Our aims are simple, learn to read, learn to write and learn in a language that is your mother tongue. The best way to do that is in a learning environment that is rich in resources of a variety of kinds. Teachers need adequate resources to teach. Teachers need book collections, internet connections or a resources centre. They are the crucial to school effectiveness. They enable effective learning and teaching to develop and flourish.
The Tim Modise Foundation is setting a wonderful example to other foundations and other individuals who have a lot to give back to their schools and communities.
Well done and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
23 January 2006
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