Date: 22/07/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: N Pandor: Visit to SABC
SPEAKING NOTES FOR NALEDI PANDOR, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, ON HER VISIT TO THE SABC, 22 July 2004
Yvonne Kgame,
Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena,
Education MECs,
SABC Executives,
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be here at the launch of these important educational programmes.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation has played an important role in bringing education to all South Africans.
Electronic communication shapes attitudes and perceptions in society. We need to use this potential wisely in order to advance important national objectives and educational imperatives.
The broadcaster is a powerful engine for social and cultural development. It can also play a lead role in contributing to social integration and moral regeneration.
Its reach makes it a powerful tool for social and economic transformation. Of course not all our people have televisions but the broadcasters innovation in combining radio and television in education programming illustrates the potential for significant popular outreach.
Its potential to educate is enormous.
The SABC has recognised that the need for public education is deep and broad. Years of deprivation have left millions of South Africans without knowledge of their rights and responsibilities, and without information that can help them improve the quality of their lives.
On 27 February 1997, the SABC and the Department of Education launched the Lifelong Learning Education Broadcasting Service. This initiative was premised on the understanding that educational programmes should interrogate and support our national educational goals.
Since then the number of hours devoted to educational programmes has grown by leaps and bounds.
The education service has delivered programming that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This is one of the main objectives of the new curriculum.
In keeping with its aim of providing education in an entertaining way, the SABC has produced top-quality programmes.
The new programmes launched today are learning resources that illustrate good television and also provide meaningful support to the curriculum.
For example, in the Department we are especially pleased to see that one new series fosters an interest in science by highlighting the everyday applications of classroom science. It also showcases the careers that can be built on a solid foundation in maths, science and technology.
Making education programmes is costly and advertising support for educational programmes has never been enough to make them commercial propositions.
The key to continued support for educational broadcasting lies in partnerships with stakeholders at all levels, along the lines of the pioneering one between the Department of Education and the SABC.
All those with a vested interest in seeing educational growth in South Africa need to be part of this partnership.
There are many successes, however the principles referred to at the beginning require us to constantly interrogate the focus of our programmes and to evaluate whether indeed social cohesion, moral regeneration and full understanding of opportunities available in our society are being presented and achieved.
In closing, let me say that the SABC is in a unique and powerful position to shape our national identity.
The promotion of the democratic values that underlie much of the SABC's educational programming is important not only for the sake of personal development, but also for the growth of a national South African identity built on values very different from those that underpinned apartheid education.
The kind of learner that we envisage is one who will be inspired by respect for democracy, equality, human dignity, and social justice.
The curriculum seeks to encourage a lifelong learner who is confident, independent, literate, numerate, multi-skilled, and as a consequence a critical and active citizen.
One of the children I met this week said this to me: "I like a teacher who helps me find the answers for myself."
SABC Education has become the greatest teacher in the land.
Thank you
Siyabonga
Issued by: Ministry of Education
22 July 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: N Pandor: Visit to SABC
SPEAKING NOTES FOR NALEDI PANDOR, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, ON HER VISIT TO THE SABC, 22 July 2004
Yvonne Kgame,
Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena,
Education MECs,
SABC Executives,
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be here at the launch of these important educational programmes.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation has played an important role in bringing education to all South Africans.
Electronic communication shapes attitudes and perceptions in society. We need to use this potential wisely in order to advance important national objectives and educational imperatives.
The broadcaster is a powerful engine for social and cultural development. It can also play a lead role in contributing to social integration and moral regeneration.
Its reach makes it a powerful tool for social and economic transformation. Of course not all our people have televisions but the broadcasters innovation in combining radio and television in education programming illustrates the potential for significant popular outreach.
Its potential to educate is enormous.
The SABC has recognised that the need for public education is deep and broad. Years of deprivation have left millions of South Africans without knowledge of their rights and responsibilities, and without information that can help them improve the quality of their lives.
On 27 February 1997, the SABC and the Department of Education launched the Lifelong Learning Education Broadcasting Service. This initiative was premised on the understanding that educational programmes should interrogate and support our national educational goals.
Since then the number of hours devoted to educational programmes has grown by leaps and bounds.
The education service has delivered programming that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This is one of the main objectives of the new curriculum.
In keeping with its aim of providing education in an entertaining way, the SABC has produced top-quality programmes.
The new programmes launched today are learning resources that illustrate good television and also provide meaningful support to the curriculum.
For example, in the Department we are especially pleased to see that one new series fosters an interest in science by highlighting the everyday applications of classroom science. It also showcases the careers that can be built on a solid foundation in maths, science and technology.
Making education programmes is costly and advertising support for educational programmes has never been enough to make them commercial propositions.
The key to continued support for educational broadcasting lies in partnerships with stakeholders at all levels, along the lines of the pioneering one between the Department of Education and the SABC.
All those with a vested interest in seeing educational growth in South Africa need to be part of this partnership.
There are many successes, however the principles referred to at the beginning require us to constantly interrogate the focus of our programmes and to evaluate whether indeed social cohesion, moral regeneration and full understanding of opportunities available in our society are being presented and achieved.
In closing, let me say that the SABC is in a unique and powerful position to shape our national identity.
The promotion of the democratic values that underlie much of the SABC's educational programming is important not only for the sake of personal development, but also for the growth of a national South African identity built on values very different from those that underpinned apartheid education.
The kind of learner that we envisage is one who will be inspired by respect for democracy, equality, human dignity, and social justice.
The curriculum seeks to encourage a lifelong learner who is confident, independent, literate, numerate, multi-skilled, and as a consequence a critical and active citizen.
One of the children I met this week said this to me: "I like a teacher who helps me find the answers for myself."
SABC Education has become the greatest teacher in the land.
Thank you
Siyabonga
Issued by: Ministry of Education
22 July 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)
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