/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

MEC of Economic Development Environment Agriculture and Rural Development Lebogang Maile (MPL) visited a number of schools in the predominantly working class Township of Tembisa, as part of Gauteng Provincial Government’s 2018 school readiness programme.

In line with Provincial Government’s 10 pillar programme of Transformation, Modernisation and Re-Industrialisation famously referred as TMR; education is one of its key drivers to accelerate social transformation and reverse the legacy of the racialised, unequal and class divided education system we inherited in 1994.

MEC Maile’s oversight visit to these schools in the area was to strengthen the quality of education provisioning in the province, highlight government’s plan to address classroom shortages, change widespread negative perception about Township education and schools, and draw public’s attention to government’s commitments and plans to overhauling and transforming education. The overall goal is to achieve quality and accessible education for all, irrespective of one’s social standing or creed.

“As Gauteng Government we are happy with the strides we are making in providing quality education for all. Our pass rate, as seen in last year’s Matric results, affirms the great work we are doing as government”, said MEC Maile.

MEC Maile’s first stop was at Thuto ke Matla Comprehensive School, at Maokeng Section in Tembisa, where he interacted with educators and learners and parents, who had come to make their last minute admission registration for their kids. He encouraged parents to register their kids on time through Gauteng Government’s ambitious online application.

“Late registration undermines our efforts to make access to schooling easier, but most importantly, it has a negative impact on the start of schooling in that particular school. We are clear as Government, learning must start on the first day without any hindrances”, charged MEC Maile.

MEC Maile took advantage of his visit by addressing learners and encouraged to take their schooling seriously. In his address he quoted the famous words uttered by our founding President Nelson Mandela: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another”.

The broad thrust of MEC Maile’s message was well received by learners and educators. Hence the MEC challenged the school community to give a practical expression to the school’s name Thuto-Ke-Matla (Knowledge is Power) “to be a revered centre of knowledge reproduction and academic excellence for people’s power”.

Since the school is located in an area that epitomises South Africa’s racialised and unequal society entrenched by our Apartheid past, he called on learners to be “dedicated in their schooling, so that their can use education to overcome poverty, underdevelopment and joblessness”.

The MEC used the occasion to hand-over school uniforms to needy learners and dignity packs to female learners.

“This gesture by the Provincial Government is the most befitting way to remember and honour our two great struggle icons President Nelson Mandela and Mme Albertina Sisulu. This year 2018, marks their centennial birthdays, had it not been their selfless sacrifices, South Africa would have still remained a pariah, but look now we live in a country that is free, democratic and belongs to all”, concluded MEC Maile.

MEC Maile also visited Zitikeni Secondary School; Tlamatlama Primary School and Bokamoso Secondary School to oversee if the “culture of learning and teaching” was upheld on the first day of schooling. The MEC was impressed with the overall readiness demonstrated by educators in all these schools he visited.

Issued by Gauteng Provincial Government