Date: 14/03/2008
Source: The Presidency
Title: SA: Mlambo-Ngcuka: Most Improved Schools Awards ceremony

Address by the Deputy President Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the Most Improved School Awards ceremony 2007

Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor, Member of Parliament (MP)
Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Enver Surty, MP
MECs of Education
Director General, Heads of Education in the provinces
Sponsors
Principals
School Governing Body Members
Ladies and gentlemen

I am pleased to be part of this celebration of progress tonight. It is a great honour to once again meet and congratulate the principal's schools and chairpersons of governing bodies who continue to do outstanding work in our schools and communities under difficult conditions.

As you all know, I am a former teacher and so schools and teachers are very close to my heart. The development and skilling of young people is a project in which, I believe, we should all be investing to guarantee our future. My respect for, and support of schools have grown in the last two years in my role in the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa). Everyday we are exposed to the importance and urgency of improving the quality of learning and to support teachers and learners.

In 2007, this support came in two forms: medium and long-term investment in selected Dinaledi Schools though the adoption of Dinaledi Schools and short-term incentives for improved Higher Grade passed in the 2007 Senior Certificate.
Let me first deal with the adoption of Dinaledi Schools. I am delighted that private companies, parastatals and universities have adopted over 200 Dinaledi Schools.

The beauty of the adoption model of support is that it allows for the very varied and nuanced needs of our schools. Many school development and school improvement initiatives have suffered from preconceived ideas or one-size-fits-all approaches. Thank you to Optima Fund announced by Ms Margie Keeton at last year's Most Improved Schools Awards. I believe that 26 fortunate schools submitted their plans last year and had received support by the end of 2007.
Thank you to Standard Bank for donating R1 million and more to 56 schools.

I am particularly pleased with this generous gesture, as it is important that all schools, not only Dinaledi Schools, contribute to the development of high level maths and science skills in South Africa. I want to congratulate both the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education on the decision made in their first year of office in 2005 to make mathematics compulsory for all learners from Grade 1 to 12.

The National Curriculum Statement makes mathematics compulsory for Grades 1 to 9 and all Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners must take either mathematics or mathematics literacy. The number of learners passing mathematics has increased from ninety one thousand (91 000) in 2001 to one hundred and forty nine thousand (149 000) in 2007 and the number passing science has increased from sixty nine thousand (69 000) passes in 2001 to hundred and fifteen thousand (115 000) passes in 2007. Naturally, we need much more but we must also acknowledge the positive steps we are taking and aim higher.

Minister Pandor, I am also pleased we are, for a second year, rewarding and congratulating the Mathematics Club 100. I want to congratulate all the principals and chairpersons of governing body of these schools and to ask them to honour the wonderful teachers that produced these results.

In addition, I want to congratulate all the other schools honoured here tonight for the effort you put into improving your results in 2007. We know, 2007 was a tough year for our schools and so your achievement is even more noteworthy. Thanks to teachers and principals for dedication and hard work. The future of the nation depends on you. I believe it is possible to replicate your success elsewhere. Other schools can learn from your models of achievement. We can identify and isolate these models of success.

There are core tenets that schools must have to be able to produce winners include:
1. Schools function better if they have structures that provide effective leadership and management
2. Schools succeed if there is motivation and dedication from staff and learners
3. Schools perform better if they are capacitated with basic resources like textbooks, laboratories, and libraries
4. Schools discharge their function better when we recruit and retain competent teachers, who are also enabled to undergo in-service training and development,
5. Working in partnership with government, parent-teacher organisations (PTOs), school governing bodies (SGBs), and the community at large, where necessary we should be able to provide psychological and social welfare support for those schools that have to deal with challenges of violence, substance abuse, HIV and AIDS and other social ills
6. And added to this, schools are encouraged to build their own networks of support to assist learners with food and clothing, e.g., for orphans and vulnerable children

Finally, I would like to encourage you to continue your excellent work in 2008 and so ensure that at the end of this year you will be able once again to celebrate improved results. As the Minister of Education has indicated tonight, improved results do not only mean a high pass rate. It means how many young persons left your school with the knowledge and skills to participate in further or higher education or the labour market.

All the evidence points to the fact that the key skills required for further study or the world of work are strong language and mathematics. So tonight, I am pleased to celebrate the achievements of the forty-two (42) schools that over the last three years have provided an increasing number of young persons with language skills and mathematics. Each young person's success counts. Each young person who leaves school with good language and mathematics skills, substantially improves their own and their families' life chances.

Each young person who leaves school with good language and mathematics skills substantially improves the skills pool of South Africa and so advances government's war on poverty and unemployment. Let me close by thanking all those who have made tonight a celebration of success. First, to the donors of the prizes, thank you for your generosity and your presence. You have been loyal and increasingly generous in your contribution to our most improved schools.

Second, I would like to thank and congratulate the MECs of Education and the Heads of Education in each province for your leadership and support of our schools. It is through your efforts that we are able to celebrate these improved results tonight. You must feel very proud.

Thank you, Minister Pandor and Deputy Minister Surty and the Director-General Duncan Hindle for your leadership over the last four years and thank you for inviting me to share this lovely and heart-warming celebration with you. The work we are celebrating today symbolises the great energy and star quality that we possess in this country. I urge all of us to also conserve energy so that we help secure an even brighter future.

Thank you and well done.

Issued by: The Presidency
14 March 2008