Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor MP, at the De Klerk Foundation conference on diversity, Cape Town

"The role of schools and universities in the promotion of cultural diversity and nation-building"

Former President De Klerk
Ladies and gentlemen

The South Africa that all of us are in the process of creating is a land of fascinating contrasts and contradictions. Formerly oppressed and oppressor willingly come together to be called a rainbow nation, freedom fighters who were in prison, exile or popular struggle are obliged by the compulsion of peaceful change to call each other fellow freedom fighters.

It is in this context of a history/histories that we have not truly reckoned with or acknowledged that we come together to discuss these important themes.

Our public commentators and leading personalities have coined concepts and phrases that we have yet to define for ourselves: "cultural diversity", "unity in diversity", "rainbow nation", "new South Africa". Often these words are a euphemism for something else.

Sociologists have written long books on culture. Many of them have tried to explain that the term culture can mean and does mean different things to different people. For example, some indicate that in the apartheid South Africa of our past, culture was essentialised, regarded as immutable, and placed on a pedestal. Culture was often equated with race and ethnicity and seen as static and unchanging.

This notion of culture bears little relation to our lived experience of the contradictions and influences that impact upon culture (our daily practices, beliefs, and assumptions).

Of course, it is not only past leaders who see culture in these static terms. Some of our freedom fighters, traditional authorities and institutional leaders struggle with the challenge of the dynamic character of our values, practices and rituals.

Diversity is a new addition to our post-democracy heritage. It is a substitute for race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and so on. Wherever there is difference, we are united in our diversity. Or we hope and plan to be.

Schools, colleges and universities have a vital role to play in assisting young people to come to grips with this complexity.

Our predilection for downplaying past conflict, advantage, exclusion, harm, cruelty, difference ... has made it very difficult to support our young people in the development of new values, new attitudes, new practices.

One of the challenges that continues to face us as a young democratic society is the need to engage the public, and particularly our young people, not on culture but on the issue of values in society. The particular challenge is: how do these values form the basis for a strong democratic culture and nation-building? I am suggesting that the capacity to understand and deal with diversity from outside and diversity from within is an important ingredient for the social construction of who we are as a nation. It is only when we are able to accept, appreciate and celebrate diversity that we shall be able to build on what is common. It is only when people do not feel threatened or inferior that they can play an active and constructive role in civic life.

Two recent events illustrate our challenges. The first relates to two organisations of black university students going on a trip. It is reported that it was decided they should travel in one bus as they were all going to the same destination. A violent quarrel broke out on the return trip. One young man was killed. There has been little press coverage. Perhaps because they were young black men?

The second is the recent despicable events at the University of the Free State,[1] where students seemingly felt no shame at filming themselves as they committed actions that offend against our constitution and the values it enshrines.

Several years ago, the Department of Education took the important focus on constitutional values forward with the publication of the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy. It highlights ten key values that form the basis of our Constitution and nationhood: democracy, social justice and equity, equality, non-racism, non-sexism, Ubuntu (human dignity) and an open society, accountability/ responsibility, the rule of law, respect, and reconciliation.

The Manifesto goes on to identify 16 strategies that are appropriate to embedding these values in education. The strategies are:
* nurturing a culture of communication and participation in schools
* role modelling: promoting commitment as well as competence among educators
* ensuring that every South African is able to read, write, and count
* talking in the classroom about a culture of human rights
* making arts and culture part of the curriculum
* putting history back into the curriculum
* introducing religion education into schools
* making multilingualism happen
* using sport to shape social bonds and nurture nation building at schools
* ensuring equal access to education
* promoting anti-racism in schools
* freeing the potential of girls as well as boys
* dealing with HIV/aids and nurturing a culture of sexual and social responsibility
* making schools safe to learn and teach in and ensuring the rule of law
* ethics and the environment
* nurturing the new patriotism, or affirming our common citizenship.

The Department has sought to give practical effect to many of these strategies. The current controversy surrounding the Pledge shows how live the issues still are ... the Bill of Responsibilities is a reaffirmation of many of the values outlined in the Constitution but spelled out in plain English so that all of us, and not only children, are able to understand rights and responsibilities.

I would like to dwell on a few examples of the practical implementation of the strategies. Some have attracted considerable public attention. Some are even contentious in some quarters.

One of the strategies is "Introducing Religion Education into Schools". In our view, teaching the precepts of any one religion is the preserve of the family and the religious institution. The role of the public school is to provide knowledge about different religions. The public school is responsible for providing learners "with the knowledge about religion and morality and values and the diversity of religions" (Manifesto, p. 43). Religion education, taught within the curriculum, will "reaffirm the values of diversity, tolerance, respect, justice, compassion and commitment in young South Africans" (Manifesto, p. 44).

I have been meeting with Ministers and religious leaders of many faiths about this strategy, and have obtained much support for this position. Our public schools cannot impose religious practices on children. This would be unconstitutional.

Another of the strategies advocated is "Making multilingualism happen". The Language-in-Education Policy requires learners to learn in the mother tongue, especially in the Foundation Phase, and to choose two additional languages one of which may become the language of learning and teaching.

We have just celebrated international mother-language day (21 February).

The Manifesto suggests that learners whose home language is English or Afrikaans, should be encouraged to learn an African language as well.

There is no better way to encourage communication and respect amongst speakers of different languages.

For too long we have supported the idea that English is all our learners need to learn.

The last strategy I would like to discuss with you is "Nurturing the New Patriotism, or Affirming our Common Citizenship". In the words of President Mbeki:
The new patriotism requires us to proceed from common positions about the nature of the problems our country faces. We must share a common recognition of the fact that all of us stand to gain from the transformation of South Africa into a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous country. ... No people is predestined to succeed or to fail. No child is born hating. Our neighbours, whether black or white, are as human as we all are and as South African as we all are. (Manifesto, p. 76)

On the one hand, this strategy involves seeking to define and celebrate that which makes us whole and united as a country. On the other hand, this strategy celebrates the symbols of this wholeness.

The State of the Nation Address on 8 February 2008 unleashed a debate on the introduction of a verbal affirmation of citizenship in the form of a youth Pledge ... in addition to the national symbols such as the flag and the coat of arms.

Education institutions, in my view, must find creative ways to respect the diversity of all their learners, while at the same time contributing to a unified nation-state to which all of the nation's citizens freely express allegiance.

Diversity without unity could lead to balkanisation and the eventual destruction of the nation-state. Unity and diversity co-exist in a delicate balance in a democratic, plural state.

Jurgen Habermas has introduced us to the notion of "patriotic nationalism", suggesting that the focus of nation-building projects should be on the values inscribed in national constitutions rather than on nationalistic particularisms.

In the South African case, this would mean that the new patriotism should be grounded in a common adherence to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The proposed Pledge is rooted in our constitutional values. The Pledge encourages young South Africans to reflect on the values that bind us as a nation, as reflected in our founding document, our Constitution.

In closing, John Dewey, the great American educationist, wrote more than a hundred years ago, that education is more than formal, deliberate schooling. "Through education we constantly equip our children with the tools to live", he said.

In 1997 President Mandela noted, "The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation."

How we encourage those in our many education institutions to embrace this objective is of course the critical question.

The Department of Education has placed a priority on the teaching of our constitutional values by focusing on them in the curriculum, and particularly in the Life Orientation learning area. This intervention should assist us in our task of equipping our learners and educators with the skills and values to participate fully in our South African democracy.

Finally, I believe, however, that much more needs to be done to promote civic education, with the overt aim of promoting common citizenship in a united, democratic, non-racist South Africa.

Issued by: Department of Education
28 February 2008