GCIS BRIEFINGS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

13 February 2002

GCIS Briefings By the Minister of Education, Prof Kader Asmal MP Cape Town 13th February 2002 GCIS Briefings By the Minister of Education, Prof Kader Asmal MP Cape Town 13th February 2002 Education and the HRD Strategy Education has a central role to play in the development and utilisation of our human resources. This role occurs at three levels:

• Improving the foundations for human resource development;
• Expanding and improving the provision of further education and training, for youth and adults; and
• The alignment of higher education to national human resource priorities.

It is critical that we build a solid foundation for human resource development. This includes

• the provision of educational opportunities during early childhood, especially to poor children;
• the provision of opportunities for adult learners, including basic literacy and numeracy, as well as ABET programmes that lead to a General Education and Training Certificate; and
• the provision of a h???r all learners, including those with special educational needs.

I am pleased to report that cabinet approved last year two Education White Papers: on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Inclusive Education.

Programmes in each of these areas will commence this year, including

• the identification of 4 500 ECD sites, in nodal areas, which will be supported with training and materials;
• the conversion of 30 special schools into Special Needs Resource centres which will serve a wider community; and
• the conversion of 30 primary schools into "full service" schools which will be able to accommodate learners with special needs.

These projects will be fully funded, in part through savings being generated through an improved flow-through in the education system as a whole.

Within General Education we have prioritised two areas:

• Maths and Science teaching, and
• The inculcation of values and the teaching of history in schools.

The Maths and Science strategy has provided bursaries to 300 teachers in each province to attend a two year, university based programme. These teachers were selected by the province, with a view to ensuring that some of the most disadvantaged teachers get the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills in this field.

This programme is in addition to the R90 million being spent this year for the upgrading of 10 000 unqualified teachers. They will also receive bursaries to complete the National Professional Diploma in Education.

The values initiative commenced last year with a "groot saamtrek", and copies of the proceedings are available. This led to the publication of a Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy, which was also summarised and distributed to all schools. During this year we will be actively promoting our national symbols in schools (the flag and anthem in particular) in support of the "Proudly South African" campaign to build loyalty and patriotism.

A further programme will promote the centrality of history in building our nation, and a national Conference on Improving History Teaching will be held in September this year. These elements are an important counter-balance to the focus on maths and science, and prevent us developing scientific skills which are not underpinned by a strong sense of public ethics General Education (Grades 0-9) can also look forward to the announcement this year of a refined National Curriculum Statement, which will give much more support and direction to teachers. This will only be implemented from 2004 to ensure that the teachers are properly trained and that the teaching and learning materials are produced and distributed.

At the next level
• Further Education and Training
• there are exciting processes under way for a radical transformation of the sector. By April this year the old institutional landscape of Technical Colleges will be changed to establish around 50 high quality and sustainable FET institutions, and these will offer outcomes based programmes which are relevant to the social and economic needs of the country. This keystone project will build a link between a general education and lifelong learning, providing opportunities for people to be trained for work, for continuing vocational training, or for higher education.

Higher Education has responsibility for the development of high-level skills, especially those which have been identified as in short supply. A certain amount of institutional re-organisation will be necessary to pursue this transformatory agenda, and this cannot be avoided, despite the costs.

As a nation we put a lot of resources into the sector (over R7 billion per year), and we must insist that it remains accountable to the needs and interests of the nation, and not the advancement of a select few.

Programme related higher education funding will ensure that the state is able to give direction to the system, and this will be coupled to dedicated measures to support students into scarce skills areas. We have already established the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), with nearly R800 million per year available to assist needy students, but we will be looking at dedicating some of these funds for particular programmes, just as we have ring-fenced R30 million for teacher education bursaries.