Pretoria, 11 September 1999
Sanibonani
Dumelang
Abusheni
Ndaa!
It is very important for me to greet you in official languages other than English and Afrikaans. This is in the spirit of our remarkable Constitution, which speaks about the need to elevate the status and advance the use of all languages.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very pleased to have been invited to speak at such a significant event for the adult education and training sector. I am also very impressed by the commitment the Adult Education and Training Association of South Africa (AETASA) has shown in presentin g awards to the Learner, Educator and Trainer categories. I am proud of you, AETASA. This is yet another opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss the priorities and challenges education faces as we move towards the next century.
Countries throughout the world are reorganising their education and training systems. Like us, they are engulfed in rapid economic and social change. Everywhere education and training is seen as the main way of enabling individuals and nations alike to mee t these changes. We expect education and training to prepare people for the world of work and for economic independence; to enable them to live constructively in responsible communities; to enable them to live in a tolerant, culturally diverse and rapidly changing society.
Above all, we expect education and training to help people to build lives and to have meaning and purpose in a future we can scarcely predict. The burning question for everyone involved, and I emphasise, everyone, is, how is this to be done? What kind of e ducation is needed?
In my view the answers involve much more than increasing the amount of education that goes on; and much more than doing better what we have always done. They involve reviewing some of the basic assumptions on which education has been based so far. We need new approaches, because the challenges we face are unprecedented. What are these challenges?
One of the challenges facing the country is ensuring that adult learners and their practitioners are given the best possible opportunities to tackle the future in a fast globalising world while simultaneously addressing the inequalities of the past. My Dep artment is conducting research on Conditions of Service of Adult Educators in the state sector. The purpose of the exercise is to examine options to improve Adult Educators’ conditions of service. The research results will be used to assist the national an d provincial departments of education to make informed decisions and to design an effective personnel system for adult educators.
Trained educators are a key to quality delivery in ABET programmes. My Department has adopted a cascade training model to reach all educators in the nine provinces. The national training team consists of 10 persons per province. Four training interventions have already taken place, that is, training in OBE, Assessment, Learning Programmes and Learning Support Materials. The cascade model is supported in each province by an NGO contracted to provide a research and development service, to help ensure quality in the cascading process. Again we are making an effort to develop practitioners through the establishment of partnerships between government and NGOs.
You may recall my announcement of a national mobilisation for education and training, under the slogan "Tirisanso" soon after my assumption of duty as Minister of Education. To this effect may I reiterate that all paths lead to partnerships. Partnership, a s a theme, underpins much of government’s programme. Partnerships are being established in many areas of economic and social policy and at all levels, including emerging regional activities such as the Maputo Corridor endeavour. Most notably for us, it is being harnessed as a local vehicle for change.
We are currently negotiating a partnership with the Youth Commission to mobilise youth services to address the need for literacy among the adult population. Much excitement has been generated around this project. I will be monitoring the progress closely a s this initiative converges with my call for a culture of civic responsibility and volunteerism.
Within national education and training policy, partnership is emerging as a strategy for reforming communities. Locally, these learning partnerships will have a crucial role to play in ensuring that lifelong learning opportunities are available to all, fro m the youngest scholar to the oldest learner. Regionally, the partners will become advocates of education and training in the context of economic development. These are new roles. They might seem difficult, as the territory is uncharted, but within these r oles lie many opportunities. We need to create robust but imaginative partnerships that will be able to act out these multiple roles simultaneously and effectively.
We need to take heed that, while partnership might be popular, it will not necessarily be easy. We need to find ways of making it work and of getting from it what we as an ABET sector need. Many education and training institutions are already involved in p artnerships of one sort or another. You will know that the way one approaches a partner relationship affects its success to a considerable extent. It would be important, therefore, to understand the wider political and economic context in which partnership s are being created. It will be important to recognise that, to succeed, partnerships will need nurturing. They are relationships that must be carefully managed .
This also leads to the partnership between AETASA, NACWC, IIZ DVV, the European Union and my Department in organising this wonderful event. Yes, this makes me feel proud of you. You are a role model. Things like this inspire other people, organisations, go vernment departments, and the business sector, to follow.
The theme: Adult Learning….A Tribute to Life. The key to the African Century is most appropriate. In our country there are 23 699 930 adults between the ages of 16 and 65. Of these, 3 283 290 have not had any schooling and 9 439 244 have not completed Grad e 9. Thus, 12 722 534 (54%) of the total adult population have not completed a general level of education. My main priority is to enrol these 3,2 million adults who have not had access to schooling in class.
This week we have experienced the joy of learners in this country. We stand tall amongst the family of nations, as a KwaZulu-Natal project nominated by the Department of Education was also awarded the UNESCO Literacy Prize for 1999. We congratulate the Eng lish Resource Unit (ERU). They have placed the good work we do in literacy and ABET on the international map and serve as a shining example to us all. On Wednesday 8 September, the whole world collectively celebrated International Literacy Day. I also gave a presentation about the event in Parliament on Wednesday, to mark the importance of Literacy and ABET in particular, and I found Parliament most attentive. The theme for the day which is Tirisano through literacy for social and economic empowerment, also illustrates the importance of literacy in this country.
As I stated in my Call to Action, in modern society illiteracy excludes people from avenues of learning and communication, improved job skills and many normal responsibilities of citizenship. It is an alienating and disempowering thing, and increases depen dence on others. For these reasons, many adults who are illiterate and innumerate are ashamed of their condition, and try to hide it. At a more personal level, I have experienced this as my own parents could not read and write. I have a very personal veste d interest in eradicating illiteracy.
Literacy is not an easy skill to retain. It can be lost or rendered ineffective through disuse. Our new Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Programme transcends literacy. It targets learning outcomes that empower, rather than leading to a dead end. I ts learning programmes give qualifications that carry credit in the National Qualifications Framework. This enables adult learners to proceed with formal education, by self-study or otherwise. A Multi-Year Implementation Plan for ABET developed collectivel y by all players in the ABET sector will enable close to a million new learners to achieve the equivalent of Grade 9 by 2003, provided that funds can be found and ABET practitioners trained.
We must support this programme as much as possible. Unfortunately, budgetary pressure has resulted in several provincial education departments cutting back or closing ABET programmes when they should have been expanding. This trend ought to be reversed, bu t it is improbable that the government will find sufficient additional funds in the near future to eliminate illiteracy through formal ABET programmes run by provincial education departments. Alternatives must be sought, while we simultaneously continue to build, support and expand provincial education departments’ ABET delivery. NGOs in this section must be revitalised to continue to provide quality programmes in a vibrant and creative way. I call on donors like the European Union, USAID, SIDA to support N GOs that demonstrate these competences.
Ladies and Gentlemen: the challenge of a literate society needs to be emphasised more in view of the information revolution that we live in, where the mass production of information and technology predominates. The Power of Reading has become critical in o ur environment. And proper reading means comprehending, adding to one’s knowledge, and not just assembling a dry hoard of facts in one’s head.
Studies demonstrate that reading improves the ability to learn, it enhances vocabulary, and it strengthens social skills and the sense of self. We know that confident, fluent reading is important for everyone who wants to be successful. It makes the rest o f the curriculum accessible, gives great personal pleasure to those who become absorbed in exciting books and opens new areas of interest.
But this is a far cry from the realities of South Africa. How can we address these great challenges? I trust that in my call for action I have encouraged all employers, including employers at national and provincial level, as well as local governments, to run and support ABET programmes for their employees.
Conclusion
Finally, Adult learning or literacy is a human right. Illiteracy is unjust and unnecessary. Nothing is more fundamental or essential to our progress as individuals or a society than the development of human competence and skills through education and train ing. Education enables us to shape our destiny.
I would like, most warmly, to congratulate the winners of the awards, and to those who have entered for the competition I say, they must try once more.
I thank you.