EDUCBLOG

Last night (23rd April 2008) MEC Cameron Dugmore addressed a Student Assembly convened by the SA Student Congress (SASCO) on our campus.  

Quoting from the Media Statement:  

Higher Education should not only produce graduates in commerce, science
and technology who are technically skilled, but are also conscious of
their potential to develop solutions, which will ultimately benefit the
poor and marginalized, says Western Cape Education MEC Cameron Dugmore.

He was addressing a Student Assembly convened by the SA Student
Congress (Sasco) on the UCT campus on Wednesday evening (23 April 2008).
The students wanted to hear the MEC’s views on progress on higher
education transformation in the Western Cape, backlogs, and the role of
government in tackling transformational issues, such as racism.

Said MEC Dugmore: “We need students across all disciplines who are
both internationally competitive and committed to contributing to peace
and development of our continent. They also need to be critical young
people, confident to challenge prevailing wisdoms at all levels of our
society.

“We need to locate the debate on higher education transformation
within the context of our commitment to a developmental state and its
ability to ensure that institutions funded and supported by the state,
contribute to our goal of creating a united, democratic, non-racial,
non-sexist South Africa.

“While a developmental state seeks to intervene to ensure accelerated
and shared growth, it is also focused primarily on meeting social needs,
building social cohesion by promoting the values of a caring society and
also ensuring that our people enjoy safety and security in their homes,
communities and places of learning.

“I am not suggesting that higher education simply becomes an
extension of the democratic state but I believe it is critical that our
universities are continually reminded of our national priorities and
challenged to contribute to the resolution of these challenges in our
teaching, our research and the work done in the communities that we
serve.

“I believe that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the
Western Cape Provincial Government and the Vice-Chancellors of the four
Higher Education institutions in the Western Cape is an example of how
the state and higher education can work together to realize, in this
case, our provincial growth and development strategy, Ikapa Elihlumayo
and the Home for All vision for the province.”

He appealed to the students at higher education to focus on:
- support to students, which will ensure better throughput
- a critical focus on curriculum issues by actively participating in
student councils at faculty boards
- challenging the university in regard to extension work in communities
and the allocations of university budgets for this work
- vocal support of attempts by government to introduce community
service for students
- strengthening student organization and the reproduction of student
leaders who will remain committed to transformation beyond landing their
first corporate or government job
- getting involved in community work and projects such as the  bra wam
/ sis wam mentorship projects and also tutoring programmes of
organizations like Shawco and SASCO


For full text of speech, visit www.capegateway.gov.za/education.

 

Media Statement from the MEC on the Budget presentation to Western Cape Standing Committee on Education, Cultural Affairs and Sport:

The increased allocation in the education budget will primarily be used
to provide the poorest schools with libraries, science labs, halls and
extra classes; and to expand grade R; as well as provide further teacher
training and improved school management systems.

The budget of R9,019,913,000 is again the bulk of the provincial
government budget. This is up from the R7,685 billion budget of the
2007/08 financial year. By far the greatest portion goes to the primary
and secondary school system, including schools for special needs
learners.

The increased allocation in the education budget will primarily be used
to provide the poorest schools with libraries, science labs, halls and
extra classes; and to expand grade R; as well as provide further teacher
training and improved school management systems.

The budget of R9,019,913,000 is again the bulk of the provincial
government budget. This is up from the R7,685 billion budget of the
2007/08 financial year. By far the greatest portion goes to the primary
and secondary school system, including schools for special needs
learners.

In the next three years we will target improving the quality of
education. These include systemic evaluation and in-service training and
teacher development programmes to enhance the quality of teaching in
critical subjects such as mathematics and life orientation.

Furthermore, the budget will also prioritise the following:
*   School building and maintenance.
*   Inclusive Education and Special Schools.
*   Training of ECD practitioners at ECD sites.
*   Continuous expansion and improvement in the quality of Grade R.
*   Learner support materials for Grades 10 to 12.
*   Expansion of the National School Nutrition Programme.

The number and category of learners are the main cost drivers in the
allocation of the education department’s budget. Except in the case of
Grade R at community sites and adult learning centres, the funding of
the educational institutions mainly consists of the allocation of staff
and the allocation of norms and standards funding.

In the school system, Norms and Standards funding is allocated according
to national poverty quintiles with the poorest quintile receiving, on
average, six times more than the least poor.

The focus of this Budget on matters of access and redress is a critical
reminder of what the business of this government is. The decades of
inequity still reflect in our school infrastructure; it reflects in the
fact that most schools are located in areas of poverty and crime; and it
reflects in the fact that our very teachers are not fully equipped to
give the necessary academic input.

In this year, we commit ourselves to shaping and managing improved
achievement of learning outcomes through further teacher training and
development, and target-setting and accountability across the system.

I want the prevailing message for our schools, colleges, ABET centres
and to our parents and stakeholders, to be that we are entering a time
of stability. We will be consolidating and moving steadily forward.

We know what the needs are and we will do all in our power to support
teachers and learners. We are expanding our vision from “A learning home
for all” to “A quality learning home for all” and commit ourselves to
service.

Copy of the speech is available at 18BudgetPresentationStandingCommittee.doc

 

 

 

 

 

Have you heard about this e-mail newspaper, The Times I Am Living In?  The twice-weekly email newspaper is administered by the SA Press Association (Sapa) and funded by the Open Society Foundation for SA, aims to promote reading, encourage an interest in current affairs and promote general knowledge amongst learners.

IOL carried a story this week. 

Each issue is illustrated by a different school, which receives a draft copy from which to work the day before publication. News is sensitively selected, but editor Duncan Guy says important news issues are nonetheless covered by finding appropriate angles. 

Each issue has World News; Africa News; Environment News; Business News; Sports News and Today in History sections. 

The newspaper is translated into Afrikaans as Die Tyd Waarin Ek Leef and into isiZulu as Izikhathi Engiphila Kuzo.

To subscribe , e-mail education@sapa.org.za

 

 

 Western Cape authors call on government to enforce language policy

The African languages in South Africa are constantly under serious
threat because there is no legislation that enforces their protection
and usage, a meeting of authors, aspiring African writers and academics
told the Minister of Arts and Culture at an imbizo  held in the
University of Stellenbosch earlier today.

The imbizo noted that the erosion of isiXhosa and other African
languages was further perpetuated by the critical shortage of new
written material in African languages as a result of the publishing
companies’ resistance. This focus meeting was organized as part of the
Ministry of Arts and Culture imbizo with authors of the province to
discuss issues affecting them directly. Writers voiced their serious
concern about the continued marginalization of isiXhosa at schools in
particular at the so-called model C schools, at government departments
and in the private sector. They have re-iterated the call for government
to introduce legislation that would enforce the usage of all official
languages. They say that currently the constitution of the country
recognizes 11 official languages only on paper, there are no attempts to
give practical effect to the provisions enshrined in the constitution.

The Education Policy which stipulates that from grade 10 learners must
take only two languages as subjects got under scrutiny. They claim that
this places isiXhosa and other African languages at a disadvantage
because of the perceived inferiority of these languages. They reiterated
the call by the Minister of Education for teaching in mother tongue at
the foundation phase to ensure good prospects for the development of
these marginalized languages.

The publishing companies were also fingered for not providing adequate
support to African writers resulting in the scarcity of written material
in isiXhosa and other languages. They have asked Minister Jordan to set
bursaries for aspiring African writers as a strategic intervention to
ensure the development of these previously marginalized languages.

Minister Jordan informed the meeting that his department does have a
bursary for postgraduate studies in African languages but conceded that
his department did not communicate effectively in this regard. He said
his department will contact all the universities with details of their
bursary. He added that talks with publishers to be more accomodative
towards African writers were continuing  however they realize that it is
not a walk in the park given the business objectives of publishers to
publish books that will sell.

A second imbizo was with the Western Cape Musicians Association,
cultural activists and community based cultural organizations at a
separate venue in the same university. The issue of accessing funding
and resourcing structures dominated the imbizo. Minister Jordan said in
response that he will ask the National Arts Council to do a roadshow in
all provinces, workshoping organizations about the processes and
procedures for a successful application.

Minister Jordan was accompanied by MEC Jacobs during his two-day imbizo
programme in the Western Cape.

Education, at school and university level is in a mess. An alarming report has revealed that most of South Africa's public schools are dysfunctional and the education system is failing to produce the skills required for job creation and poverty reduction, IOL reports here and here. 

Presenting the latest country report in Cape Town last week, SA Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) chief executive John Kane-Berman claimed that up to 80 percent of the country's public schools are dysfunctional despite a decade of incremental increases in public spending on the education system.

 

 

The Thutong educational portal  has been redesigned.   The new portal was launched on Monday 31st March 2008 by the National Minister of Education. 

The portal was first developed in 2003; this project seeks to provide a starting point for the South African schools communities to access the Internet.

The redesigned portal has four primary sections:

• Curriculum - this is the core of Thutong, providing access to a wide range of resources, tools and services through carefully constructed and managed Learning Spaces.
• Professional Development - the section focuses on providing educators access to resources, tools and services that are designed to facilitate their ongoing professional development.
• School Administration - supports school administrators by providing access to resources, tools and services for the community.
• Management - focuses on supporting school managers broadly. The primary focus though is on supporting the implementation of the new Advanced Certificate in Education for School principals.