KWAZULU NATAL EDUCATION SUMMIT

2015 KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC FOR EDUCATION

MS NP NKONYENI

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KWAZULU NATAL EDUCATION SUMMIT 2015

Honourable Premier, Mr Senzo Mchunu

Deputy Minister for Basic Education, Honourable Surty

Members of the Executive Council

MEC for Education in Gauteng, Honourable Lesufi

Members of the Legislature

Members of the Education Portfolio Committee

Deputy Director-General, Telecommunications and Postal

Services, Mr Ngobeni

Deputy Director-General, DBE, Mr Mweli

Moses Kotane CEO, Mr Mpungose

Colleagues from Department of Higher Education and Training

Professor Wedekind

Professor Metcalfe

Professor Zulu

South African Democratic Teachers’ Union

National Professional Teachers’ Union

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National Teachers’ Union

Suid Afrikaanse Onderwysers’ Unie

National Association of School Governing Bodies

Parents’ Association

Captains of Industry

COSAS and SASCO

Members of the Tripartite Alliance

Senior Management

District Management

Principals of our schools

Principals of the Star Colleges

Honoured Guests

Compatriots

Ladies and Gentleman

All protocol observed

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We are gathered here today on the first day of the Education

Summit in KwaZulu-Natal under the theme, “The Doors of

Learning and Culture shall be opened!” to charter a substantive

route to transform the education system of our province, just

days before we celebrate 21 years of freedom on the 27th of

April.

In his article titled Today’s Child – Tomorrow’s Adult, Thom

Garfat had this to say; “One of the most important changes that

we have undergone as individuals is that we, who were

yesterday’s children, are now today’s adults. And as adults we

are different from what we were as children. As we changed

from yesterday’s children into today’s adults, we were

influenced – and some might even say shaped – by the impact

upon us of our world, our communities and families and our

individual experiences.” He prefaced this by asserting that; “It

is our job to work with young people to help them become

different from the way they presently are.”

Gafart’s assertion dove-tails nicely with our mantra which says

moving South Africa forward through quality education and

skills development, because it is through quality education and

skills development that we can move South Africa forward by

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working with our young people to help them become ‘different

people from what they are currently’.

Honoured Guests, we are meeting here today at the time when

all of us South Africans should be burying our heads in shame

at the senseless xenophobic attacks that are directed at our

fellow brothers and sisters.

We want to condemn these actions in the strongest possible

terms, and call upon our security agencies to leave no stones

unturned to bring to book all those who are responsible for

these despicable acts. As government we are doing everything

in our power to put an end to these barbaric acts which are

projecting our country in a negative light. We want to echo

President Zuma’s call of “condemning the attacks on foreign

nationals and urging the police to continue working around the

clock to protect communities and bring perpetrators to book.”

As the Department, working with other Departments, we are

doing everything possible to ensure that the learners and

schools who have been affected by these attacks are assisted.

A meeting has been convened by the MEC for Arts and Culture

and the MEC for Education with Principals from affected

schools with a view to come up with intervention strategies.

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We are happy to report that all our learners have now been

integrated back to their respective schools.

We also want to applaud our people who have heeded the call

from the KwaZulu-Natal Premier Honourable Senzo Mchunu

and his provincial Executive Council, the Mayor of Ethekwini

and his Executive Committee, the national Ministers, uHlanga

loMhlabathi King Goodwill Zwelithini, faith-based organisation

and NGOs to put an end to this senseless violence and

embrace our fellow brothers and sisters. As we will be

celebrating Africa Day on the 25th

of May let us ensure that we

are all united against any form of discrimination including

xenophobia.

Programme Director, it is important to note that in 2011 we held

an Education Summit which took a number of Resolutions. We

expect Commissions during this Summit to reflect on these

Resolutions. Some of the resolutions have been implemented

and others, for one reason or another, are yet to be

implemented.

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Honoured Guests, the 2015 January 8 Statement states that

the ruling party has made great strides in ensuring that

education and training is available to all and in addressing the

injustices of the past by putting in place a comprehensive and

integrated education system. It further states that South Africa

spends 5% of its GDP on basic education and 1.4% on higher

education resulting to the massive expansion in pre-school

education as well as gender parity in school enrolment.

It also states that overall as a country we are doing very well in

terms of matric pass rate.

However, as we are all aware, KwaZulu-Natal experienced a

dip in the 2014 Matric results for which we have come up with a

Provincial Academic Turnaround Strategy (Operation Bounce

Back). This is an intervention programme with short, medium

and long term goals.

Our strategic trajectory as the Department of Education is

guided by various policy documents, as follows:

The Freedom Charter,

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa No. 208 of

1996,

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South African Schools Act

ANC Manifestos,

Mangaung Resolutions,

National Development Plan (NDP),

Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP), and

Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF).

The Freedom Charter

Programme Director, this year, 2015, marks the 60th

Anniversary of the Freedom Charter and is an appropriate time

to celebrate and reflect on the 21 years of education

transformation. One of the most important calling in the

Freedom Charter is that “The doors of learning and culture

shall be opened.” This entailed that:

The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;

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Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.

Programme Director, the question that we need to ask

ourselves in this Summit is how far we have gone in achieving

these aspirations, and also to spell out what we still need to do.

As we reflect we should also be reminded of what our icon and

erstwhile President Nelson Mandela said regarding the

Freedom Charter: “It has achieved international acclaim as an

outstanding human rights document.

The Charter is more than a mere list of demands for democratic

reforms”. The implication of this international acclaim is that it

is not incorrect to assume that the world does not expect

anything from us but the full implementation of the Charter.

Madiba’s assertion was as a result of the sterling work

undertaken by all the people of South Africa who gathered at

the Congress of the People in Kliptown on 26 June 1955, who

fully understood the magnitude of the responsibility bestowed

upon them when they declared in the Freedom Charter that the

doors of learning and culture shall be opened. It was also in

recognition that the Freedom Charter united the people of

South Africa together with the world to defeat Apartheid and

colonial regimes.

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Programme Director, as we should all be aware by now, 2015

has also been declared by His Excellency, President JG Zuma

as the year of the Freedom Charter and Unity in Action to

Advance Economic Freedom. This is in recognition that the

second phase of our democracy – this being a phase after

twenty years of democracy – requires acceleration in economic

transformation. This is what we mean by radical economic

transformation. Again we need to pose a question to ourselves

as to how are we contributing towards radical socio-economic

transformation as the education sector.

As the Department we have started initiatives to diversify our

curriculum as a value-addition to the requisite skills base for

radical economic transformation. For example we are starting

a pilot project for the introduction of Mining as a subject in

Grade 10 with effect from July 2015 in five Districts. Another

example is the establishment of the Academy for Mathematics,

Science and Technology in La Mercy. The Academy will have

boarding facilities accommodating more than 500 learners. This

specialist maths, science and technology Academy will prepare

learners to enter into specialised science and mathematics

fields.

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The Ruling Party Policy Framework For Education and

Training

Honoured Guests, the planning for the transformation of the

fragmented Apartheid education system began long before the

establishment of democracy in South Africa. In the Ruling Party

Policy Framework For Education and Training “Yellow Book” -

this being a document which elaborated on its policy thoughts

in preparation for the first democratic government - the ruling

party made a commitment to deal with three key features in the

education system, as follows:

1. A system of education fragmented along racial and ethnic

lines, which had been saturated with the racial ideology

and educational doctrines of apartheid.

2. A lack of access or unequal access to education and

training at all levels of the system. Vast disparities existed

between black and white provision (of education) and

large numbers of people, in particular, adults, out-of-

school youth and children of pre-school age had little or no

access to education and training.

3. A lack of democratic control within the education and

training system. Students, teachers, parents, and workers

had been excluded from decision-making processes.

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This Summit needs to reflect on these three features and

establish if we have been able to deal with them, or if not,

what do we need to do to ensure that we deal with them

decisively, because ‘Today’s Child (is) Tomorrow’s Adult’.

The Ruling Party’s 53rd

Conference Resolutions

Programme Director, this Summit is invited to reflect on the

resolutions of the 53rd

Conference as they inevitably drive

government programs. This Conference adopted a number

of resolutions on education. We must always be mindful that

we are playing a concurrent role as the Provincial Education

Department with the National Department of Basic Education

(DBE) led by Honourable Minister Angie Motshekga. If we

as provinces fail to effectively play our expected roles that

will automatically affect the performance of DBE. Our

Minister signed a performance agreement with the President

of South Africa on what is expected of her during this second

phase of radical socio-economic transformation. We dare

not fail her, our country, our learners and our people. As we

a deliberating today in this Summit our Minister has

convened from yesterday the Basic Education Retreat with a

theme Repositioning Basic Education Sector for Accelerated

Quality and Efficiency”. That is the reason why she and the

Deputy Minister are not with us today.

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Below are some of the important resolutions:

Identifying gaps in the National Development Plan 2030

and addressing them through policy formulation and

planning. Infusing the NDP in the strategic documents

and allocating resources.

Developing a database of serving educators and listing

qualifications and experience. This is done for the

purposes of ensuring that educators teach the subjects

which match their qualifications.

The outcome of the appraisals / evaluation of tools be

used to develop effective programmes to address skills

gaps. Leadership and management skills of school

management must be honed through well-developed

programmes that focus on knowledge and skills

Undertake a review of the funding model for schools and

the current Quintile System

Mismanagement, incompetence and ill-discipline/ School

Functionality and learner performance

Disciplinary action be taken against any official who

engages in corrupt, unethical or unlawful practice

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Developing School Governing Bodies through the funding

that has been made available. Also launch an advocacy

campaign encouraging SGBs to co-opt members with

appropriate technical skills to assist them.

Focussed programs must be put in place to address

(minimise) drop-out rates especially at High School level,

as well as the negative effects of teenage pregnancy,

gangsterism, and vulnerability.

Qualified teachers for Grade R must be trained and

employed; professionalization of all Grade R Practitioners

must be achieved by 2018.

Adoption of the National Development Plan 2030 as the

Implementation Plan for Basic Education

The National Development Plan (NDP)

Ladies and Gentlemen, the NDP is a long-term plan for the

country. It recognises that the quality of education for most

children is poor. Following are the salient points of the NDP

relating to education:

Making Early Childhood Development a top priority among the measures to improve the quality of education and long-term prospects of future generations. All children should have at least 2 years of pre-school education.

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About 90 percent of learners in grades 3, 6 and 9 must achieve 50 percent or more in the annual national assessments in literacy, maths and science.

Between 80 – 90 percent of learners should complete 12 years of schooling and or vocational education with at least 80 percent successfully passing the exit exams

Eradicate infrastructure backlogs and ensure that all schools meet the minimum standards by 2016.

Increase state funding and support to ensure universal access to two years of early childhood development exposure before grade 1.

Teachers should be recognised for their efforts and professionalism. Teaching should be a highly valued profession.

Incentive schemes linked to the annual national assessments to reward schools for consistent improvements must be introduced.

Top performing schools in the public and private sectors must be recognised as national assets. They should be supported and not saddled with unnecessary burdens.

Strengthen and expand Funza Lushaka and ensure that graduates of the programme are immediately absorbed into schools. It should not be left to graduates to find placements in schools.

Investigate introducing professional certification. Newly qualified teachers would need to demonstrate certain competencies before they are employed in schools, and after that they would be offered preliminary or probationary certification, to be finalised based on demonstrated competence. The professional certification of all teachers would need to be renewed periodically.

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Discipline – Learners and teachers in class, on time , learning and teaching

Improve the quality of teaching

Stronger monitoring and support by district offices

Make South Africa an attractive destination for scarce

skills which are required immediately by the economy.

Action Plan to 2019 – Towards the realisation of vision

2030

It is imperative that every young South African receives quality

schooling. There is a clear vision of where we want to be in

2030. And we must make sure that every year we move a bit

closer to the vision, recognising that a large improvement is

actually an accumulation of many smaller changes. The

Education Sector Action Plan sets a vision for schools in 2030

as follows:

Learners must attend school every day and be on time

because they want to come to school, the school is accessible

and they know that missing school when they should not, some

action will be taken. These would be learners who understand

the importance of doing their schoolwork, in school and at

home, and they would know their school will do everything

possible to get them to learn what they should.

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Teachers who received the training they require and who are

continuously improving their capabilities and are confident in

their profession. These are teachers would understand the

importance of their profession for the development of the nation

and do their utmost to give their learners a good educational

start in life. These teachers, on the whole, would be satisfied

with their jobs because their employer is sensitive to their

personal and professional needs and that their pay and

conditions of service in general are decent and similar to what

one would find in other professions.

The school principal who ensures that teaching in the school

takes place as it should, according to the national curriculum,

and understands his or her role as a leader whose

responsibility is to promote harmony, creativity and a sound

work ethic within the school community and beyond.

Parents, who are well informed about what happens in the

school, are keen to be involved in school affairs and receive

regular reports about how well their children perform against

clear standards that are shared by all schools. These parents

know that if something is not happening as it should in the

school, the principal or someone in the department will listen to

them and take steps to deal with any problems.

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This vision will be achieved through strategies and

interventions aimed at ensuring that the above-mentioned ideal

is brought closer to reality through conscious and concerted.

This education sector has set 18 goals to realise this vision and

these will serve as a beacon.

Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF)

Program Director, the MTSF contains detailed and clear targets

and timeframes for implementing key actions required to

implement the NDP. This includes:

Improved quality of teaching and learning through development, supply and effective utilisation of teachers.

Provision of adequate quality infrastructure and Learner Teacher Support Material.

Improved assessment for learning to ensure quality and efficiency in academic achievement.

Expand access into Early Childhood Development

Strengthening accountability and improved management at school and district levels.

It is important that various levels of the Department align their

plans with the NDP, Action Plan to 2019 Towards the

Realisation of Schooling 2030, MTSF, PGDP and other

priorities.

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Programme Director, before I go any further, I do want to

sensitise this Summit that it has become almost normal that

many gatherings of this nature tend to degenerate into talk

shops, where good strategies are developed but end up falling

through the cracks because of lack of implementation. Let us

make it our duty at the outset and make a firm commitment at

ensuring that the strategies and resolutions adopted during this

Summit will be implemented and therefore that ours will not

become just another talk shop.

At this point, allow me Program Director, to make a few

inspiring quotes which underscore the importance of this

Summit. Madiba, who was very passionate about education

once said, “Without Education, your children will never meet the

challenges they will face. So it is very important to give children

education and explain that they should play a role for their

country.” These words from Madiba serve as an inspiration for

us as we strive to provide quality education for our children.

His Excellency, President JG Zuma has pronounced on

numerous occasions on the importance of education as an

apex priority for our government and implored upon all of us to

recognise education as a societal issue.

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During the 2013 National Teaching Awards he said, “We want

children to look up to teachers and learn from them more than

the formal curriculum. Through watching the conduct of

teachers, learners must want to be successful, respectful and

to be good citizens, who will take the country forward to

prosperity….. through professional conduct like coming to

school on time and doing their work diligently, the teaching

profession will regain the respect of the community. Our

teachers carry an enormous responsibility on their shoulders.

They carry the dreams and hopes of the nation.” Ladies and

Gentlemen, these words of wisdom from a self-educated

President must surely serve as one of the inspiring passages

which should enrich our tenacity to make this Summit a

success.

The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, the Honourable ES Mchunu has

stated emphatically that the issue of education from early

childhood to adult learning remains one of the key focus areas

of our government. All our efforts as the Department of

Education strive towards the realisation of this goal.

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As we do so, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are also inspired by

what Italian Painter and Intellectual of the 15th Century,

Leonardo da Vinci once said that, “Learning is the only thing

the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” Let

us reposition our Department in order for us to accelerate

quality and efficiency so that our nation is encouraged to

embark on lifelong learning.

The Ten Pillars

As part of our resolve as the Department of Education in KZN

to meet the expectations of the policy documents which guide

our strategic trajectory, we have come up with ten (10) Pillars

which are the strategic drivers for the period 2015/16 to

2019/20. These pillars are as follows:

Transformation of the Schooling System

Curriculum and Assessment

Teacher Provisioning Development and Support

Leadership and Management

Planning and Resourcing

Infrastructure Development and Maintenance

Information and Communication Technology

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Social Cohesion and Integration of Schools

School Functionality and Community Involvement, and

Early Childhood Development

The Importance of Education

Compatriots and Honoured Guests, at this juncture, allow me to

pause and briefly talk about what many of you who were

fortunate to access education take for granted – understanding

the importance of education. I want to pose a question as to

why we have to always place so much emphasis on the

importance of education. As I respond to this question, I would

like all of us gathered here today to stand back and reflect on

the enormous task that is bestowed upon our shoulders as we

engage with each other during this Summit.

It is an undeniable and undisputable fact that the importance of

education cannot be stated enough. Many icons have attested

to the fact that education is a self-enriching and self-

enlightening process which is crucial to the overall development

of an individual and society at large. Since we are first

introduced to formal education in schools, the schools are the

institutions which lay a foundation of a child’s development.

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They nurture the young into responsible and self-conscious

citizens of a country. It is no surprise, therefore that many an

icon in the history of the world have had something to say

about the importance of education. Ours today and tomorrow

is to fully realise that through this Summit we are contributing to

the building of a nation.

It is for that reason, Program Director, that whatever we do

during this Summit, we must remain vigilant and alive to the

notion of malicious compliance which tends to be ubiquitous

during some gatherings of this nature leading to the entire

process being a futile exercise. As Socrates once said

centuries ago, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the

filling of a vessel.” We must therefore understand that we have

the responsibility to kindle a flame that will one day blossom

and light up the skies if we pay the necessary attention to detail

and quality during this Summit.

History of Education in South Africa

Programme Director, it is important to reflect on the history of

education in South Africa. Contrary to those who may hold a

notion that education was introduced to South Africa with the

arrival of the Europeans, the reality is that there was a solid

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form of education prior to that period. In pre-colonial societies

informal education was the main source of education. It

happened through experiential learning and oral transmission

of songs, poems and stories etc. by older members of the

community.

With the arrival of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) in

1652 formal elementary education was introduced in the Cape.

According to Pam Christie’s book, The Right To Learn, Van

Riebeeck wrote in his diary on 17 April 1658, that the purpose

of education served to induce young Black slaves to “… learn

Christian prayers, by promising them each a glass of Brandy

and two inches of tobacco when they finished their tasks.”

Similarly, the British colonizers used education as a way of

“…spreading their language and traditions… as a means of

social control.” This shows that long before 1948, when the

National Party took over South Africa, there was a system of

segregated and unequal education in South Africa, which

meant that education was never meant to be a developmental

tool for Black people.

In 1953 the situation worsened with the introduction of the

Bantu Education Act.

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This is when the system of Apartheid education began. Under

the Apartheid system, patterns of educational inequality were

entrenched. This was crystalized by the then Minister of Native

Affairs H.F. Verwoerd when he said, “There is no place for the

Bantu in the European community above the level of certain

forms of labour … what is the use of teaching the Bantu child

mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite

absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their

opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.”

This view was shared by subsequent Apartheid Administrations

as evidenced by the Minister of Education and Training in 1980

F. Hartzenberg when he said, “Educational policies in South

Africa must be dictated by the Apartheid philosophy.”

It was in response to such mentality that in 1955 the Congress

of the People gathered in Kliptown resolved that the doors of

learning and culture shall be opened. What this meant was that

education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all

children. This began a long struggle to rid the system of the

inequalities culminating in the Ruling Party’s Framework for

Education and Training which elaborated on its policy thoughts

in preparation for the first democratic government.

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Teacher Development

In pursuit of the goal of converting former Durban College

(Dokkies) into a Provincial Teacher Development Institute

(PTDI) the Department has set aside a budget for this purpose.

The implementing agent to manage the project of renovating

and refurbishing Dokkies into a fully-fledged PTDI has been

appointed this Month, April 2015. The Provincial Teacher

Development Institute will serve as the base from which

Department co-ordinates and delivers all national and provincial

priority teacher development programmes. The Teacher

Development Institute will link up with the Education Centres

across the province to deliver teacher development programs.

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP)

The NSNP is one of the Government strategies to alleviate

poverty. Learners who qualify for the NSNP are provided with

meals on school days to improve their cognitive and physical

development. There are more than 2 million learners in more

than 5000 schools benefitting from the programme in the

Department. The programme does not only provide nutritious

meals to learners in the Province, but is also used as a channel

for economic development and the creation of job opportunities

for the local people through the use of co-operatives and small

enterprises while unemployed parents of learners are employed

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as food handlers (cooks) in schools. I must also indicate,

Ladies and Gentlemen, that there is a challenge in this

programme. For instance, we are experiencing the late

payment of service providers and non-availability of kitchens

and dining halls. However, as the Department we are doing

everything in our power to deal with these challenges. We are

mindful that we are expected to review our quintile system.

The Summit must also look at the issue of quintiles as directed

by the NDP.

Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) to Public

Schools

In ensuring access to quality education the Department

continues to provide schools with quality learning and teaching

support material (LTSM). For the 2015 academic year the

Department procured and distributed textbooks and stationery

to non-Section 21 schools through provincial centralised

procurement system. The Department also monitored the

distribution of workbooks for Grades R – 9 to schools for the

2015 academic year. For the 2016 academic year the province

is ready to roll-out provincial central procurement of LTSM and

to transfer budgets to Section 21 schools with Function C that

will prefer to do their own procurement. We do want to

acknowledge that there are Section 21 schools with Function C

which do not procure LTSM after receiving their financial

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allocation. We have also not achieved book coverage of one

text book per leaner per subject.

Learner Transport

In conjunction with the provincial Department of Transport our

Department is providing learner transport for learners who

travel more than 3 kilometers from home to the nearest grade-

appropriate school (not to the school of choice). The

programme is running although there are challenges, one of

them being the fact that demand exceeds supply. Due to

financial constraints the Department has to prioritise learners

travelling the furthest distance. The Memorandum of

Understanding between the Department of Transport and the

Department of Education is being reviewed.

Departmental Budget

Programme Director it is always important that in our public

engagements as the department we never leave out the issue

of the Budget. This is because it is at the core of what we are

able or not able to do as the department. The public also,

justifiably, judges us on the basis of whether they think we are

able or not able to handle the public purse. Lack of

understanding the finer details of our budget distribution

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therefore may mean the difference between failure and success

in the eyes of the public.

In the recent Budget allocation we received an equitable share

of R42.4 billion. This marks an increase of R3.06 billion from

the R39 billion allocated in the outgoing financial year. We want

to thank the ANC-led government for the continued increase in

our budget. Indeed the ANC has demonstrated that education

has been declared an apex priority. As much as this is a

significant increase, however, we are still facing challenges

around the Compensation of Employees which will continue to

consume the bulk of our budget allocation. For instance almost

90% of the budget goes to Compensation and only about 10%

goes to other programmes of the department.

That said, however, as a result of the R3.06 billion increase in,

we will have an increase in the allocation for some of our line

items. Let me mention just a few of these line items which will

see an increase.

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For example, Administration grows by 13%, largely due to

provision of ICT requirements and tools of trade (vehicles and

computers) and the equalization of the budget for

Compensation of Employees. The issue of the tools of trade

has been the thorn in the flesh of the Department for some

time, and has hampered the optimal provision of quality

teaching and learning. This increase therefore will gradually

address this area of concern.

Public Special Education grows by 6% to cater for the

introduction of sign language and Braille machinery.

This is indicative of our consciousness about the importance of

Inclusive Education which in the past has not received

adequate attention.

We will also see an increase in the allocation for Early

Childhood Development, which will further increase access to

education and ensure that the doors of learning are indeed

open. This will accommodate the shift of our focus to Grade RR

as stated by the Premier during his State of the Province

Address.

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Goods and Services grow by 5.78% to cater for Learner

Teacher Support Material requirements, Information

Communication Technology (ICT) and National School Nutrition

Program (NSNP). This will go a long way in increasing learner

access into these programs.

Auditor-General’s Observations

Program Director we are fully cognisant of some of the

shortcomings that obtain within our department, some of which

have caused us to get a qualified audit opinion from the

Auditor-General. We have said before that we are fully aware

of these issues and we understand that if they are not attended

to, they may influence public opinion to doubt the sincerity in

our assertions that we really need our budget to be reviewed.

Part of our turnaround strategy focuses on these issues such

as irregular, fruitless, unauthorised and wasteful expenditure

raised by the Auditor-General to ensure that we move away

from the negative audit opinion. Already last year we have

started attending this area of concern. Such consciousness

culminated in the establishment of the Committee of Inquiry in

terms of Treasury Regulation Section 20. The Committee was

established on the 14th of November 2014 to look at the root

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causes of these issues which continue to paint us negatively in

the eyes of the public. It has now finalised its report and

presented it to the Premier.

Programme Director allow me as I move toward the conclusion

of my presentation, to talk directly to the purpose of this

Summit, though my comments have in actual fact laid the

foundation of what is expected of all of us today and tomorrow.

The Main Objectives of the Summit are:

a) The improvement of classroom teaching, learner

attainment and performance across the system;

b) The reduction, and finally eradication, of under-

performing schools;

c) The improvement of the National Senior Certificate pass

rate;

d) The development of teaching and learning models to

improve learner attainment in Mathematics, Science and

Technology, and other gateway subjects;

e) The integration of Information and Communication

Technologies (ICT) to support curriculum; and

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f) Mainstreaming the national curriculum framework for

Early Childhood Development.

For the Summit to be able to address these issues optimally,

while there will be presentations and panel discussions, we will

also break into five Commissions where there will be focussed

discussions addressing specific issues with the intention to

providing a platform for open discussions among delegates.

Conclusion

In conclusion Program Director, allow me to say that we expect

the discussions during this Summit to be as robust and as frank

as possible to ensure that this does not become just another

talk shop as I stated earlier. To that end, I would like to call

upon those who will be making presentations to provoke us

with critical analysis which will enable Commissions to engage

robustly on topics, plans and various models which will be

elucidated during the discussions. May I also appeal that when

we raise issues, even outside this Summit, we do so with

dignity and respect.

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We also expect the outcome of the Summit to come up with

comprehensive resolutions which will have clear time frames

and Responsible People who will ensure that implementation

does take place. Let us remember that this Summit is in the

main about a child - Today’s Child (is) Tomorrow’s Adult and

that we have a responsibility to work with young people to help

them become different from the way they presently are.

With that, let me wish all of us gathered here today a

successful and fruitful Summit.

I thank you