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Premier Manne Dipico
Honourable MECs
Ambassador Kirsti Lintonen
Representatives of Helsinki Consulting Group
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It was in 1996 when the former President, Nelson Mandela, appealed to the international community to assist South Africa to build a new nation which had just been born. South Africa had just been welcomed to a community of nations after years of apartheid lunacy and repressive regime that prescribed behaviour and placed limits on individual freedom and growth. The Government inherited a long history of suppression of human potential, enormous economic disparities, inequities, injustice and discrimination of the apartheid legacy. Amid euphoria and celebrations about the rainbow nation, immense challenges faced the new democratic government at the time, and many are still with us.

The Reconstruction and Development Programme policy framework formed the basis for the process of transforming our country. Today the goals and objectives of the RDP remain at the core of all our policies and programmes.

The President of the Republic of Finland at the time, Mr Martti Ahtisaari, heeded Nelson Mandela' s call to the international community to assist South Africa with the re-skilling of, and support for, educators. It was during one of the bilateral consultations that the development co-operation between South Africa and Finland was officially started. The South African - Finnish Co-operation Programme in the Education Sector, "SCOPE" in short, was born.

Since 1994 our education system has undergone significant and extensive restructuring. This is reflected in the new policy and legislative framework that has been established to give effect to the goals and values of the democratic Government. A number of positive changes have been implemented to achieve greater equity in various areas including the distribution of resources within education.

Despite many changes the consequences of apartheid education are still with us and will be for some time to come. We can see some improvements but there are still many backlogs that need to be addressed before we can declare that we have broken away from the past. Programmes like SCOPE will hopefully help us achieve our goal of an educated, skilled and empowered citizenry.

South Africa currently spends more than a fifth of its national budget on education (about 21% of the total budget allocation). This is the largest item on the country's budget at over R58 billion a year. Most of this money goes to provinces for spending on schools and to universities and technikons. The government has also set aside money to subsidise disadvantaged students at universities and technikons. As you may know the largest component of this budget goes toward the payment of salaries of educators and a very small balance is shared by costly day-to-day infrastructure needs and addressing the imbalances of the past. A total amount of approximately R500 million comes from international and local donors to assist my department in addressing infrastructure needs.

The national and provincial departments of education are addressing this challenge. We are focusing on allocating more resources to curriculum development and the teaching and learning of mathematics and science. We are also putting more resources into increasing the supply of textbooks and stationery, building schools, and providing such basic utilities in rural schools, that many of us take for granted, like telephone lines, electricity, and sanitation.

The vision of this government, that of a South Africa in which everyone has equal access to lifelong educational opportunities, improved quality of life and lives in a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society, relies on appropriate education, training and development and equipping life skills. Democracy is not sustainable without prosperity and prosperity is not attainable without an enlightened nation. Achieving economic prosperity would entail a highly learned, intellectual and skilled citizens who could take hold of the reins and guide the economy to becoming a highly competitive and productive one in the 21st century.

My Department has gone through a strategic review exercise in line with the government's shift towards targeted and integrated social service delivery as reflected in the President's speech at the opening of Parliament on 09 February 2001. The priority areas for 2001/2002 are based on Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Strategies. Some of the new strategic priorities as suggested by my Department include:

* School effectiveness prioritising district and school management, teacher development, classroom effectiveness and whole school evaluation;
* School Safety targeting crime, drugs, vandalism, school initiation, racism and absenteeism;
* School beautification (cleaning up and painting)
* Matric improvement targeting schools that obtained a pass rate of 0 - 30% in the 2000-matriculation examination. The administration of the Senior Certificate examination is another important area.
* Improving learner participation in and the effective teaching of Mathematics, Science and Technology;
* Talent search and development targeting disadvantaged and female learners in gateway subjects and critical professions.

System level priorities on the other hand include:

* Establishing the foundation for the new General Education and Training Certificate at the end of the General Education and Training level;
* Laying the foundation for a national Early Childhood Development programme, with emphasis on the Reception Year; and
* Reviewing and strengthening the learner support materials procurement, supply and retrieval system.

I want to repeat what I have said before, that it is vital that we improve co-ordination and integration of our policies and interventions and systematise the sequencing of our programmes for implementation. It is necessary to ensure that there is proper linking of needs, action plans and efficient delivery systems. It is also vital that effective monitoring and feedback systems are established. We should furthermore seek the commitment of key actors to specific nodal areas and the strengthening of co-ordination, communication and networking systems. Institutions at provincial level should ensure better co-ordination and integration of programmes. I have already called on my department to give considered attention to how integration and co-ordination between national and provinces can be improved.

The SCOPE Programme is in an enviable position of implementing some of my Department's new education policies. Three areas that SCOPE supports include:

(1) The incorporation of teacher education and training into Higher Education
(2) The use of technology for enhanced learning and
(3) Support for Education for Learners with Special Education Needs (ELSEN).

Colleges of Education

The incorporation of colleges of education into higher education, except in the case of the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga, was successfully completed at the beginning of this year. The decision to delay incorporation in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga was based on the fact that, in discussion with the provincial government, it was agreed that incorporation should be linked to addressing the request for higher education provision in the two provinces. The absence of higher education institutions in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga is a consequence of the legacy of apartheid, which restricted higher education to certain areas of the country.

It was also agreed with the provincial government that given current conditions, in particular, the fundamental need to restructure the higher education system, it would not be in the national interest to establish a fully-fledged and autonomous higher education institution in the province. The government has therefore decided, as indicated in the National Plan for higher Education, which was released in March, to establish National Institutes for Higher Education in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.

The National Institute for Higher Education would ensure the coherent provision of higher education programmes linked to regional social, economic and labour market needs. It will largely be based on collaboration between the different higher education institutions that currently offer higher education programmes in the Northern Cape. The college of education and I hope the nursing college; will form the core infrastructure around which the new National Institute will be established.

The establishment of the National Institute for Higher Education is an exciting challenge and provides a unique opportunity to develop new institutional and organisational forms for meeting the high-level human resource needs of the province and the country as a whole.

I am therefore pleased to announce that, as indicated in the National Plan, I have established a Working Group to facilitate the establishment of the National Institute. The Working Group consists of:

* Mr Jonathan Godden, Chairperson. He was previously the Director-General of Education in the Eastern Cape.
* Dr Michael Smout, recently retired Vice-Principal of Rhodes University.
* Mr Tembile Kulati, who until recently served as my adviser on higher education.
* Reverend Dr Mokanelo Mahlatsi, pastor in the Methodist Church in Kimberley.
* Mr Kevin Abrams, Programme Manager for USAID District Development Programme.

The work that SCOPE has undertaken to develop and strengthen the colleges of education will contribute to and play an important role in the establishment of the National Institute, especially in relation to the development of teacher education programmes - both pre-service and in-service, which remains a priority of the government.

Inclusive education

The Ministry appointed a National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training and a National Committee on Education Support Services in October 1996 to investigate and make recommendations on all aspects of 'special needs and support services' in education and training in South Africa (Report of National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training (NCSNET) and National Committee on Education Support (NCESS)). A joint report on the findings of these two bodies was presented to the Minister in November 1997, and the final report was published in February 1998.

In the light of the findings, the NCSNET/NCESS recommended that the education and training system should promote education for all and foster the development of inclusive and supportive centres of learning that enable all learners to participate actively in the education process so that they can develop and extend their potential and participate as equal members of society

Consequently, and after the Green Paper process, which involved the relevant stakeholders, my department has developed a White Paper, which stresses the following:

* Systematically move away from using segregation according to categories of disabilities as an organising principle for institutions;
* Indicate how learners with disability would be incorporated into special, full service and ordinary schools in an incremental manner over a twenty-year period;
* Introduce strategies and interventions that will assist teachers to cope with a diversity of learning and teaching needs to ensure that transitory learning difficulties are ameliorated;
* Give direction for the Education Support System needed; and
* Provide clear signals about how current special schools will serve identified disabled learners on site and also serve as a resource to teachers and schools in the area.

Current reports suggest that SCOPE is playing a valuable role in development work towards inclusive education. They have introduced two pilot projects in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape. 20 pilot schools have been identified and the major focus of the study is to determine the type of support required to facilitate the effective implementation of inclusive education.

As we begin the long journey towards a sound inclusive education system, initiatives like the one of SCOPE can be of enormous benefit in South Africa. The project offers much in terms of research, human resource development, exchange experiences, development of training modules and materials and, training strategies.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

My Department, and indeed the Government, is committed to the effective use of technology to enhance the goals of transformation, reconstruction and development. Technology-enhanced learning can therefore make an important contribution to improving learning resources and active learning approaches. Technologies should therefore be piloted in this Programme to support provision of course materials to the learners, support teaching and learning processes, support management and administration and also support distance learning. Capacity should be built in the districts and provinces in the planning, co-ordination and management of ICT in education. The challenge is to set target of a number of schools, learners and teachers who will benefit from ICT.

The potential for electronically delivered teaching material is huge in our schools. Research is also continuing into how to impart lessons that take advantage of a computer's capacity to present moving images and sounds as well as text, and their capacity to respond to the user's input. The big advantage of online education is that it personalises the learning experience, allowing the learners to move at their own pace.

My Department, in collaboration with SCOPE, is currently involved in the development of a national framework for in-service training in ICT enhanced learning.

Visit to schools

My visits to the schools this morning has provided me with evidence that there is a huge commitment on the part of the educators and the learners to improve teaching and learning. Clearly, SCOPE interventions together with other provincial initiatives are beginning to bear fruit.

Partnerships

I want to stress that partnerships are the absolute precondition for progress in the education development and reduction of poverty. I want to suggest that my Ministry together with development donors like the Government of Finland and international institutions as represented by the Helsinki Consulting Group, can get serious about the objective of education for all, and commit ourselves to delivering on it at the beginning of this new Millennium.

There have been far too many grandiose declarations in international development and too little implementation. There is no better time than now, at the beginning of the new Millennium, to make a new commitment to turn fine words into action.

The Government of Finland has committed vast amounts of money into this Programme. What is heartening is that the SCOPE Programme fits into a coherent strategy for the educational needs of our country.

My Ministry is committed to co-ordinating and strengthening new and existing partnerships. We value partnerships because they create opportunities for the exchange of ideas, transfer of skills and sharing of expertise.

Finally, let me commend the Government of Finland in joining hands with us to building our country's education system, to bringing the benefits of educational opportunity to millions of South Africans, and to help spread skills and knowledge, so that our country can accelerate its development, reduce poverty and give everyone the chance to realise their potential.

I thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Education

11 May 2001