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Programme Director,
Venetia Mine General Manager, Mr Simon Webb,
Head of Department Limpopo Education Department, Prof. Harry Nengwekhulu,
De Beers Senior Human Resource Manager, Ms Barbara Lombard,
Sasol Technology Human Resources Manager, Mr Dawid Heymans,
Project Director of GIDE Youth Development, Mr Gunguluza,
Department Officials,
Teachers,
Learners,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The objective of this occasion is to empower young people. The importance of ensuring that all our children have access to career guidance and information can never be sufficiently emphasised, especially given the changes in information and communication technology that have been taking place in the world in the past decade.

In the modern world, knowledge and information are the key levers for creating wealth and promoting social and economic development. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the lack of access to information and communications technology is the key factor in dividing the developed from the developing countries. It is vital to ensure that all our young people access the necessary information in order to be able to make informed choices about their future careers. Many of our youth, particularly those living in rural areas, have limited or no access to career guidance and information partly because career guidance and information technology remains underdeveloped in our schools.

Furthermore, because of the job reservation policies of the past that placed many careers, particularly in the scientific and technological fields, out of the reach of black students, black communities still lack the role models in these essential career options. As many of the older people present here would confirm, during the apartheid era careers for black people were largely restricted to professions such as teaching and nursing and to a lesser extent, law and medicine. Thus, most black parents and their children are not yet aware of the range of career opportunities that are now available to all citizens.

The importance of this careers convention hinges on its capacity to empower young people by providing them with the necessary information regarding career choices. More importantly, it opens up new vistas and horizons and exposes them to all the career options and opportunities now available to them, especially in the scientific and technological fields. This is important because the development of science and technology is central to the national Human Resource Development Strategy.

I am therefore particularly pleased that the focus of this convention is on careers in Mining, Minerals and Energy, as the development of our mineral and energy resources is a key element in promoting economic development and growth. We would like to commend and salute De Beers Venetia Mine for the important role it is playing in the development of disadvantaged schools in this province. We are particularly grateful for the financial assistance that you are providing to deserving students to pursue their careers in mining and related fields. We also wish to thank Sasol for the contribution it is making in developing the love of science and technology and for the generous bursaries it is giving to qualifying students in its fields of operation. We wish the students that your respective companies are supporting success in their studies so that they too could one day contribute meaningfully towards the development of our beautiful country and continent.

This convention is also significant because it is a concrete expression of public-private partnerships, and a recognition of the fact that civil society and the private sector have a vital role to play in the process of building our education and training system. This is especially important, as government on its own does not have all the resources or the expertise to address a complex range of problems that confront us in the implementation of the transformation agenda in education and training.

Based on a common ethos and set of values, public-private partnerships are able to pool together the skills and resources of different role players to address common problems. This complements the work of the Ministry and ensures that service delivery reaches all our communities, including the most disadvantaged.

We are particularly pleased to note that the GIDE approach to career guidance goes beyond the provision of information to include mentoring. The role and personal attention of the mentor, regular support and guidance that he/she provides, is vital to the ultimate success of the learners.

The involvement and role played by the NGO and private sectors are important as long as they do not absolve government from the provision of basic services required to ensure that all young people have access to high quality education and training.

In this regard, the Department of Education is currently considering proposals concerning the introduction of a National Higher Education Applications and Information Service, which will both streamline and facilitate access to higher education and provide learners with the information they require regarding the courses and programmes on offer at the different higher education institutions in the country. I have no doubt that in establishing the National Higher Education Applications and Information Service there is much that we could learn from the experiences of GIDE and other such organisations.

Important as career guidance and information are, all would be in vain if financial constraints prevented our youth from furthering their studies to achieve their dreams. Cognisant of the need for needy but deserving students to be assisted financially in order to pursue their studies, the department established the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to meet the needs of such students. Since the establishment of the NSFAS in 1995, the department has already invested more than R1 billion to assist some 86,000 students with loans and bursaries to pursue their higher education studies.

Although the achievements of the NSFAS are impressive, there are never enough funds to cover the needs of all the students who require financial assistance. I trust that we would also be able to call on our partners in the business sector to contribute to the NSFAS and other student funding initiatives, so that in the medium-to-long term, we would be in a position to reach all those who require financial assistance. I would like to appeal to all the teachers to provide the necessary information to their learners so that they are able to avail themselves of the opportunities provided by the NSFAS and other student bursary schemes to assist them to further their studies.

May I also take this opportunity to highlight one initiative that the Ministry is currently involved in, which complements the aims and objectives of the career convention. This is the National Strategy to Improve Learner Performance and Participation in Mathematics, Science and Technology, which was launched in 2001. A key component of the national strategy is the 102 Dinaledi Schools. I am delighted to inform you that 23 of these 102 schools are in Limpopo Province, and I hope that these schools are represented here today. The maxim of the strategy, 'Creating Tomorrow Stars Today', is a serious challenge to all of us. Historically, stars have had an important role in our culture and religion, the most important one being that of showing the way. We must do all it takes to ensure that these children, including others elsewhere in our country, are empowered to become the Dinaledi that they really are.

This strategy is underpinned by the following three thrusts:

* To raise the participation and performance of historically disadvantaged learners in Senior Certificate mathematics and physical science;
* To provide high-quality mathematics, science, and technology education for all learners taking the first General Education and Training Certificate and Further Education and Training Certificate; and
* To increase and enhance the human resource capacity to deliver quality mathematics, science and technology education.

We strongly believe that through these three thrusts, we will achieve our vision of a scientifically literate, technologically fluent and mathematically literate society in which individuals are sufficiently empowered to participate meaningfully in the emerging knowledge-based economy, and the teachers are the key in this initiative. It is they who shape, direct and mould the young minds that are to lead in the future. This convention is therefore relevant as it intends to provide the teachers with the required tools to offer meaningful career guidance within their schools.

Programme Director, I wish to share with you a number of milestones that were achieved in 2002, the first year of the Dinaledi Project. First, the overall intake in Mathematics and Physical Science in the Dinaledi Schools increased by 4,8% and 11,4%, respectively. In Physical Science Higher Grade, learner participation increased by more than 20%, and the pass rate by more than 70%. The participation rate of girls: boys was 55: 45 percent in mathematics, and their pass rate in comparison to that in 2001 increased by 98%. In Physical Science, the participation rate of girls increased by 19,1%, and their performance in Higher Grade increased by 105%, which was almost double that of boys (54%).

A comparison of the 2001 and 2002 matriculation results in the 102 Dinaledi schools reveal the following statistical data:

In Physical Science the overall increase in the pass rate is 13.4%, comprising improvements of respectively, 11,5% and 16,5% in Higher Grade and Standard Grade. In Mathematics the overall pass rate increased by 10,7%. While the performance in Higher Grade decreased by 2,2%, that of Standard Grade improved by 12,4%.

This evidence suggests that although the schools are still performing below the required levels, the number of learners passing physical science and mathematics with Higher Grade symbols has increased. This information will become particularly useful when the department is ready to roll out the strategy in all our schools in the near future.

Education remains the key to the success of any nation. It is pivotal in the advancement and empowerment of the youth, and the cultural development of our people. We hope that you will come out of this convention sufficiently motivated and inspired to pursue your studies seriously and thus contribute towards reducing the high rate of school dropouts. Today, a number of opportunities are being created, and we would like to urge you to take advantage of this situation.

While education may not be a cure for all our social ills, no one can deny the significant role it is playing in building the new national identity and creating a learning nation that is capable of meeting the demands for personal and national economic development. We need to continue affirming the importance of education in improving the lives of our people.

We would like to encourage all our youth here present, and others elsewhere, to seize the opportunities that are available to you; to broaden your horizons and venture into territories that we who are older could only dream of. The future is yours to shape and determine. But to be able to do this, you must first equip yourselves with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to meet the current demands of your lives. And I have no doubt that you are well placed to do so.

May we, in closing, once again thank and commend De Beers Venetia Mine for its generous sponsorship, and the GIDE for organising this career convention and for making it a successful and exciting venture. We trust you be able to organise many such conventions across the length and breadth of the country.

Ke a leboga.

Issued by Department of Education

28 August 2003