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29 December 2005

Programme Director
MEC for Education, Mr Gomolemo Archie Lucas
MECs and Members of the Provincial Legislature
Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Education
HOD for Education, Mr Edcent Williams
Chief Director and Senior Managers
Parents and Members of SGBs
Distinguished Guests
Principals, Educators and Learners
Departmental Officials
Media Representatives
Award Recipients
Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are assembled today at the seat of our Provincial Legislature brought together by the class of 2005, who through their academic and various other scholastic achievements, continue to make us proud as people of the Northern Cape and the country as a whole. In their pursuit of excellence they continue to instil in all of us an ever growing identity of who we are and the new national consciousness of a society we seek to build. The 78.9% recorded by our children is an indication of the resilience of the class of 2005.

Equally encouraging is the quality of the outcome of the matric results and the opportunity they present to our children especially those from our poorest communities as education can act as a catalyst to extricate them from the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment. We meet here this afternoon to honour these young achievers and to celebrate with them on this joyous occasion. What is inspiring and joyous is the fact that our two top best performers are both female learners, and more importantly, one being a black and the other being white, both South Africans of course!

To Muller Liesl-Barbara and Samson Sonya congratulations for making our province and country proud, be rest assured that more young women are going to emulate the good example you have set. It is indeed an inspiring story of 2005 that in just a period of eleven years, our country is beginning to reap the fruits of the seeds our leaders planted in 1994 and of which some predicted a catastrophic future.

Another important observation is the fact that 52,4% of those who wrote the matric exams where female learners and more of them also achieved university entrance pass. This clearly augurs well for our society and democracy as women in the past where deliberately marginalised by the brutal apartheid system.

Programme Director

Although we can boldly state that notable gains have been made on the front of education transformation, much more still needs to be done to improve quality education across the entire system.

Of the 20 schools that underperformed in the province, I have had personal experience with two of them, and already earlier in the year, the signs where already there, that quality was lacking or non existent at all.

At the one school for instance on the first day of schooling some educators arrived late for duty others did not come to work at all. The learners instead of being in the classroom were roaming around the streets, and by the time I left, there was no timetable yet.

In the other instance, parents travelled from Olifantshoek to Postmasburg, in order to address Cabinet meets the people gathering about the unacceptable high levels of teenage pregnancy and total collapse of discipline.

These two typical experiences and countless others I have come across, bring to the fore the need for all of us to have a hands-on approach, with regard to the education of our nation.

What is particularly disturbing is that these underperforming schools are all in our disadvantaged communities, where poverty and underdevelopment are more rampant than in any other communities.

Programme Director

Necessary measures must be taken in ensuring that our people develop confidence and trust across all our schools, irrespective of their geographic location or status. Amongst others, it will require that better resourced schools enter into partnership with the less resourced ones; it might also imply that our retired educational professionals offer their voluntary services to some of our schools.

The challenge is also to the private sector to make a more meaningful contribution to our under resourced schools as part of their social responsibilities.

I am making this appeal because educating our children is everybody's responsibility and not only of government.

Programme director,

The young achievers, who brought us here today, persevered for 12 years precisely because they have absolute confidence in the bright future of our beautiful country and province.

These awards must therefore be seen in the context of rewarding and acknowledging the hard work our learners, educators and parents have put in over the past 12 years of our children's schooling years.

Although individuals will be the recipients of these awards, they are nonetheless directed to the entire class of 2005, and they must therefore be viewed in that context.

A challenge to the department is how to continuously improve the awards ceremony, so that it becomes more inclusive of all role players, i.e. recognition of parents and educators role in preparing children for the exams.

We are making this appeal because we are heartened by the good performance of many of our schools in the province, many of which operate under very difficult and trying circumstances.

* These schools continue to perform far beyond our wildest imaginations.
* They continue to defy formidable odds to emerge as the pride of our province.
* They continue to inspire us through their resilience, focus and determination.

As government we will continue to support all our schools with every available resource at our disposal to enable them to discharge their responsibilities more effectively. We will do so through adequate resource provisioning, through sustained teacher development programmes and continuous learner support programmes.

It is heartening to note that steadily, but surely, we are winning the battle to create a more equal and quality education system in the space of only 11 years into our democracy. Having said all that, we need to acknowledge that fundamental challenges still remain. Some uncomfortable observations need to be made and fundamental drastic steps to be taken if we are to move education into a higher trajectory of performance.

The sad and unfortunate reality is that not all parents play an active part in the education of their children. At the same time, not all our teachers demonstrate the necessary commitment and passion to the teaching profession and not all officials are committed to serving our people selflessly and conscientiously.

As we strive to build an education system that adequately responds to the many challenges that confront our society and our province, we must be informed by the recognition that the role of parents, educators, public servants and learners is central to the consolidation of a culture of learning and teaching.

Amongst other things, we must commit ourselves to improve the quality of learning and teaching in the most rural and marginalised communities of our land. We must also ensure that we deploy requisite resources to these schools to enable them to discharge their responsibilities more effectively.

I wish to urge all officials of the department to respond with the necessary urgency and effectiveness to the needs of our schools. These are fundamental prerequisites for an environment conducive to effective learning and teaching.

I urge all parents to demonstrate a keen interest in the education of their children and to support them in whatever way possible. In many instances, the difference between pass and failure reflects the extent to which parents participate or fail to participate in the education of their children.

I wish to congratulate all educators who often go beyond the call of duty to help our children realise their dreams. Today, more than ever before, we require the practical commitment of all stakeholders which goes far beyond the usual rhetoric to reflect unwavering determination to see our education system succeeding.

To those of us who still fear transformation, let us see it as an opportunity to enthuse all our people to lend a hand to build a better life for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Ladies and gentlemen,
* It is only through education that we can improve the well-being of the nation
* It is only through education that we can increase the levels of HIV and AIDS awareness
* It is only through education that we can lower the levels of unemployment and contribute towards the eradication of racism, sexism, and corruption
* It is only through education that we can stamp out the abuse of women and children that continues to plague our province and our country.

If we can succeed as a society in doing these things, then we will have succeeded in creating a better future for all our people, particularly our children, who it has been said the future belongs to.

To all our learners, our sincerest congratulations, thank you for your perseverance and commitment. You are the present and the future. Seize the moment and the opportunities that come your way now that you are leaving school behind you with all the joy and enthusiasm that only youth can bring.

Let me also take this opportunity to give you some motherly advice. Firstly, make sure that you choose the right career paths, i.e. government require social workers, health workers and teachers in scarce skills and so forth.

With the recent launch of the SALT project, where the President opened the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, we will need scientists, engineers and project managers, to ensure that we pace with the most development countries in the scientific world.

A second motherly advice and to girls in particular, please look after yourselves, unwanted pregnancies can only derail your progress in life.

To those who have not succeeded, prove to the world that you can rise above this setback and work your way back to success.

We commit this provincial government to walk the path with you in dealing with this temporary setback.

The role of our parents, guardians, educators, principals and SGBs can not go unnoticed and for that we are grateful for having nurtured such an outstanding class of 2005.

Programme Director

In conclusion we must all be mindful of the challenges ahead of us in the year 2006, but we remain confident that as we have conquered and succeeded in the past, we shall also succeed in the New Year and in the future.

The class of 2006 must know that it is the year we will be observing the 30th Anniversary of June 16 and the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Women's March to the Union Building in Pretoria, in defiance of apartheid.

We must therefore make sure that in our quest for knowledge and skills, we seek to achieve the best at all times. Let us ensure that those who struggled and fought bitterly for our freedom did not do this in vain, but that it was a struggle to unshackle many of our people from poverty and suffering.

As we are only two days away from the new year, let me take this opportunity to wish all our people a prosperous, successful and peaceful 2006.

Let us make sure that we all go out on the 1st of March, to cast our votes in the local government elections, democracy calls upon us to exercise our right in strengthening community participation in the area of local governance. If you do not vote someone will take a decision on your behalf.

In the spirit of vuk'uzenzele, let us continue to build a united partnership to ensure that we attain our transformation goals and encourage others also to lend a hand for a better life.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Education, Northern Cape Provincial Government
29 December 2005
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.northern-cape.gov.za)