President Cyril Ramaphosa with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga at the anticipated eighth annual Basic Education Sector Lekgotla which is taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre, and virtually, from under the theme: “Equipping Learners with Knowledge and Skills for a Changing World Post the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Photo: DOE
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on education experts to use their collective expertise to forge ahead with a curriculum and plan that will be responsive to the changing needs of South Africa’s economy and society, including encouraging children to pursue careers in technical and vocational fields.
Ramaphosa was delivering the keynote address at the anticipated eighth annual Basic Education Sector Lekgotla which is taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre, and virtually, from under the theme: “Equipping Learners with Knowledge and Skills for a Changing World Post the Covid-19 Pandemic”.
Delegates attending the 2023 Lekgotla include provincial MECs for Education and heads of departments (HODs) of Education, national and district officials from across the country, CEOs of various basic education sector entities, as well as representatives of teacher unions, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), School Governing Body (SGB) Associations and civil society partners. Eminent local, continental and international speakers, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Unesco and DBE senior managers are also in attendance.
Ramaphosa said that the skills and jobs that the country needs are those that will grow the economy and this can be best achieved by increased learner access to technical and vocational studies.
He stressed that subjects like agricultural, nautical and marine sciences, and electrical, civil and mechanical technology must be promoted and developed “if we are able to address the scourge of unemployment in our country”.
“That training must start at school and it is that training that will keep young people focused. The economy is hungry for those skilled in those disciplines. Inclusive growth and shared prosperity can only really be achieved when more people are working.
“A productive workforce cannot be achieved if we do not commit our nation to lifelong learning, we must encourage people to embark upon to go and learn beyond what we learnt at school and university,” he said.
The Education Lekgotla will emerge with consensus on what will be done to rebuild the basic education system for future pandemics and crises, while reflecting on education priorities which include the strengthening of the curriculum, including the Three Stream Model and Entrepreneurial education.
Ramaphosa said that the adoption of the Three Stream Model was important.
“This starts with developing skills for a modern and dynamic workforce but it begins with basic education. It cannot be emphasised enough that the greater the scope for basic education streams, the better our learners’ prospects are for securing employment and for self-employment after schools because that person becomes much more of a thinker, much more of a dreamer, much more of a creator, an inventor and a person who thinks outside the box,” Ramaphosa said.
“Never has the imperative been greater for us to forge ahead with curricula that are responsive to the changing needs of our economy and society. Beyond reflecting the issues facing the basic education sector, our expectations are that the collective expertise at this lekgotla will help us consolidate what has been achieved so far to strengthen basic education outcomes into the future,” he added.
Dubbed by Ramaphosa as “touching the holy grail”, he said he was particularly pleased to see that children from poor schools in the rural areas in townships were able to sit for exams and achieve equal results as children from more affluent areas in the country.
He said this was the revolution that they hoped to see and were now seeing it right under their noses.
“This year’s results were particularly pleasing to me to see children from rural schools achieving top results in matric. What Bantu education did to our education system in rural South Africa was terrible and we are now seeing the tide turn.”
He commended the educators, MECs and Minister Angie Motshekga and her deputy.
He also said that further encouragement was needed for pupils to refrain from dropping out of school before completing their matric.
He said that the high increase of learner drop-outs fitted the theme of this year’s lekgotla.
“If we can provide learners with more choices and better guidance, we should be able to reduce the drop-out rate,” Ramaphosa said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Education
Related Topics: