Education remains a priority in the province

MBOMBELA – Education remains a priority on the government’s agenda. This was heard on Friday during the State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered by the premier Mr David Mabuza.

Mubuza renewed his pledge to support the entire spectrum of children’s school careers and said they would start with the youngest of citizens and make sure that learner outcomes were improved.

“Starting with the youngest of our citizens, we have undertaken to prioritise quality and accessibility in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector.

“We will accelerate this programme and build on progress that we have made in the delivery of ECD,” he said.

According to Mabuza they have also planned to provide 90 000 learners in grade R with readers and indoor play equipment. This contribution extends to both public schools and community centres and government will be providing further support to 12 502 pre-grade R learners in identified community centres.

With quality being a key theme in the service provision agenda for the year, government has also undertaken to ensure that 600 childminders and 5 800 ECD specialists are trained.

Mabuza highlighted the importance of conducive to intellectual teaching and learning environments that would allow physical and spiritual growth and said they were currently implementing their decision to close all dysfunctional farm schools and build state-of-the-art boarding facilities to accommodate children living on the farms.

Mabuza also announced their target for 2015/16 that, among others, include an 89 per cent pass rate for grade 12 learners. According to Mabuza they would like to see that 35 per cent of learners pass mathematics at 50 per cent and above and 34 per cent physical science at 50 per cent and above. Furthermore government would like to see 40 000 learners take up mathematics and 35 000 physical science in grade 10. He added that he would also like to see at least 30 per cent of grade 12 learners gaining university entrance.

The dropout rate remains a concern in the province and Mabuza announced that a programme to track learners throughout the schooling system will be introduced in 2015/16 that would enable them to trace each learner’s journey through the schooling system.

Mabuza also shifted his focus to the teachers and the important role they played in reaching targets. “As a province, our efforts must of necessity be directed towards transforming every mediocre teacher into someone we can truly call great; someone whose passion for the future of his or her learners is matched only by their passion for the subject that they teach,” he said.

According to Mabuza a number of programmes to support teachers in the coming year had been set out. This included the roll-out of a three-year programme to train all teachers in the use of ICT to broaden and improve education. Thousands of maths and science teachers will also be trained on particular topics according to specific, identified learners needs.

“Our teachers will also be playing their part as mediators of social cohesion and cultural diversity as they will be trained to implement the incremental introduction of African languages into schools where these are not yet offered,” Mabuza said.

The new curriculum for South African Sign Language has also been approved and according to the premier they will ensure that selected teachers receive the training required to ensure access to education for deaf learners too.

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