Remarks by Education MEC M.
QWASE at the Choral Eisteddfod Indaba, Mpekweni, Port Alfred
2 October 2008
Chairperson,
Honoured Guests
Officials from the
District & Head Office
Music Educators,
Good morning.
Please allow me to
commend the people responsible for organising this Indaba and making it a
reality.
It is important
that we state upfront that, what we have been experiencing within the schools’
choral competitions has been the result of dedicated teaching and nurturing of
music that normally takes place during and after school hours, with consistent
rehearsals carried out by teams of educators who we are privileged to have in
the Eastern Cape. Thank you for your unwavering commitment.
We also want to
extend a word of gratitude to the rest of the teaching corps who constantly
continue to give support to the schools as they tirelessly encourage the growth
of the different arts, including that of choral music to their children. It is
through your understanding and commitment that choral music continues to exist
and excel in our schools to date. It has not been an easy journey. This is
evident in the changes that we have had to instil in our choral music to
include every school and every learner in our province whose passion for
singing choral cannot be tainted or altered by any injustices of the past.
Without going back
into history, each of us knows what I’m referring to. We can all quietly remember
how every aspect of the act of segregation affected our everyday lives,
including our schools and the entire syllabus in all learning areas of our
children. Music as a subject also suffered tremendously as it could not tap
into the natural vibrancy around us that drives it. The purpose of this Indaba
should be evidence enough of such gruesome effects of that apartheid era.
We are here because
we want to make a change that will be beneficial to us all, more especially
learners in our primary and secondary schools and remote rural areas throughout
the province.
These few days mark a high point of constant hard work at
attempting unity within our diverse cultural backgrounds in the arts,
particularly that of choral music at the moment.
Hence the
appropriateness of the word Eisteddfod,
a Welsh word meaning “Bringing people together”.
As a teacher,
learner, principal, or a bureaucrat in
the department for that matter, we should all be proud of ourselves that we are
here to make certain that the once concentrated culture of our choral music can
now be dispersed amongst all learners, but most importantly, to the teachers
who have to be the sole custodians of these new policies, so they can
confidently instil and instruct our learners accordingly by implementing the
revised policies from what previously had been known as Tirisano Schools Choral
Eisteddfod to the relatively new South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod.
The South African
Schools Choral Eisteddfod (SASCE) is one of the school enrichment programmes
coordinated by the Department of Education to promote national reconciliation,
proper values and attitudes, a new South African national identity, social
transformation and cohesion among school-going South African youth.
The SASCE was
introduced about two years ago with an aim to better organise, manage,
coordinate and monitor schools’ competitions and/ or festival for public
schools as stated in the Government Notice No.21697 of 27 October 2000. Amongst
gaps identified as a result of the introduction of the new SASCE regime was that
there was under-staffing in district offices, which invariably has resulted in a
chaotic state of non-compliance from a number of district co-ordinators, and a
lack of proper management of issues such as transportation of huge numbers of
learners, including improper provision of costs involved during such an
activity.
Let’s also not
forget about our learners within the LSEN, whose physical disabilities we have
neglected to consider when we erect our edifices where they are expected to
also perform. Such oversight during
these venues’ construction is not acceptable and therefore we need to talk
about what needs to be done to make sure that our disabled otherwise mentally
capable learners are accommodated accordingly and thus see many of them
participating in the SASCE competitions.
Furthermore, it is
important that after this gathering, we leave having found and agreed on the
way forward on ways in which we can develop and build the capacity of educators
to deliver a quality programme for the benefit of our learners.
It is important
that a redress and a way forward is found to also deal with the imbalances of
the past through provision of resources and talent identification and promotion
in learners and teachers alike.
For learners, the
benefit will be for them to be re-directed to the relevant institutions for
specialisation in their choral music abilities.
We need to see more
schools from former model C schools partake in these events, not separately,
but in unison with the rest of the other schools from other areas of the
province.
Thus, I appeal to
all schools in the province to show greater involvement after this Indaba in
the SASCE. This province has produced some of the best choirs locally and
nationally. For example the
We need to
constantly promote the arts in our schools, homes and communities for one
obvious reason, our children. After all it is through art that they get to
express every motion, be it joy or otherwise.
We need to take
advantage of the different forms of talents that we and our children possess in
as far as art is concerned. These talents vary from music to dance, theatre/drama
to visual arts, which we use to express, and at the same time liberate
ourselves from the injustices of the past through songs and what is now called
“picketing” otherwise known as toy-toying.
It is through the
arts that we are able to unite as a nation and bring people of a diversity and
heritage together. It is through the universal language of the arts that we
still proudly aspire to be the rainbow nation that we ought to be.
It is through
different forms of arts that we have been able to improve our approach to social
issues such as HIV/ Aids, abuse of women and children, substance abuse, negative
societal pressures that, not only affecting us as parents but are threatening
the progress of the youth everywhere, be it in townships, rural or suburban
areas.
Perhaps, the time
has come for our choral music composers to develop a music repertoire that
includes songs that address crime, substance abuse, learner pregnancy and HIV/
Aids to help promote more awareness and to change the attitudes of the learners
for the better around these issues.
In conclusion, we seriously need to be
dedicated in the creation, the teaching and the learning of our arts. It goes without saying that there will be a great
number of issues that we will agree on and others which will require a lot more
time to find consensus on. But at the end of the day, the things that we will
agree on will form the basis of a national contract, while the areas of
disagreement will inform our ongoing conversations.
Let’s then honestly, amiably and
practicably work together in ensuring that our creativity plays a significant
role in the lives of the majority of our learners. Instead of talking down to each other let us listen
and act together. It is time for us to reconnect. Lets this Indaba be the first
step in many bold steps that we need to take in the next few months.
Thank you very much
to all of you for being here, I do hope that when we go back to our respective
places of work, we will be going with one voice, that of making sure that the
arts receive its proper and deserved place in our national curriculum.
Thank you.