Speech of the Eatern Cape Education MEC Mahlubandile Qwase on hte occasion of the release of the 2009 NSC Examination Results at the Christian Centre, Abbotsford, East London, Thursday 07 January 2010

Madam Premier
Members of the Provincial Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Heads of Department
Other Distinguished Guests
Our Prize Winners
Ladies & Gentlemen
Good Morning!

It is indeed a great pleasure and an honour for me to stand up in front of you, to present to you our second Grade 12 results under the New Curriculum Statement (NCS) at the start of the second decade of the 21st Century.  It is also even more significant that this occasion takes place ahead of probably the most scintillating year for our sports loving country, when all the eyes of the world prepare to witness the first soccer World Cup to be staged on the African continent.

It is thus incumbent on us to ensure that in making this important announcement for the class of 2009, at the same time we recognise that with such an iconic and august occasion as our backdrop, we provide a definitive framework that complements the groundwork that has been laid over the past few years aimed at reversing some of the weaknesses that have marked the first fifteen years of our system since 1994.

Our dearly beloved sage and living legend, Tat’u Nelson Mandela said it best that “...”.

His clarion call has found meaning in the form of the commitment made by the ruling party in its Elections Manifesto to prioritise education and identification of education and skills development as one of the critical strategic priorities of government.

It is true that for the most part, the emphasis of the Department over the past few years has been to address operational and infrastructural backlogs that have tended to overshadow our core mandate and functions. The new administration under President Zuma has been more forthright in inculcating a ‘back to basics’ agenda, that essentially engenders us to revisit all the best practices that worked well for our fore-bears but had increasingly been sidelined in our rush to transform the education system from the much maligned and hated Bantu Education.

This is best exemplified by the Quality Teaching and Learning Campaign (QTLC) launched in October 2008.  Essentially, this campaign seeks to compel and commit all individuals and organisations to assume responsibility for improving the quality of education. Its fundamental leit motif posits that the achievement of quality education for all depends on the actions of the departmental officials, schools principals, teachers, learners, parents and community members. Each one of these is called upon to make a commitment to a ‘Code for Quality Education’, which describes the responsibilities and commitment required of them.   

At the macro level, the Department is also hard-pressed to map out an even more erudite and responsive Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy (LAIS) that builds on all lessons learnt over the past two years during the formative phase of this increasingly significant intervention. It is in its decentralised district driven format that the department hopes to build on, so that the different strands and roles defined for district officials and managers are indeed allowed to play out in their operational theatres.

The last Council of Education Ministers held on 11 December 2009 further agreed that all provincial functions and activities in 2010 not related to the core business of teaching and learning be curtailed. The savings obtained out of that exercise would be targeted on providing additional resources for district offices and the provision of learning and teaching support materials to schools.

Critically though, we are all in agreement in the department that for LAIS to be particularly effective, its programmes must kick-off as soon as schooling resumes so that we implement timeously the Programme of Action (PoA) that was developed in the preparatory LAIS Summit convened towards the end of last year.  That Summit sought to bring together stakeholders in order to reflect on the best workable strategies to implement at the beginning of this year to ensure that we produce credible improvements to the education system as we consciously focus our attention to supporting districts and schools from the beginning of  the year.  Briefly, the PoA will focus on the following key pillars:

• Strengthening management and governance in schools: there is recognition that there is a direct relationship between effective leadership and governance and excellent academic performance by learners. The onus is thus for us to upscale these critical qualities and innate traits in our leadership corps in schools;
• Professional development and support to teachers: this will be done through the improvement of their capacity in the teaching of the current curriculum regime, especially for critical learning areas like mathematics and science etc.;
• Optimal utilisation of available resources: this will result in the reallocation/reprioritisation of resources with emphasis on the key areas requiring attention;
• Integrated human resource development strategy: the key focus here will be on the supply of highly competent teachers with adequate motivation and positive influence

The most important element for this PoA that can no longer be neglected is accountability that will be gauged through credible instruments of monitoring and evaluation of performance across the whole system.

This is where the role of Head Office should be focused: the development, monitoring and evaluation of policies and performance.  A proper alignment of systems management should enable all the components of the department to be focused on their particular area of competence, a situation that would increasingly fine tune specialisation and best practice.

It is heartening that we can at least reflect on several positive developments in the Department that seem to suggest that the tide is gradually turning, and that we are finally grappling with these requisite areas that will enable us to realise the above scenario:

Stabilisation of the Schooling System

It is an undisputable fact that in the past our province was marred by perennial instability emanating from several interrelated aspects that tended to polarise debates about realities of underperformance and ongoing challenges:

• Stakeholder relations: one of our most critical achievements in recent times has been the significant improvements in the department’s relations with some of its most critical stakeholders; the resuscitation of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) and the subsequent milestones achieved in resolving and approaching impasses and difference of opinion has certainly raised the quality of debates and inputs;
• Filling of Vacancies: the above reality has resulted in far reaching agreements that now finally means that the department is in a position to deal decisively with the issue of human resourcing at schools.  This has resulted in us being in a position to formally agree and pronounce on the post declaration for the 2010 academic year.  In effect this will result in the number of funded educator posts in the province increasing from 65 313 to 69 390.  This step is also being complemented by other agreements reached last year that resulted in the conversion of all temporal educators to a permanent status. This process has brought stability and joy for 5 719 educators and will finalised by the 31 January 2010. The Department’s HR section will also undertake a comprehensive audit of vacancies in the schools during the first ten days of this academic year, which will then form the basis of an aggressive programme of filling of vacancies through quarterly bulletins.  
• Organisational Review: the department is in the final stages of a complex and arduous task of realignment through the organisational review process. The fundamental rationale for this has been to ensure that the available human resources are properly positioned to respond to all the transformative vagaries that we have been examining above. We are working towards a more delivery oriented, decentralised structure that emphasises the centrality of the district offices.  

At another strategic extra curricular level, we continue to be awed and inspired by schools from the most rural hinterland of our vast province, who defy the odds through their commitment and zeal, that results in them going further than is expected of them.  In this regard we can mention Hombe Junior Secondary School from Lusikisiki; this school achieved the rare distinction of capturing top honours for two consecutive years: 2008 & 2009, in their category during national schools choir eisteddfod. On both these occasions their choir-mistress was Ms. Zanele January. Ms. Dimakatso Ntlele’s Zuney Farm School also placed first in the same event, thereby inaugurating the newly founded ‘Farm Schools Category’.  
The most heart-warming achievement though in the performing arts must be Neliswa Chitha’s meteoric rise as a recording artist with a DVD shoot to boot.  This learner from Masiphathisane Public School in Port Elizabeth was the surprise winner during Coca Cola’s talent search competition, and her prizes catapulted her into the national musical stage where she now shares the stage with established artists in the South African scene.
In the same vein, we continue to produce giants on the schools debating stage and speech contests that enjoy national prominence.  For years these learners bring home top honours in recognition of their debating prowess, as was the case last year during the United Nations competition held in Cape Town. In fact, one Eastern Cape learner from Merrifield High School in East London District has won a place among 12 national learners in the UN speech contest, that have been chosen to represent South Africa in New York this year.
To these schools and similar giant killers on the national stage I say: You make us proud.  You are the torch-bearers and exemplars of what all our schools need to do as part of our over-arching agenda of restoring our province to the erstwhile reverence we used to enjoy on both the national and continental stage, that saw us produce some of the best known and most gifted sons and daughters of our country.

 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

Looking Ahead to 2010

At the outset, I think it is imperative that I state unequivocally and forthrightly that:
I am not going to tolerate any more acts of dereliction of duty, perpetual underperformance or callous disregard of basic terms of employment by anyone in the employ of the department of education.  I fully expect that the performance management regime of the department will enable everyone in a supervisory capacity to exercise all due process including constant appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of performance.  No excuses will be tolerated for management lapses and failure to exercise oversight.
As the department, we have set out a clear master plan (its part of your packs) that charts a concise way forward for us in response to our results.  The most important elements of the plan are:

• Commencement of Academic Activities: we expect all the schools in the Province to finalise their plans on 11 January 2010 including time-tabling; lesson planning and assessment planning for the year. Teaching should commence in earnest on 13th January 2010.
• Fortnightly Syllabus Coverage Reports: Principals of schools will be expected to submit progress reports to the Circuit Manager every fortnight indicating the extent to which they have complied with lesson plans and pace setters.
• Quarterly Analysis of Results and Performance Festivals: The monthly and quarterly tests will be analysed in the fashion of the end of the year results and remedial and accountability measures will apply in consequence of school performances. Competitive performance festivals will be arranged whereby Principals, Subject Advisors and Circuit Managers will showcase their achievements and milestones of the quarter. The Grades that will be targeted for intensified teaching will be Grade 9 to 12 and this programme will commence on 01 February 2010. Apart from afternoon and Saturday classes, there will be Autumn schools since there will be no winter schools this year due to the 2010 tournament.
• Promotion of mother-tongue bilingual education: This will be done in order to improve deeper understanding of concepts amongst learners. Educators will undergo training in this regard within the first six months of the year.

I wish to offer my congratulations to the top candidates.  You have indeed accomplished something noteworthy – you are the second graduates of the new curriculum and have shown that with hard work and application one can still excel, even in a much more challenging school environment.  You have made your parents and your teachers very proud.  To all the successful candidates, I am sure that as you enjoy your success, you will be quick to remember the teachers who helped you and your family who supported you.  Yours has indeed been a long and sometimes difficult road.  For those of you continuing your studies in Higher Education please continue to make the most of the opportunities given to you, study hard and come back home to the Eastern Cape.  We need your knowledge and skills to make us not only the breeding ground for past teachers, but the nursery of future ones.

To the unsuccessful candidates, please remember that the examination can be repeated and with further hard work and diligent application, you too shall pass.  Contact your District Office for advice on what to do next to obtain your qualification.  We further want to encourage you to consider enrolling in one of our FET Colleges parallel with the endeavours to finalise your Grade 12.

I want to thank all officials of the Department, at both Head Office and Districts, who have committed themselves to enhancing learner attainment in our Province.  Furthermore, I want to send a special word of gratitude to all committed educators in our province who have gone the extra mile in the realisation of the education enterprise.  I also thank Head Office and District Assessment and Examination officials for delivering an effective and credible National Senior Certificate examination.

Thank you and well done to Mr Govender, Mr Mabona and all the staff, I think they deserve a round of applause.

Thank you.