Page 18 - DPSA_SDR Vol 12 No.2 2019

EDUCATION

Learning to realise

education’s promise

Achieving inclusive and quality education for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and
proven vehicles for sustainable development, writes Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga

The publication of the World Bank Development Report 2018, 15% of the total budget, and the allocation is projected to
titled, “Learning to realize education’s promise,” is the first ever rise at an average of 7,4% annually over the next three fiscal
report devoted entirely to education. It explores the themes years, according to the National Treasury. We allocate a higher
that are quite critical to our interventions and understanding proportion of our budget towards basic education than the US,
of our core mandate as the basic education portfolio, which UK and Germany, United Nations data shows.
the report advocates as “the need to shine a light on learning”.
Quality education is one of the 17 global goals that make All this investment is a direct assault on the relentless
up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is a underfunding of the basic education sector for more than
global integrated approach that is crucial for progress across two-thirds of the population during the apartheid years. With
the multiple goals. We must achieve inclusive and quality that said, we are convinced that the South African education
education for all because it affirms the belief that education is system is now on the rise despite the stubborn legacy of
one of the most powerful and proven vehicles of sustainable apartheid’s racial segregation and underfunding.
development. This goal ensures that all girls and boys
complete free primary and secondary schooling by 2030. My bold assertion is not misplaced but based on independent
international standardised tests undertaken by our learners and
Life long learning conducted by reputable international organisations. In fact, in
South Africa we take reports by all independent international
organisations, including the World Bank, very seriously. Our
Across the globe, educationalists are researching, debating developmental blueprint, the National Development Plan
and testing new teaching methodologies that produce lifelong (NDP) reinforces this crucial point. It says in part:
learners equipped for success in the workplace and in their
personal lives. According to the 21st Century learning and “The performance of South African learners in international
teaching organisation, it’s about embracing the exciting standardised tests should be comparable to the performance
potential of new technologies such as tablets. But it is also of learners from countries at a similar level of development and
about reimagining how our classrooms and lessons look, and with similar levels of access.”
the types of knowledge and skills we need to nurture and
value. Let me paint the sprawling landscape of some of these
international standardised tests. According to the Trends in
There is a great consensus among many educational International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015,
researchers all around the world that to enable pupils to the South African basic education sector showed an upward
flourish in the 21st century, the youth will need a different trajectory in both Mathematics and Science. Conducted every
set of skills. These skills are well-defined by many projects four years since 1995, TIMSS has been a valuable vehicle
and educationalists, and, without oversimplifying it, they boil for studying international trends in mathematics and science
down “to the ability to use knowledge to solve problems, to achievement at the fourth and eighth grades.
work collectively, to think creatively and to reflect on their own
thinking.” We have emerged, according to the TIMSS report published in
2016, as a leading African participant among 59 countries that
South Africa runs the largest basic education systems in sub- formed part of the survey. South Africa’s performance in the
Saharan Africa. We have over 12 million learners – five times TIMSS from 2003 to 2015 shows that there was a significant
the size of the Namibian population. Learning happens every improvement of 87 points for Mathematics and 90 points for
day in over 20 000 schools. Over 400 000 teachers wake up Science, more than for any other country with comparable
every day to teach our learners. data.

Return on investment Similarly, in many instances the 4th Southern and Eastern
African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
(SACMEQ IV) report released in 2017 has confirmed, in a
Our spending on basic education is higher than that of the scientific way, some of the improvements and growth points
United States of America. South Africa spent R213,7bn on that showcase a determination within the sector to transform
basic education in the 12 months ended March 2017, or about the lives of our people.

16 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 12 No.2 of 2019