Government to improve quality of education at schools

By Khanyisa Tabata
10 August 2009

Government is set to improve the quality of education at schools by changing the management, teaching and learning in schools.

It has been reported that President Jacob Zuma told 1500 school principals that the government have launched a new drive to truly change the management and teaching in South African schools.

Minister for Basic Education Angie Motshekga, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande, and all Education MEC’s from all the provinces attended the conference which was hosted at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.

The event gave school principals an opportunity to explain to the President some of the daily challenges they face.

It has been reported that President Zuma said the meeting was an acknowledgement that the policies that had been implemented since 1994 had not led to the delivery of quality education for the poor.

He said there was much that needed to be done to improve the standard of education in South Africa, adding that in recent international tests for Grade 8 literacy, South Africa scored 302, while the international average was 500.

He said the country could not blame teachers only for poor results. “A substantial proportion of schools still lack the physical facilities that constitute an enabling teaching and learning environment.”

President Zuma told principals that they must dedicate themselves to putting the past behind them and making education an instrument of freedom and sustainable development.
The President’s meeting follows the promise he made during his State of the Nation Address, where he said he would meet with school principals to share their vision on the revival of the country’s education system.