Angie Motshekga – praag.org

South Africa to introduce Mandarin in schools after agreement with China

Basic Education Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga has overseen the signing of an implementation plan between the Ministry of Education in China and the Department of Basic Education in South Africa in Beijing this week.

This follows the signing of a collaboration agreement between the two countries Presidents in March last year, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited South Africa.

2014 has also been declared the year of South Africa in China with the understanding that the two countries share excellent international relations and wish to extend their relationship beyond trade into areas of mutual development. Education is a priority imperative for both countries and this implementation plan is centred around strengthening education ties at an institutional and policy level.

Bearing in mind the successes of the Chinese Education System, the Department of Basic Education (DBE), wish to learn more about the following key areas to improve Education outcomes in South Africa, with a special focus on Maths, Science and Technology.

1. Curriculum Development and Implementation

2. Mathematics, Science and Technology Education

3. Teacher Training and Development

4. Vocational Education and Training

5. Research and Development to improve basic education

Minister Motshekga delivered a Speech to Education students, academics and diplomats at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, in her speech she made reference to the challenges being experienced in South Africa in the area of Mathematics and Science education.

“It is for this reason that we are thrilled to be here in China as we begin to fulfil the agreement signed by our two respective Presidents in March last year. The agreement speaks to collaboration between our countries in a number of areas, but for us what is especially encouraging is the work we will be undertaking together in the field of mathematics, science and technology, where we have seen China excel. We hope to learn from the Chinese experience through the exchanges of knowledge and human capital, which we believe will be extremely beneficial. The signing of the implementation plan with the Chinese Minister of Education this past Monday has cemented this agreement and we look forward to working practically together towards quality education for all in our respective countries,” said Motshekga.

This collaboration allows SA to benchmark itself with the best in the world with a view of making sure that it is on par.

The Department has already identified areas for strategic partnership. In line with strengthening our participation and success rate in mathematics, science and technology we will be working with China to provide the requisite equipment and reposition our institutional arrangements to deliver in this area.

We are also in a process of reviewing our national curriculum statement to improve our split between the academic and vocational streams with the intention of encouraging more schools in the system to offer vocational subjects.

The Minister was impressed to see China had already succeeded in achieving a 50- 50 split in this regard, and believes that we can learn a lot from each other to strengthen our efforts.

The Minister visited the Chinese National Institute of Educational Sciences as the department begins to implement the recommendations of the MST task team by setting up our own Mathematics and Science office with the view of developing it into an institute outside the bureaucracy of the Department. This proved helpful to view the manner in which the Institute relates to the government department as well as the organisational arrangement of the Institute.

The Minister also visited schools in Shanghai to see how policy translates into implementation at a provincial and school level and was extremely impressed at the calibre of research and creativity being expressed by Chinese learners in the areas of Mathematics, Science and Technology.

Another aspect of the Agreement cultural exchange and the promotion of the Chinese language, Mandarin being taught in South African schools. There are currently six Confucius institutions in South Africa and with the help of the Chinese Government a curriculum for the teaching of Chinese will be developed to be offered in some schools around the country. This will assist with building on the already solid foundation of friendship and collaboration between our two countries. As South Africa’s biggest trading partner it is important for our children to become proficient in the Confucius language and develop a good understanding of Chinese culture.

“The exchange of both learners and professionals opens many additional doors of cooperation on a number of levels and lays the foundation for the development of the new emerging world economy. This new world requires strong and high performing educational systems as a prerequisite for success. As developing countries we understand each other’s challenges and can work together to find the solutions,” said Motshekga. – Department of Basic Eduction Media Statement

Moshekga supports mother-tongue education, against Jansen’s imperialism

Children are likely to achieve higher levels of literacy when using a home language in schools, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.

“Research shows that children are likely to achieve higher levels of literacy when using a home language in school, in our case, African languages like IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Setswana and others,” she said in a speech prepared for delivery at the 10th international language and development conference in Cape Town.

Developing and speaking the languages of the land and the languages acquired as part of the colonial enterprise would bring to speed the realisation of a united and integrated Africa.

“South Africa’s experience will assist the conference to deeply appreciate the importance of language in society and how it is critical to liberating the mind,” said Motshekga.

She said that even beyond apartheid and its discourses of difference, language still affected on relations and opportunities in life.

“This conference is of importance as it gets us thinking and reflecting on an important review of the Millennium Development Goals.”

The conference promised to provide a useful lens through which everyone could interrogate critically the extent to which countries had performed in pursuance of the Millennium Development Goals, she said.

The Millennium Development Goals are set targets to be reached in eight areas, including poverty, unemployment, and education, by 2015. – Sapa

EE accuses South African minister of ‘attack on non-racism’

Equal Education (EE) has issued the following media release:

Equal Education (EE) notes with shock and disappointment the statement released by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) headed “Equal Education is disingenuous: Minister Motshekga”.

Every factual claim about the process needed for the finalisation of Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure is wrong and misleading. EE will issue a full statement explaining this in due course, but it is all explained in this relatively short affidavit:

It was on the basis of this affidavit that Judge Dukada of the Bhisho High Court decided that the matter is urgent, and is to be heard on 11 July 2013.

But the most unfortunate part of the DBE’s statement reads as follows:

“It is interesting to note the sudden interest that Equal Education is taking in the education of the African child. Suddenly the NGO knows all about the challenges that African children face against the privileges they have enjoyed.

“To suddenly see a group of white adults organizing black African children with half-truths can only be opportunistic, patronizing and simply dishonest to say the least.”

As it happens the majority of EE’s leadership went to the very township and rural schools we are fighting to fix. A link to EE’s National Council, of which I am chair, can be found here:

www.equaleducation.org.za/page/national-council. At the same time EE consists of people of every background and we are very proud of this. Any person who commits themself to advancing the daily struggles of poor and working class youth is welcome in EE. That these values exist is something that those responsible for education should celebrate, not attack.

The DBE’s statement is a very serious attack on non-racism, the Constitution and the legacy of Nelson Mandela. That it appears on a government letterhead is shocking. Cabinet will surely be concerned about this.

The statement is issued in the name of Minister Motshekga. We urge the Minister to urgently clarify whether she in fact wrote or had sight of the statement. We would like to give the Minister an opportunity to distance herself from such appalling racism, to retract the statement and to offer an apology to Equal Education.

EE has always engaged with the Minister in a robust but respectful way.

We are not and have never been at war with her personally. EE is currently campaigning for Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure.

These regulations will create a binding standard to ensure that every school meets an acceptable standard of infrastructure.

In November 2012 Minister Motshekga signed a settlement agreement in which she committed to consult fully and publish binding school infrastructure regulations by 15 May 2013. EE extended this deadline to 15 June to accommodate the Minister. Now, in breach of this settlement agreement, she has requested another six months to accomplish what she agreed would take place between November 2012 and May 2013. After four years of delays EE’s membership cannot accept this.

The point of Norms and Standards is to empower the Minister, communities and civil society to hold provinces and private companies accountable for fixing our schools. We need the Minister to comply with her obligations and to work with us so that we can make progress for the poor and working class, predominantly black, children of South Africa.

Issued by Yoliswa Dwane: Chairperson of Equal Education (18 June 2013)

ANC Women’s League to approach Equality Court over ‘Angie’s panties’

angie_panty — The protest image in question

The ANC Women’s League intends approaching the Equality Court after protesting teachers displayed a pair of panties they said belonged to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

“The [African National Congress’s Women’s League] noted with dismay disturbing media reports about some Sadtu members publicly displaying a piece of underwear attributed to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga during last week’s protest march,” Limpopo ANCWL secretary Maleke Mokganyetsi said in a statement.

“They must face the full wrath of our criminal justice system.”

Describing the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union as “counter-revolutionary”, Mokganyetsi said protesters who displayed the panties in Pretoria on Wednesday had to be condemned.

“We refer to the short-sightedness and stupidity of a female-dominated union that humiliates and suppresses other women.”

The Sadtu protest was a call for the resignation of Motshekga and her director general Bobby Soobrayan.

A photograph of the large panties shows them being stretched across a piece of wire. The slogan “Puluma ya Angie” is written in black pen across its front.

“We are very much disappointed in those who are suppose to teach our children about sexual violence and gender discrimination, but opt to promote it in our streets,” said Mokganyetsi.

Sadtu spokesman Mugwena Maluleke said earlier this week the union was non-sexist and promoted equality.

“We therefore cannot condone such an act,” Maluleke said. – SAPA

Cosatu’s workers ‘agree to stop violence’

Western Cape farmworkers will suspend their protests over wages and living conditions for two weeks, Acting Labour Minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday.

She said the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) had consulted workers and it was agreed they would return to work on Thursday and desist from violence and vandalism.

The suspension was on condition that the sectoral determination for agriculture be looked at by the Employment Condition Commission next Wednesday.

This meant the R70 a day minimum wage for farmworkers would be cancelled and renegotiated.

Motshekga was addressing reporters in Cape Town, on behalf of Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, who was out of the country.

Grape harvesters in the Hex River Valley have been protesting for more than a week about their wages, demanding R150 a day.

Most earn between R69 and R75 a day, with R80 being the highest and only offer from farmers so far.

Sixteen towns in the province have been affected by the protest action, including blocked roads and burning tyres.

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson described the labour action as a service delivery strike, and said workers in De Doorns, for instance, wanted housing and basic services.

She condemned those who said the matter was purely political.

“This is not a political matter. This an initiative of workers themselves. This is indeed a service delivery strike.”

Agri SA said on Wednesday said it was definitely a political matter.

“This is the worst violence that we have ever experienced… For sure it is forces from the outside. It is political,” Agri SA Western Cape president Cornie Swart said.

“People are being driven in by buses and taxis. It’s not a strike. It’s a total, political, blown-up thing.”

The labour department expressed condolences to the family of a farmworker killed in Wolseley on Wednesday morning and called for an end to violence by workers and victimisation by farmers.

Western Cape police confirmed that a man had been killed as a result of police action and five other people injured during protests in Wolseley.

Lt-Col Andre Traut said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) would investigate.

Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said an investigator was on his way to the scene where the protester was shot to get more details.

“I can confirm that one person was killed. However, we only have a report that three were injured. An investigator is on his way to gather more details.”

Joemat-Pettersson said her state security and police counterparts, Siyabonga Cwele and Nathi Mthethwa, would “engage further in the matter”.

“To give information now [on the death] would be very clumsy and irresponsible,” she said.

The SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said two photographers were injured while covering protests during the day.

“This morning [Wednesday] Mandla Mnyakama, a photographer from the Daily Sun, was allegedly shot in the back with a rubber bullet by police whilst covering unrest near Robertson in the Western Cape,” Sanef chairman Mondli Makhanya said.

He said Mnyakama was hurt, but that his primary concern was the “treatment” he received from the police.

Die Burger photographer Lulama Zenzile was hurt in the same protest, while standing 20 yards (about 18 metres) from the police.

“He was taken to a clinic, and after X-rays confirmed his nose was not broken, he was discharged,” Makhanya said.

Sanef was still waiting for a response from the police.

A notice indicating the intent to call all interested parties to comment on the sectoral determination will be published by next Friday.

Joemat-Pettersson said the sectoral determination could only be revised once a year.

A revision would affect all farmworkers across the country, regardless of produce.

Trade and industry minister Rob Davies, fresh from a visit to Brazil on wine-related matters, said the government needed to look into the ethical trading of wine.

“I’m not surprised there’s been an explosion of this sort,” he said.

“I think there’s a link between the conditions of farmworkers, the degree to which they are seen to benefit from the fruits of the industry and the ability to market this product internationally.”

He would re-visit proposals to carry “ethical trading” stickers on wine bottles from farms with fair labour practices. – Sapa

Nadine Gordimer describes South African education system as a ‘wreck’

Nobel literature prize winner Nadine Gordimer poured scorn on South Africa’s education system on Tuesday as “a wreck” over the failure to deliver textbooks to thousands of public schools.

The scandal has caused a national furore after leaving more than 5,000 rural schools without textbooks for more than six months of the academic year in a damning measure of South Africa’s schooling 18 years into democracy.

“Our education system is a wreck. It’s a shamble. I can’t believe that three-quarters of the year have gone by and so many of our schools, especially in the rural areas, have been without textbooks,” said Gordimer, 88, on SAFM public radio news.

“It is the (education) minister’s responsibility to see that the books are ordered in time and delivered. How can you teach people to read if there are no books to read from?”

President Jacob Zuma is facing increasing calls to fire Education Minister Angie Motshekga. On Monday, he said he was waiting for a final report from a team he appointed to investigate the debacle.

The education department was found to have violated students’ rights to education after being taken to court and was ordered to remedy the situation.

But a probe revealed that 22 percent of schools in the northern Limpopo region were still without learning materials earlier this month despite a scramble by authorities to get the missing books to schools.

The criticism by Gordimer, who had several works banned by the apartheid regime, comes after peace laureate Desmond Tutu said democratic icon Nelson Mandela would be reduced to tears if he knew the poor state of public schools.

Education is South Africa’s single biggest budget item, but schools are hobbled by poor management and low standards. – SAPA

70% of children in Limpopo province fail school

Johannesburg – Failure to deliver textbooks to schools in Limpopo has affected exam results in that province, the Sunday Times reported.

According to the paper, 70% of Grade 10 pupils in 25 Limpopo schools failed their June exams.

This amounted to 3174 of 4529 pupils.

Principals told the paper the dire results were likely to be mirrored in the rest of the province.

“Teachers are willing to assist, even over weekends, but we don’t have any money to pay them,” said Henry Raedani of Azwifarwi Secondary School.

“The children have been suffering without books.”

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the media had overplayed the failure to deliver textbooks.

“This question of no teaching for six months is a media story, and now principals are jumping on the bandwagon when they have not done their work,” she was quoted as saying.

Limpopo ANC youth league spokesperson Jacob Lebogo reportedly said both Motshekga and Limpopo MEC for education Dickson Masemola should be removed. – Sapa

Minister’s company implicated in school book scandal

The school book scandal in Limpopo province has now implicated the… national minister of education. Her company makes money out of school books that do not get delivered, it seems.

At the centre of the textbook crisis in Limpopo is a politically connected company called EduSolutions. Minister Angie Motshekga has been working with this company since 2008 when she was still Gauteng Education MEC.

The Limpopo government irregularly awarded a R320 million contract to EduSolutions for textbook provision to Limpopo schools. The evaluation and specification committee was ignored at the time the contract was awarded.

This contract was due to be cancelled as soon as the national intervention team arrived in the province to run the Education Department.

Limpopo Education Administrator Anis Karodia now claims that the Minister initially obstructed the cancellation of the contract, preferring for government to continue doing business with EduSolutions instead.

Motshekga made this call even though textbooks were late to Gauteng schools back in 2008 when the Minister was Education MEC in Gauteng and doing business with EduSolutions. EduSolutions is also implicated in a fraud scandal for charging government R13 a pencil.

The obstruction by the Minister continued for a month and a half, according to Mr Karodia, before Motshekga finally agreed that books could be ordered directly from publishers.

While this was happening, Minister Motshekga was promising the public that all learners would receive their books when schools opened in Limpopo. This was said at the announcement of the matric results on 5 January.