Providing a competitive, quality and affordable education that equips every young South African for a future economy must be at the centre of our agenda. This focuses on preparing young people to add value to the marketplace and contribute to the economic and social needs of the country.
Education is the cornerstone of our nation’s prosperity. We envision an educational landscape characterised by affordability, accessibility, and quality from early schooling to tertiary degrees. We have 24,000 schools, with 13 million learners in the system. Our goal is to equip every South African with the skills to earn well, realise their potential, and compete in the digital economy.
However, the government is hellbent on doing the very opposite. I wish to address the newly introduced General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), which will allow learners to exit school at Grade 9, and be recognised within the National Qualifications Framework under skill level 1.
Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, confirmed that the certificate was introduced at 1,000 schools across all nine provinces last year. Let us consider what a skill level 1 is.
Internationally jobs are ranked by skill levels on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (Isco) scale. Skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation.
Occupations at Skill Level 1 typically require the performance of
- simple and routine physical or manual tasks;
- require the use of handheld tools, such as shovels, or of simple electrical tools; and/or
- equipment, such as vacuum cleaners.
Moreover, it includes tasks such as cleaning; digging; lifting and carrying materials by hand; sorting, storing or assembling goods by hand (sometimes in the context of mechanised operations); operating non-motorised vehicles; and picking fruit and vegetables.
Occupations classified at Skill Level 1 include office cleaners, freight handlers, garden labourers and kitchen assistants.
Hendrik Verwoerd would have been proud of this certificate. The architect of Bantu Education during apartheid, Verwoerd believed that the African child should not be educated fully because there was no need for a skilled black labour force.
Today, the ANC government is — in effect — determined to mirror this policy. It limits young, mainly black South Africans to either low-skilled jobs or unemployment. Instead, we need to make sure more learners finish matric and do so with high-quality grades and with proficiency in science and mathematics. Going to Tvet colleges without a full grasp of the subject matter from grade 1-9 will not help young people obtain technical qualifications and skills the economy requires.
In addition, it is a sinister attempt by the ANC government to erase its high school dropout problem by issuing a new certificate at the grade 9 stage. South Africa loses half of every learner cohort that enters the school system by the end of the 12-year schooling period. Two out of 10 learners drop out of school after Grade 3, four out of 10 after Grade 9, six out of 10 after Grade 10 and 7.3 out of 10 after Grade 11.
Therefore, this new “Bantu Education Certificate” must be stopped immediately.
We face a critical shortage of skills, and our performance in human skills development is underwhelming. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index ranks South Africa as follows:
- On skills of the current workforce — 101/141;
- On skills of the future workforce — 107/141; and
- On quality of vocational training — 119/141.
We must address this crisis to meet the demands of the evolving job market. And an early exit option out of school for grade 9 learners will not do the trick.
Government should instead be focused on fixing what is broken in our public education system — lack of resources and infrastructure, low standards and a weak curriculum, pit toilets, crowded classrooms, unaccountable and under-equipped teachers, and textbook shortages.
Build One South Africa (Bosa) advocates a school voucher programme that returns the power to decide which school a child goes to back to the learner’s parents. Parents have the most vested interest in the long-term education of their child. Parents care enough to conduct sensible due diligence which will unearth key information related to the performance of nearby schools.
This voucher, estimated at R15,000 per annum (based on the current government cost to educate each child), should be awarded directly to parents who will be given a choice as to whether to use it for payment at a nearby public school or to add some of their own capital to the voucher in order to take their children to a private or semi-private school.
If paired with a radically increased public infrastructure investment programme in public schools that attract more children as a result of the voucher system, bad schools will run out of business while good schools will be enlarged and recapitalised.
In addition, Bosa will work to advocate for pressing issues that include:
- Dropping the 30% pass mark for subjects;
- Introducing an independent education ombudsman;
- Incentivising students during the academic year;
- Implementing tighter security at all schools;
- Expanding extended programmes for underperforming learners;
- Reprioritising budget for digital learning and infrastructure;
- Higher pay for performing teachers;
- A nationwide skills audit for educators; and
- Addressing the disproportionate power trade unions wield over teachers and the functioning of the education system.
These interventions, grounded in accountability, transparency, and excellence, are crucial steps toward rescuing our education system. It is only when we create an environment where every South African child has equitable access to quality education that we pave the way for a prosperous and thriving nation.
In the interests of the 24,000 schools under its supervision and with 13 million learners in the system, this “Bantu Education Certificate” must be scrapped. DM
30 years since the ANC took over and yet Verwoerd is still being blamed?
He’s not blaming Verwoerd, he’s pointing out how the anc emulates Verwoerd
This is what Maimane said
“Hendrik Verwoerd would have been proud of this certificate. The architect of Bantu Education during apartheid, Verwoerd believed that the African child should not be educated fully because there was no need for a skilled black labour force.”
So he is not being blamed for the last 30 years. But he could be and should be as his ‘Bantu’ education is likely what the ANC received. He gave them this education and then predicted they couldn’t run the country. True.
This dismal education is proving to be a force to reckon with for the population, this government and job markets. So OK…let’s blame him too!
Thank you for saying what i think and nobody else seems to ……. i totally agree that a lot of our current mess can be laid at the feet of Bantu education. Which means, yes, that the effects of Verwoerd’s policy endure. If people who were (mis / un) educated to be manual workers don’t do very well running a country / SOE/ business, are we surprised? Ditto for many older generation voters who lack the critical thinking skills to see that their heroes have lost their shine, or to recognise that Putin’s Russia does not = the old USSR who certainly gave a lot of support to the struggle against injustice in our country.
I agree – Verwoerd and apartheid are the architects of this self fulfilling prophecy and certainly started us on this horror road to Hell for everyone. If they hadn’t been so short sighted, had seen all our peoples as people, and educated everyone equally we would be living in a very different South Africa today. I can only wish.
That all being said, the ANC should hang their head in shame. I completely agree with Musi. (as an aside Musi, I wish you would rejoin the DA – you could do a lot there, helping all our peoples)
Bullshit!
Because of his inferior education, enforced by the ANC regime, Mmusi Maimane couldn’t lead the DA properly and was replaced democratically, with a better leader.
The colour of his skin has nothing to do with his ability to solve problems and LEAD a country.
Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, about whom Mmusi is uninformed, is abused for some ‘Boere bashing’ to gain cheap popularity, in stead of creating any original ideas to solve the problems of SA.
Again, indicative of his lack of discretion and again destined to FAIL!
Just another boring ‘flat tyre’
… nothing more!
Wow.
Did I say lead? Are you saying he’s a bad person? (because I don’t agree)
Every honest person of every race that joins the DA is a win for our country and all our people, and Musi would certainly contribute more than you for example.
On what basis can you say that Maimane is misinformed about Verwoed’s racist doctrine on education??? He’s absolutely spot on; the ANC has achieved Verwoed’s objectives
Verwoerd was definitely the architect of apartheid. You’re not denying that, are you?
He was, yes. But the anc is perpetuating his ‘legacy’ by being hard-arced about what is required of and for quality education and not acknowledging that they have made zero progress over the last 30 years to address the situation. And then they blame Verwoerd for where we are today?!?
Is this for real?! Or an interpretation
Utterly utterly despicable! How can these people justify their betrayal of the black child?! Is this another box ticking exercise so they can congratulate themselves whilst relegating our children to obscurity?
How can these so-called leaders have such little expectations of their own people? Black kids have proven that they are capable. They’ve far surpassed this 30% line and produced university level matric results in droves, township and rural schools. The only thing that’s lacking are opportunities for better education and jobs. Education must be aligned with the labour market. That’s what the ANC or next government should be focusing on. Not how to further incapacitate our children!’
apprenticeships are better alternatives, of course that needs an active industry which the ANC has failed to promote. So more and more immigrants will be needed to take positions in SA whilst we have an inexplicably high and shameful youth unemployment rate!
Keeping them dumb keeps their votes
Rather a garbled response. Wondering whether you are another bot from Putin’s Russia with confusing snippets of populism just sewing general dissension.
Mmusi Maimane means well but he misses the critical factor that causes African learners to under achieve.
Mother tongue education!
Chinese-, Japanese-, German-, French-, Russian etc children learn in the language of their mothers … which they start to ‘absorb’ while in the mothers womb!
But not the African child!
The African child is forced to learn in a foreign language!
Why on earth is the African child the only one who is forced to learn in another language than the language he heard while in his mother’s womb?
The mother’s language, which the child picks up from before birth untill age 5, provides the foundation of all concepts and thinking skills for the rest of the child’s cognitive development.
Simplified it means young
humans THINK in mother tongue!
For that reason formal learning must complement the established concepts and ideas of the toddler and develop it untill the age of 26 when brain growth is completed.
Similar to a pyramid with a wide base on which can be built much higher than a pyramid with a narrow base, similarly solid early brain development determines the ultimate potential of brain development as adults.
From the Bible we learn that a house built on sand will crash in the first storm, but a house built on ROCK will be strong and survive the storms.
Mother tongue is the ROCK upon which all future THINKING SKILLS will be built.
Humans must first learn to THINK and afterwards learn to share what they THINK in a language. Always mother tongue FIRST, to develop thinking skills and later add other languages.
IMPORTANT! The golden years of human brain development is from before birth untill age 5. When the golden years have expired, the human brain can never again absorb the miraculously high volumes of knowledge.
To force a budding young ‘genius’, after the age of five years, to learn in a foreign language is wrong and extremely CRUEL!
The poor child will NEVER catch up with the peers who continue learning in their mother tongue!
Imagine how frustrated and humiliated an African child must feel when he is forced to appear to be stupid because the regime decided to allow ‘English only’ education.
When a person’s THINKING SKILLS are well developed, he /she will be listened to in all the languages of the planet!
But if you can’t think properly first, not even fluent Oxford Enlish will make people listen to what you say.
South Africa is now a failed state because of the denial of mother tongue education … because the leaders can’t THINK properly to solve the problems because they didn’t know …
Even parrots can ‘speak English’ without understanding what they say.
Mmusi Maimane means well but he misses the powerful ‘secret weapon’ of mother tongue education.
If I could upvote you I would have. Never a truer word spoken about teaching children in their mother tongue.
Agree 100%!
The countries you used are nation states meaning they all speak one language and or have the same ethnic identity and had standardised their written language and had spread literacy before we were even colonised. If students pass every subject except maths and physics then the English language is not the problem.
We also live in a globalized world with exchange of ideas, goods and services so ditching English is a no-no, however mother toungue education should be used while transitioning to English as there many education issues in RSA but language is at the bottom
If, as you say, “The mother’s language, which the child picks up from before birth until age 5, provides the foundation of all concepts and thinking skills for the rest of the child’s cognitive development” why not focus on “The mother’s language”? Considering the spread and acceptance of English world-wide – not to mention its status as the language of government and business in SA, how beneficial for SA it would be if it had come about that English had become the principal “home language” country-wide and that clildren had been absorbing it even before birth and continuing to learn in that environment during the critical yaers of early brain development?
Emile
Millions more people in the world understands Mandarin than English.
The first priority of human development must be THINKING SKILLS, for which the ‘golden years’ before age 5 is critical.
Learn to THINK first before you SPEAK, in any language!
In Japan and Germany, the 2nd and 3rd biggest economies in the world, with advanced science and technology, they DON’T teach their young in English medium. The people there don’t speak English, I was there … they translate GOOD information from ANY LANGUAGE into their home language.
No self respecting Chinese or Russian leader will speak any other language in public than his /her home language … because important people’s words get translated.
It’s WHAT you THINK, your ideas, that are important and not the medium (language) in which you convey your thoughts.
See language as the train that conveys valuable goods (ideas) from one location (brain) to another.
Without a valuable load of goods (ideas) an ’empty train’ is ‘useless’, even if it is Oxford English.
In SA the critical problem with the education system is a lack of the development of THINKING SKILLS … due to the forced transition from mother tongue to a foreign language.
The transition slows down the toddler’s cognitive development and consequently creates other mental and social problems.
When the foundation phase, of THINKING SKILLS, is well established in mother tongue, the ‘bright and confident’ child will explore the ‘world’ and pick up other languages, including English.
This discussion is about optimal development of THINKING SKILLS … best practice, applicable and practised globally.
But NOT in Black South Africa.
So you argue that German and Japanese kids should also learn all their subjects in English at at school because English is so prevalent. Funny how those Germans and Japanese manage and flourish in the world economy despite being schooled in their mother’s tongue?
The policy of the government (per an article written by staff members of the University of Johannesburg) is that Mother tongue is already used in the formative and early years of school. (Google the article by Mongake and Uleanya entitled: “Opinion: Promote mother tongue learning from the home”)
I can only presume that this is the case in the more rural areas because if we look at schools in the bigger cities, it appears that learning is done in English from Grade 1. However, it is understandable that mother tongue would be very difficult to implement everywhere as it would not be right to divide schools on racial lines.
So the use of mother tongue is very difficult to implement all over the country. Where I do agree with you is that the most important requirement for the success of a child in academic learning is that they are reached with appropriate teaching and learning materials at the ECD level – ie before school starts. You cannot expect a child to perform well at school if they have not received adequate learning from pre-primary phase. And this is where the government is failing.
I’m not negating the benefits of mother tongue, but my English speaking siblings spent the first half of their schooling in South America in Spanish schools and the second half in English schools in South Africa. Of course it is difficult to know whether they could have done better, but they both passed their English matrics with solid results.
Also, unfortunately we are no longer a country in isolation. We deal with the world and we compete with the world. It is a simple fact that many modern concepts are optimally engaged with in English and the global knowledge base our children need to be comfortable with in the 21st century is English. And against this backdrop English without doubt opens more doors for our people and our country than the domestic languages would.
…. THINKING SKILLS first … the entire world knows that!
Mother tongue education produce the BEST RESULTS globally
… since the dawn of humanity.
I didn’t mention English …. because it will only distract …
Sorry I have no idea what point you are making.
Well, I beg to differ: my wife came from afrikaans parents and could hardly speak 2 words of english before going to school. However, her mother decided that all the kids in the family should go to english schools (a lot of this happens today to both black and white kids). She not only learnt to speak english well but excelled at school coming first in almost all grades and standards in her school career. She now holds a dgree in english but can still speak, read and write afrikaans. My point is that kids at a young enough age will easily learn to speak any language and besides that almost all textbooks, at a higher level and information on the internet are in English. Sorry about the mother tongue story but kids are probably better off, in the long term, being taught in english.
I suspect that there is a conflation happening here. Agreed, critical thinking skills are required. Agreed, they need to be learned. I don’t, however, agree that critical thinking skills must be taught in the mother-tongue.
I was bilingual most of my life, and now I am trilingual after some adult learning. When I speak frequently in another language, my thinking switches to that language. There is nothing “lost in translation” because there is no translation.
My best friend grew up in a non-English household but was educated in English. His thinking skills are excellent, and they don’t *diminish* when he visits his parents and speaks his mother-tongue.
It seems that many “ideas/concepts” are visual, rather than linguistic. Furthermore, mathematics is an example of a logical abstract language that can be learnt adjunct to natural languages, and will improve thinking, but is not easily or practically taught in non-mathematical language.
All that said, while it _seems_ probable that learning cognitive skills will improve when done in the mother-tongue, it probably won’t.
This is a spectacle to get some pre-electlon publicity. One of the aims of the GEC is to persuade learners to remain in the education system. This is being done by providing more options instead of a purely academic stream.
This guy has misrepresented the GEC which is being piloted.
I think I agree that a “Junior Certificate” is exactly what our economy, people and growth requires.
In Germany, a large proportion leave school in grade 10 and go into apprenticeship training in businesses and trades for three years. These are the bricklayers, wood workers, hairdressers, plumbers and shop assistants, bakers, social workers and foresters, etc.
This entire cohort basically underpins their entire successful economy.
Those that show real interest and aptitude can go on further studies at “people’s high schools” (sort of evening schools) and improve their qualifications in their field and improve their knowledge and job prospects. Some can after 5 years employment enter a Meister (master) course and become eligible to open their own businesses. Some could even enroll at a university, say for electrical engineering.
This is something we should focus on to emulate – and this is a good first step.
Not a useless matric certificate that promises so much but simply is a mirage.
This coming from the author who is where is he as a result of alleged racism. Makes one think.
The current regime created the status quo in education effectively compromising, limiting and victimising the average learner is South Africa with an education system which produces unemployable school leavers and condemns them to a life of poverty, misery and economic decline.
It does however create under educated and gullible masses who continue to vote for a system that guarantees its continued existence.
A good education system is a prerequisite for future success and the way out of the hole we find ourselves in. The incumbents have had 30 years to reverse the effects of Bantu education but have failed the nation and set us back for at least another generation. One only has to think of the imbecilic Professor Benguela and the disaster that was Outcomes Based Education to understand why we are where we are today. These and the total ineptitude of the ruling party to get anything right. So sad. So stupid.
The first thing that needs to be done is encourage more school leavers to get into a teaching career, open up all the old training colleges in my view had a better teaching environment than a university which these days is so political. Teachers need to be able to teach in the mother tongue but having 11 official languages in one country has always been ludicrous and make sure that they are taught an international language as well should they wish to travel or live overseas, not good going to say the USA and speak Zulu only and not understand English at all. Our education system is a farce its been so destroyed in the past 30 years.
Why have education when appointments are not based on merit?
What incentive is there for a South African child to study hard and gain knowledge when places at university, jobs, appointments, business contracts, tenders etc. are not awarded on merit but on other criteria?
Having seen firsthand how inadequately a Foundation Phase teacher is trained by UNISA, and how poorly university trained teachers cope as new teachers in the classroom, I highly recommend that training colleges be reopened. The training colleges used to train teachers in the nitty gritty of how to teach the 3Rs: reading, writing and maths. Universities seem to assume that everyone knows this automatically, which they do not. Doing assignments as a student teacher does not teach them basic skills they will need in a Foundation Phase classroom.
Agree!
And mother tongue education as long as possible!
Like the Chinese, Japanese, Germans etc.
Which is why many countries no longer recognize UNISA educational degrees and diplomas
Oh get over it Mmusi.
The ANC had 30 years to change things but they stole all the money.
Stop blaming Verwoerd and apartheid. That is just weak and lazy.
Reading with comprehension is vital. He didn’t blame Verwoerd. He says that the ANC is emulating Verwoerd and there’s no difference between his system and that of the ANC. He never said it’s because of Verwoerd that our children are failing?
You prove Maimane’s point about the dangers of sub-par education by reading without comprehension.
Yes. The best arguments are when the uninformed, through their ignorance, prove your point.
Angie Motshekga and her team needs to voetsek ASAP
I often wonder how many learners with special educational needs are ‘forced’ into schools that are not equipped to help them. In the name of ‘inclusivity’. Are they then not excluded from ‘equal’ opportunities ? Opportunities to help them to develop into the best they can be ? Rather than prematurely leaving the educational system because they cannot keep up with their peers and become ‘problem’ children, shouldn’t they be offered other opportunities to learn and contribute to society? How many of our social ills have as root cause the failure to address this issue adequately ? Also, what is low IQ an indicator of ? What is the average IQ in South Africa ? How do we compare with other countries ? Is it possible (and realistic to think it is possible) “to equip every South African with the skills to earn well, realise their potential, and compete in the digital economy” ? One size doesn’t fit all.
I agree!
No two people are the same.
There’s no such thing as ‘equality’ in the real world and the education system must be adapted to make provision for the needs and abilities of all learners.
It’ s time to bring back ‘differentiation’ in education.
That’s the opposite of the current ‘one size fits all’ education that the ANC enforce.
It takes ALL kinds of people to make the world go ’round …
Learners differ in their academic aptitude … and they need a differentiated education system to optimize the development of their potential.
There is a global shortage of artisans, plumbers, truck drivers, builders, welders, fitters $ turners, hairdressers, beauticians, cleaners, etc. The ANC only corrected their mistake in removing this from the curriculum 20 years ago. The world we live in needs hands to build the buildings, houses, roads and railways. AI and robotics still have a long way to go as Elon Musk is starting to realise.
Judging by some of the comments it would appear that a number of readers of Mmusi’s article are able to read, but are unable to comprehend what he is trying to say, this being is one of the flaws in the current system.
For you and your friend Mosie Maimane’s information; The newly introduced General Education and Training Certificate (GETC) is equal to the Junior Certificate that all learners were issued with ‘automatically’ in the ‘old’ South Africa to further their studies at vocational institutions for a career as a craftsman, should they wish to do so. These craftsmen became highly trained and successful builders and business owners to help build a strong, prosperous and vibrant ‘old’ South Africa of which the quality of their craftsmanship is still evident today. Seems the education system of the ‘new’ South Africa is finally catching up with the highly successful system of the ‘old’ South Africa. Now they just need to higher the 30% pass mark and 50% for distinctions, for scholars, graduates, doctors and other degrees. If you change the way you look, read in your case, at things, the things you look at, read in your case, change. Try it, it works
DM should really screen the articles before publishing negative useless information like this.
In the ‘old’ South Africa, passing Grade 9 entitled the learner to a Junior Certificate (which still proudly hangs on the wall in my study today) even if you did not plan to leave school. This certificate was compulsory for entry to vocational training to follow a career in craftsmanship to become a skilled artisan in carpentry, printing, welding, tool and dye making, boiler making, panel beating, shipbuilding, to name but a few. All this thanks to the so-called ‘Bantu Education’ or Verwoerd as per this article.
Unfortunately all this was lost when the country changed to a ‘new’ South Africa.
True words
I thought it was STD 8. Many youngsters left for Commercial or Technical schools . These young men who went into apprenticeship are killing it today. Sadly the ANC shut all that down. For black and white alike. The entire country is suffering from that short sighted baffling decision today.
Correct. My apology.
“Dropping the 30% pass mark”? And replacing it with what? How on earth could 30% be considered a pass in anyone’s world? All that did was to make poorly performing teachers and schools look better on paper.
Exactly, all the ANC have done since taking over is to manipulate the education system so that they could claim progress according to their deceptive statistics. Hence we have higher pass rates by reducing the pass marks and now we will have lower drop out rates by granting a large portion of school drop outs with a school leaving certificate. All of these cosmetic adjustments while independent international tests prove that our children in public schools have the lowest level of education in the whole of Africa.
This article makes almost no reference to what the drafted GEC papers (now already a few years old) actually say and no reference at all to what is currently being piloted. Just google; there are many recent articles about the GEC, and lots of information on the pilots are available on the DBE’s website and elsewhere.
Everything the DBE publicly says about the GEC and those involved in the pilots is about improving school assessments and learning outcomes, NOT as an exit certificate. The GEC needs to resolve long-standing issues regarding transitions to TVETs, etc. However, the initial misconception that it’s intended as an exit certificate has long been publically resolved.
All learners and the adults supporting them need better and earlier access to good information to make subject choices, and the system needs better data to get targeted support for schools and individuals when they need it, which is long before they get to matric. Maybe Mmusi is just ill-informed or jumping to some politically convenient conclusions. Still, it is irresponsible for someone with a respected voice to share such a thin and inflammatory article about such a vital topic. I agree with him on one thing: there is nothing we can do that is more important for the future of South Africa than make sure that all learners get what they need to thrive in school and after…
South Africa has an IQ problem. A very prickly problem to solve.
Agreed; silk purses are generally not started from a pig’s ear.
Job opportunities in southern africa, are most numerous in the basic trades, or to put it another way, if southern africa is going to escape the grips of the debt trap, then job opportunities for the mass of peoples are going to come in the unskilled labour fields.
Education should recognise this reality and best serves the people when they best prepare and enable them according to these realities.
Of course we would all wish them to be brain surgeons, but we are a long way down the development curve, and the only way out for us will be by recognising for, and planning for, this reality.
I understand that many other countries have a similar exit certificate, as stated in many of the comments.
These countries have mechanisms and structures in place where the learner can then pursue trade skills and are then employable based on the job criteria/regulations layed out in these countries.
The difference is that the SA government has not actually clarified as to what these exit learners can actually do with these certificates.
I’m not understanding their logic.