Thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning.
Let me begin by conveying the sincere apologies of Eileen Oldwine and Patrick Fine. They boarded a plane this morning at 8:00am to be here but as a result of mechanical failures they were unable to attend, and they are very sorry that they are missings this important launch. In their absence I am happyto speak to you today at the start of a new and promising school year. We are here to launch an activity that can make a tremendous difference for teachers and learners across this beautiful province.
There is a real sense of hope for the future that is being spearheaded by the M.E.C.
Practical tools and support are being put into the hands of teachers and learners to reap the fruit of a high quality education. We at the United States Agency for International Development are privileged for the opportunity to work with you in this noble cause. Perhaps the most important thing I can do today is to thank you, particularly the M.E.C., for your political leadership, and Dr. Jarvis for providing the technical direction that a true partnership requires. Your dedication has combined with the hard work of many educators who panel-beat the original idea of a teacher-driven materials development project into a well-developed plan. The result is the ability to address the needs of teachers and learners in a way that will influence positive achievements. This is the type of effort…the type of partnership that USAID wants to be involved in. Thank you very much. "Siyabonga kakhulu."
My career started in Africa, in Niger, in 1984, as a Peace Corps volunteer TEACHING in a Junior Secondary School. I'll never forget how eager my students were for every tidbit of knowledge they could get.
That first exposure to the fertile minds of children in the formal school environment convinced me of our responsibility as a society to do exactly what Minister Asmal said earlier this week--"getting education right…" In many ways, being here with you today; launching a project to help teachers sharpen their skills and to develop their own instructional materials, reminds me of my first teaching job in Niger.
I understand that the ZIKHULISE project is unique to KwaZulu-Natal. It represents the priorities of the Department of Education; it is the product of your own educators, and it offers an opportunity for USAID to make a strategic investment that will reach over 9,000 educators in 3,500 of the poorest schools. Zikhulise offers the key ingredients for a good development investment: local ownership, addressing felt needs that are based on actual classroom experience, and the promise of a broad-based impact on the educational system. They are what we look for, and what we have repeatedly found, in our partnership with the KZN Department of Education.
The objective of this project is to ensure that children in KwaZulu-Natal schools receive a first-class education. They deserve it and I'm encouraged to see the province's education partners assume the commitment to make sure they get it. A striking feature of Project ZIKHULISE is that it targets schools within the most disadvantaged communities of KwaZulu-Natal. This element of redress will help towards improving access to high quality education and training which is the principal objective of USAID's education program. Equality and equity are vitally important in the transformation of education in South Africa.
Changes taking place in South African education today place an incredibly heavy burden on educators. I know from my own experience as a teacher in a rural African school how difficult it is to use learner-centered, interactive methods in crowded classrooms that lack instructional materials. In fact, South Africa's approach to outcomes based education means that more than ever before, teachers need the tools to teach. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. But this is one of the reasons the Zikhulise project is so attractive. It promises a new approach to engage teachers themselves in the preparation of teacher guides and learner support materials that embrace outcomes-based education concepts. We see this as a powerful approach to sustainable improvements in teaching throughout the province. I might add that other educators in South Africa also see the merit in this approach. Since the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education designed this project, a number of other provincial departments have asked USAID to help start similar projects for their teachers.
Participants in the Izimpande Consortium, with the Media in Education Trust (MIET) as the lead agency, are highly experienced education service providers. We are confident that these partners, together with the Department of Education and Culture, will succeed in improving the chances of KwaZulu-Natal children to learn productively in their classrooms.
USAID is extremely pleased that the Department of Education has seconded Dr. Thandi Guma to serve as project manager for Zikhulise. Dr. Guma was one of the original conceivers and initiators of the project and is an exceptionally talented and hard working professional. Dr. Guma, we look forward in working with you to make this project a success.
M.E.C., the USAID education team travels often from its base in Pretoria to KwaZulu-Natal. In fact, far more often than to some of the other provinces in which we work. Some colleagues probably suspect it is Durban's beaches and the stunning beauty of the province that entice us. While the landscape here is truly wonderful, it is, in fact, our relationship with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education that draws us here. It is one of the most productive development partnerships that USAID has in South Africa--one that produces dynamic results, and one that we are very proud to be a part of.
Thank you.
