President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is a silent revolution taking place in South Africa’s education sector.
He was delivering the keynote address at the annual Education Lekgotla taking place in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa says he’s particularly pleased with this year’s matric results which show that poorer schools are gaining ground on their more affluent counterparts as a result of government’s spending on education.
“Since Bantu education, which did one of the most terrible damages to our nation’s education, we have been improving in poorer schools and the results are becoming more and more positive. Almost becoming equal to the higher better-endowed schools, this is the silent revolution that we have always wanted to achieve,” adds the President.
Ramaphosa says the greater the scope of basic education streams, the better the learners’ prospects of securing employment after school.
The President adds that there is a need to develop skills for a modern and dynamic workforce.
“These subjects include Agriculture, Maritime and Nautical Science, Electrical, Civil and Mechanical technologies amongst others, are the types of subjects we want to see spreading in many of our schools. They are the vocations our economy sorely needs. They are the kind of vocations that we need to promote and develop if we are … to address the scourge of unemployment in our country,” adds the President.
Live stream of the President’s address: