DA welcomes long overdue end of Outcomes Basic Education
The announcement this afternoon by the minister of basic education Angie Motshekga that the outcomes based education (OBE) method of teaching has been brought to an end is long overdue and most welcome.
Minister Motshekga admitted that the OBE method has been a failure. This is something that the DA has maintained for the last decade, and it is most heartening to hear that the ANC government has at last pulled its head out of the sand.
This was one of the ANC's ‘grand plans', which it implemented despite all good advice, and the mountain of evidence that it was not going to work. Many billions of rands have been spent on it, and the victims have been the children who have had to endure a cumbersome and complicated curriculum with no obvious benefits. OBE has also placed untenable burdens on many South African teachers, and its effects have been disproportionately harsh for South Africa's poorest schools. In fact, the effects of OBE on well resourced schools have in many cases been relatively muted; on the other hand, it has been a disaster in schools catering for the poorest of the poor.
For these reasons, we very much welcome the honesty that has gone along with this admission, and we hope that whatever replaces this curriculum will be well thought through, will follow on from a genuine consultative process, and will be based on proper research and curriculum development.
This is a most historic and important announcement for basic education in this country. Education remains at the heart of the developmental challenges facing South Africa today. This announcement paves the way for the development of a new approach that will ensure that our children receive the world class education they deserve, so that we can at last begin to meet poverty head on, and properly prepare our young people for the future. The DA throws its full weight behind this announcement, and we look forward to playing a role in the development of a new approach to basic education.
Statement issued by Junita Kloppers Lourens, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of basic education, November 5 2009
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