Address of the ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, At the JB Marks Education Trust, National Union of Mineworkers, NUM, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg August 32010

EDUCATION ISA TOOL TO FIGHT P0 VER TY

"Education will be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children. Higher education and technical training shall be opened by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on basis of merit"

(Freedom Charter, clause 8, 1955)

Gathered together on that chilly morning in the Congress of the People, our forebears appreciated that any child that has an opportunity to complete the first twelve years of learning will acquire the key to opportunities. Among such opportunities being an individual's easy entry to the labour market and readiness for higher education.

The ANC remains committed to a free and compulsory education for all. That today 68% of our schools are no-fee schools marks the progress made towards this noble objective. Underlying our objective is that the economic status of a particular household should not be the determining factor for the development of its child to full potential. Access to basic skills breaks the backbone of poverty at household level.

When we were preparing for the 2009 National and Provincial general elections our research highlighted unemployment, deepening poverty and growing inequality as the major ills facing society. We then identified priorities that would help tackle these pre-eminent problems facing our society.

In this context, education emerged as one of the ANC's five priorities over the next five years. Our motivation was that education is not only a means to promoting good citizenship, but it is an empowering tool enabling an individual to break through the barriers of poverty by ensuring their participation in broader economic activity. Consequently, the focus of the ANC government would have to be on ensuring universal access to quality education and the elimination of disparities in the education system. Such a focus is aimed at ensuring that the twelve years of learning should equip the child with basic skills.

The content of the education is as important as access. As a result of the apartheid legacy, whereby the black child was denied education in mathematics and science for fear of raising his/her aspirations, these subjects have now assumed prominence. The absence of engineering faculties in any of the bush (black) universities is party to a racist strategy that today leaves us with a higher education system that will churn out a surplus social scientists in an economy that has a deficit in engineering, built environment and financial management skills.

Rather than this being an argument against social science, it is but an argument for skills needs in the economy. The relative high number of unemployed graduates attests to the mismatch of skills generated by the education system and those needed by the economy. Reality is that for every engineer we need at least four artisans to support him/her.

Further Education and Training colleges, in contrast to ‘universities, have a smaller proportion of students. This reflects the societal attitude of perceiving technical colleges as inferior and meant for dull people. Yet reality points out that artisans never starve, because when unemployed they generate their own work. When a sewer system is blocked an artisan will fix it. In black communities FET colleges are still regarded as inferior. Therefore, our responsibility is to educate our people that this is an alternative system that fill the middle professional and management levels.

Having identified rural development as one of the priorities, agricultural colleges must be re-opened and upgraded. We must generate more extension skills for our emerging farmers and rural communities.

However, these colleges must not only generate extension skills, they must also provide short practical courses that can equip our people with skills to use the land productively, as most of the rural land lies fallow with our people uninterested to produce food - even for own consumption. Our education must reverse the trend of communities seeing social grants as a substitute for productive work.

For someone born and bred in the rural areas, I can attest to how adverse the closure of education and nursing colleges has been on communities where these professions were almost the only ones readily available. Experiential evidence shows that wherever a family had some kids accessing these professions its status would leap forward almost immediately.

The ANC has taken a concrete decision that these colleges must be re-opened as both the nursing and teaching skills are needed more than ever before. There is no society that can solely depend on graduates for the economy to perform optimally. We need skills at all the levels of the operation irrespective of the discipline.

When I was in the NUM I was given the responsibility of chairing the J. B. Marks Education Trust, a bursary scheme for mineworkers and their dependants. The word "mineworkers" is used to cover the scope of the union, that is, mining, electricity and construction. We set ourselves a mission to create opportunities where there is hope.

We committed ourselves to ensuring that a rock-drill operator would give birth to a mining engineer, a loco driver would give birth to a geologist and a general worker in Eskom would give birth to an electrical engineer.

We were driven by the desire to change the fortunes of the families of mineworkers and break the trend of rock-drill operators giving birth to other rock- drill operators. In that way we were breaking the chain of poverty at household level.

When we talk of more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihoods, our focus cannot be on manual labour only. We should also invest in skilling our people so that there can be more innovation in the economy. We must create more mobility for our people in the labour market.

We must build the confidence among people that government does not owe them a living. Every individual must take a bigger responsibility for his/her future. Every individual owes him/herself a sound and decent living.

The government must invest in developing the individuals to full potential wherever and whenever one has the drive and the desire to grow. Learning is lifelong activity and has no age limit.

We must also appreciate that education, on its own, will not resolve the crises of poverty and unemployment. The economic policy is critical for the country to create jobs. The shift in emphasis, where industrial policy is at the centre of our economic programme, is about focusing on the real economy.

The Industrial Policy Action Plan and the Economic Growth Path are serious attempts at implementing this policy. Rural development must ensure that rural towns become economic nodes where there is local money circulation.

If our people in the rural areas can more productive we will go a long way towards better food production and food security. This will compliment the social grants that support many poor households. Fighting poverty and unemployment must be a combination of interventions, among which education is a key.

Issued by the National Union of Mineworkers, August 4 2010

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