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Unveiling Our Master Strategic Plan to Our Stakeholders
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE STAKEHOLDERS' FORUM AT THE ICC IN
DURBAN ON 17 JULY 2003, BY PROF CRM DLAMINI SC, CEO KZN DEC
Programme Director, the Honourable Premier Dr L.P.H.M.
Mtshali, the Honourable Minister of Education and Culture Mr N. Singh,
honourable members of Parliament, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee,
the Chairperson of Provincial Education Council, distinguished guests,
colleagues in the Department of Education, ladies and gentlemen. It
is a singular honour for me to unveil our Master strategic Plan to our
stakeholders.
The Department of Education is the biggest
department in the province. It is the biggest department of education in the
country and the second or third biggest department in the country. It has a
staff of about eighty four thousand, seventy-four thousand of which are
educators and ten thousand of which are public servants. We have about 2.7
million learners and six thousand schools. You will agree with me that this is a
massive department. We are not only dealing with education but also arts,
culture sports and recreation. The challenges which the department faces are as
many as varied as the people within it. There are both intractable and practical
problems. The problems and challenges range from the threat of HIV/AIDS,
inadequate infrastructure and massive poverty and deprivation.
The management and leadership of the Department is taking its
job of leading and managing this department quite seriously. This is evidenced
by the Master Strategic Plan which the Department has adopted. With this the
Department is addressing its problems and challenges. In terms of this strategic
plan we have a vision, a mission statement and strategic goals. This
demonstrates that we know where the Department is going and how to get there.
Our vision is that we would like to be the leading department
of education in the country in terms of the provision of quality education and
excellent service delivery. Our mission is the provision of high quality
education which should ensure that the learners we develop make a difference
wherever they are. They may proceed to higher education or to the work situation
or even if they do not obtain employment.
When we say that we want to be the leading department of
education in the country we are not comparing ourselves or competing with any
other department in the province or in the country. We are competing with
ourselves. We are setting a standard for our own performance. We want to do our
best and nothing less.
When we say we want to develop learners who will make a
difference wherever they are, we mean that we want to produce learners who are
knowledgeable, who are confident who communicate clearly and effectively, who
are articulate, who are competent and are equipped with the necessary skills and
who think clearly, critically, creatively and independently. We want to produce
learners who also have ubuntu and who are well-rounded citizens.
The key factors in the success of the Department therefore
are the pursuit of academic and service excellence. We have asked ourselves the
question whether the biggest can also be the best. The answer is yes. This
depends not only on the vision and mission we have but also on the strategic
goals we have and how effectively we implement them. Our strategic goals are:
- the provision of high quality, relevant education to
all our learners, regardless of age, which will equip them with knowledge,
skills, values and attitudes to meet the challenges of the future;
- the transformation of the Department into a high
performance organisation focused on results and the quality of its service
delivery;
- the transformation of schools into self-reliant
and effective learning institutions, which are also vibrant centres of
community life;
- the development of the professional quality of
our teaching force and the promotion of effective leadership, governance
and management at all levels with special reference to designated
groups;
- the provision and utilisation of resources to
achieve redress and equity and to eliminate conditions of physical
degradation in institutions;
- dealing urgently and purposefully with the
HIV/AIDS pandemic and other health and social hazards;
- the promotion of participation and development
in sport and recreation in the province, and
- the provision of a support service to promote
arts, culture, archives, libraries and museums in the province.
We take these strategic goals seriously. We want to
effectively implement them. Our strategic plan should not be a paper tiger. The
strategic goals determine whether and how we reach our destination. We can
either, crawl, walk, run, cycle, drive or fly to our destination. We do not have
the luxury to crawl or walk. We literally have to fly to our destination. Not
only do we have these strategic goals but we also have developed operational
plans for the implementation thereof. We have also sought to align them with
provincial priorities.
Apart from developing operational plans for the
implementation of our strategic goals, we have also attempted to clarify what
our vision entails. We have also made efforts to demystify our mission statement
and to ensure that it is cascaded down to the lowest levels.
In addition to this I have emphasised the importance of
effective and efficient management at all levels. I have said there must be
effective management at provincial regional district, circuit and school levels.
There must also be effective communication and coordination of the activities of
these levels.
At school level in particular the principal and her team
plays a pivotal role. She must lead by example and must provide principled
leadership for her management team and the school as a whole. She must work well
with the governing body. There is no doubt that the success of the school,
including the results it produces, depends on the leadership and management
style of the principal.
We have devised a School Development Plan to ensure that
schools are effectively managed with minimal external intervention. We also are
developing schools to be vibrant centres of community life, in addition to being
centres of excellence so that they can produce the kind of results and
ultimately the kind of learners we want. There must be an atmosphere that is
conducive to teaching and learning.
We have devised teacher development programmes which are
aimed at ensuring that the teachers we have will be able to stimulate and
maintain the desire to learn on the part of the learners, and will serve as a
role model for the learners. We want teachers who teach and teach effectively.
We want teachers who teach as if their lives hang in the balance. They must
teach, guide, and inspire assist the learners to develop to adulthood.
We would like to make the principal accountable for what is
happening in her school. She must not only set the tone of the school, but she
must also take responsibility for the results of the school. She will no doubt
be assisted by the SEMs and SMT.
We have also strengthened our management in line with our
Master Strategic Plan. We have been going through a restructuring process the
purpose of which was to provide the ideal structure to drive the strategic plan.
We are in the process of finalising that. Once that has been finalised we
believe we shall be in a position to bring about a turnaround to the Department
and discard the negative image that it has had.
In order to further strengthen our management we appointed
various members of the executive and senior management. These are the people
with the necessary experience and expertise. The executive management holds
weekly meetings to address pertinent issues relating to the management of the
Department. There are monthly meetings of our senior management. In these
meetings we address a lot of policy issues including the effective
implementation and monitoring of our strategic plan. There is no doubt that
these steps are contributing to making our Department a high- performance
organization focused on results and excellent service deliver. We are determined
to improve our results. We also subscribe to the Batho Pele principles. The
critical factor is the satisfaction of our clients.
Not only are we determined to improve the performance of the
Department, but we are also grappling with the major challenges. The major
challenges are, inter alia, the improvement of our infrastructure so that
learners can learn under conditions which accord with their human dignity. We
also fighting against the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. This is posing a serious threat
to all our efforts. It is treating to decimate our teaching force and is
ravaging our youth. It is producing orphans and imposes onerous burdens on those
orphans. The recent signing of service level agreement with Ithala Finance.
Development Corporation will no doubt significantly expedite the provision of
decent classrooms for our learners so that no learners learn sitting under
trees.
We are not just concerned with the provision of high quality
education and excellent service delivery, but we also promote the arts and
culture, sports and recreation. We do not want these to have a Cinderella
existence within the Department but to be part and parcel of it. After all the
saying still holds that mens sana in corpore sano, a clean mind in a
clean body. Culture is also closely related to education. We also need to
emphasise the importance of adopting a holistic approach to the education of the
learner.
The drive and the passion we have for the implementation of
our strategic plan demonstrates that we take the education of our learners
seriously. We appreciate the influence education has on the character formation
of our learners. That is why we regard ourselves as both the key and foundation
department. We hold the key to the future of our learners. With this key they
will unlock doors of opportunity. They will also unlock their potential and
therefore realise their dreams. We provide a strong foundation upon which they
can build their future careers and their lives.
Owing to the importance of education, we believe that all the stakeholders
should join hands in its provision. Although the provision of education is not a
business, we are prepared to do it
business like, for we mean business with the education of our youth and
understanding so that if can be adequately prepared for the future challenges in
this third millennium. In this we need the support and understanding of all our
stakeholders.
I thank you.
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