Education is a priority for society to embrace

I attended the call to action for retired teachers and principals in Gauteng today. The meeting was called by MEC for Education, Barbara Creasey. The attendance overwhelmed me as I entered the room. I am not sure of the number but it was in the thousands. A room full of people with wisdom, time on their side and wanting to play a positive role in our nation.

The vision is to ensure that every learner does well at school and leaves our institutions with the values, knowledge, skills and qualifications that will give them the best chance of success in life.

At the moment this statement is not been seen as an outcome with the poor Matric results of 2009. Many of the problems are systemic and need intervention much earlier in the system.
After 3 years of formal education the statistics show that only
30% are literate and 40% have a numeracy level that is acceptable.
There will be four targeted interventions.

1. Foundation phase
2. Senior primary
3. Transition from primary to secondary schooling
4. Senior secondary intervention.

There are 276 high schools and 790 primary schools in Gauteng that are under performing.

The pillars of intervention proposed:

Improve teaching and in particular subject knowledge.
Improve resources
Improve learner achievement
Improve curriculum and school management
Standadise testing for grades 3, 6 and 9.
Educate parents and caregivers to assist with homework
Build community partnerships to mobilise resources.

Possible places where retired teachers can help

Teacher substitutes
Saturday schools
Coaching foundation literacy and numeracy programs
Assist in homework network

This is being proposed as a volunteer program with a travel and subsistence allowance.

The process to follow if you are interested:

Register with Gauteng Education Department
These will be screened.
Volunteer placement will be made.

The talk ended with a call for the spirit of volunteerism to become a beacon of hope in the education of our children.