Chairperson, hon Minister of Basic Education, hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, hon Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, hon members, lest I not have the time later I would like to start by thanking the hon Minister for her open and interactive leadership, and acknowledging the steady hand of the director- general, the commitment of the senior management team of Education and the extraordinary and sterling work done by our chief financial officer who has consistently assisted Education in producing excellent results. I wish him well in his future endeavours. May I also thank my office staff.
The hon member from Cope indicated that what was required was cohesive, co- ordinated and passionate change in order to make the difference. Indeed, we agree with her because what we saw when Bafana Bafana played was extraordinary cohesion, co-ordination and passion, and indeed there is a lesson in that for us - that even where there is no hope, we can succeed if we have those elements and ingredients that make up our being as South Africans. [Applause.]
Having said that, I would like therefore to congratulate Bafana Bafana on a game well played and congratulate the Local Organising Committee on its wonderful organisation. You may wonder why I am speaking about this. The 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup brought all the excitement to our country. Parallel to this event, the Department of Basic Education, together with Sport and Recreation SA and the Department of Arts and Culture, in partnership with the Local Organising Committee, have successfully hosted the first phase of My 2010 School Adventure.
The Schools Confederations Cup championship was held from 14 May 2009 to 16 May 2009 at Marks Park, Johannesburg, where all school teams from all provinces of South Africa adopted all the countries that took part in the Confederations Cup. More than 250 000 boy and girl learners participated in this event, representing more than 8 500 schools. It is envisaged that more than 500 000 learners will participate in the next phase of My 2010 School Adventure.
One of the partners of this project, Adidas, sponsored all our qualifying teams with football kits, including soccer boots. Winners were then presented with tickets to the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup matches. We also received excellent support from the embassies and other sponsors, including Fifa.
The education pillar of My 2010 School Adventure was held at Museum Africa in Newtown, Johannesburg, from 19 June 2009 to 20 June 2009. Learners from all the provinces of our country showcased their world-class artworks, poems, essays and traditional dances. Teachers were also part of this project and their portfolios were displayed to show how they had introduced My 2010 School Adventure into their classrooms. As I sat and watched our learners dancing and reciting poems, I felt extremely proud to be South African. I was even more proud to see the Western Cape learners representing Iraq, singing the Iraqi national anthem.
The hon James correctly started his speech with dialectical materialism. The hon Minister of Higher Education and Training has been able to synthesise dialectical materialism with didactic materialism. [Laughter.] I share with him the view that indeed science and technology are critical, and that it is an area of human development and resource that we cannot neglect.
This year, 2009, marks the last year of the second phase - that is, 2005 to 2009 - of the national strategy for mathematics, science and technology education, which we originally launched in 2001. We are therefore pleased to give an account of the progress we have made in this regard on the implementation of the objectives that we set out for ourselves in pursuit of a mathematically and scientifically literate society.
Since the launch of the strategy, we have seen an increase in the level of participation and a systematic improvement in the performance of learners in mathematics and science. The attendance and performance of girl learners have also increased dramatically. Two thousand four hundred mathematics and science teachers in Dinaledi schools have had access to training opportunities to strengthen their subject content knowledge in mathematics and science. Fifteen private-sector companies have adopted 250 Dinaledi schools following our call for a more focused partnership between government and the private sector. Indeed, together we can do more.
We invite other partners to join this important platform of co-operation for the common good of our learners. The advances for education systems in these areas could also be attributed to the dedicated support of the Department of Education, which has provided schools support in order to enhance the teaching of mathematics and science. While we understand that more still needs to be done, the initial teaching resources that we provided contributed to renewed energy for the improvement of the system and towards the achievement of the outcomes that are envisaged.
Amongst the contributions we made, the department also supplied about 250 000 textbooks in English, mathematics, physical science and life orientation; 500 000 copies of Maths 911 for Grades 11 and 12; 235 000 scientific calculators; and 20 000 mathematics and physical science exemplar papers.
In 2005 we told the nation that we would double the number of passes in mathematics. Very few people believed that it was possible. We did this on the basis of dedicating our energies to Grades 10, 11 and 12 in providing the support we had enumerated and in monitoring these schools. [Applause.] Indeed, what we can say today, with great pride, is that we have done more than that. We increased the number of learners who passed with more than 50% in mathematics from 25 000 to 63 000. [Applause.]
So, if we are set on a particular course and a task and we have the passion and co-ordination and management that the hon member spoke about, indeed we can not only achieve our target, but increase it. What is more interesting is that the 500 Dinaledi schools, which make up only 8% of high schools, contributed more than 24% of the passes - total passes - in the country. Now, this is an incredible and remarkable feat, given the fact that Dinaledi schools are historically disadvantaged rural and township schools. That is the reality, and this means that as a nation we can do more provided we have the support.
Given that this year is the last year of our targeted maths, science and technology strategy, we will carry out an evaluation of the programme to establish the total impact of our interventions. This will assist the system to respond more appropriately to areas that will still require dedicated attention in improving the quality of education.
We are pleased to inform the hon members that with regard to the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign, we are offering classes to 620 000 learners, in 11 languages, at 35 000 venues.
I want to conclude by saying that this creates opportunities for more than 40 000 facilitators to bring literacy to our people. I think this is a wonderful effort that we should support. Thank you very much. [Applause.]