SA requires ambitious education plan!

In her celebrated article in the Asian edition of "Time" magazine titled “School Daze” which focuses on the evolution of the education system in Asia, American journalist Hannah Beech observes that, “the East Asian economic miracle was built on a number of sturdy pillars: hard work, high savings rates and Confucian values—in particular, an almost fanatical belief in the value of education. And for years, Asia could rest easy in the know-ledge that its school systems were producing the best and the brightest.” Without any doubt education has played a big part in the transformation of many Asian economies (Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, among others) from the poor nations they were at the turn of the 20th century to first world economies by the end of that century. From the very onset Asian governments chose the strategy of “producing” skilled scientists through education as a way of growing their economies. The success of this strategic focus on education as a way of developing and growing Asian economies is now a matter for the history books, but what can South Africa learn from this experience? South Africa needs a bold and ambitious education strategy coupled with other strategies, aimed at advancing government’s overall vision of establishing a prosperous nation. I suspect that part of this bold new education strategy would include the identification of the key disciplines necessary to transform our economy, the Asian countries chose to focus on the hard sciences however upon analysis it may emerge that South Africa could well be better suited to focusing on social sciences. Given government’s limited resources, a choice between two (hard versus social sciences) has to be made. A key consideration on the choice between the hard and social sciences is that government would also have to consider the impact on both school level and tertiary level curricula. Funding is also a key consideration in terms of the education strategy chosen, many Asian countries have preferred the option of free education up to tertiary level as this ensured that individuals who excelled at school level could seamlessly progress to tertiary institutions thus guaranteeing a steady supply of qualified graduates into the labour market. For me the choice is a simple one, South Africa’s government must focus on an education system which puts great emphasis on and gives great reward to individuals who excel in the hard sciences. One hopes that these are the kind of issues the National Planning Commission, once established, would grapple with.