African
National Congress Daily News Briefing | 30 april 2001
Jane Furse (Northern Province) 26 April 2001 Sapa - Government plans to use
Cuban teachers was mainly aimed at extending schooling in science and
mathematics, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.
He told pupils of the Phiriagae secondary school near Jane Furse in the
Northern Province he was aware of criticism against the importation of teachers
from Cuba.
Those opposed to the idea argued that locally qualified teachers currently
out of a job should be used instead, Mbeki said.
The true picture was that plans to use Cuban teachers were aimed at
alleviating a serious shortage of science and maths teachers.
"We need science teachers. Our agreement with Cuba is that they will be
prepared to provide such on an urgent basis until we have trained enough of our
own," Mbeki said.
The president visited the school on a three-day tour of the province in an
initiative his office says is to reach out ordinary people.
Phiriagae's pupils were chosen because the matric pass rate at the school
had jumped from 8,3 percent in 1999 to 70 percent last year despite a poor
infrastructure.
The school has 293 children and seven teachers.
Mbeki congratulated the staff and pupils on their performance, saying South
Africa could not be developed with uneducated people.
"We will do what we can to ensure that conditions at the school are
improved," he said.
Earlier in the day, Mbeki visited Malope village to formally launch the
second phase of a project to bring piped water to the community.
In terms of the scheme, taps are being installed every 200 metres in the
village. Residents acquire water by the use of pre-paid metal tokens.
Mbeki proudly drank water from the tap in a mug as the community cheered.
On a visit to an irrigation scheme at Elandskraal in the morning, Mbeki
called for more blacks to become involved in commercial farming.
He said when one flew over the province, it was obvious which houses and
farms belonged to whites and which ones to blacks.
"We have to change that."
The government would help blacks who needed land and assistance to venture
into commercial farming, Mbeki said.
In the afternoon, he visited both the old and new Jane Furse hospitals in
the Sekhukhune district.
Mbeki was to conclude the day's activities by taking part in radio talk show
in Pietersburg. | 