Pretoria - Strengthening the quality of education and improving learner performance will be the focus during KwaZulu-Natal's Education Summit, where solutions will hopefully be penned for the challenges facing education in that province.
The summit, which starts on 11 February 2011 at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, aims to find workable steps in the department's quest to provide quality education to all learners.
KwaZulu-Natal accounts for over 20 percent of the country's population and out of 27 000 schools in South Africa, the province has 6 000.
Speaking ahead of the summit, KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Senzo Mchunu noted that although the province has seen a steady increase in the number of matric passes over the past two years, there still was a growing need to improve on other critical issues which play a pivotal role in the delivery of education.
Among the challenges in education include the provision of 21st century teaching and learning, change in the definition a school, being able to do more with fewer resources, the digital divide and the legacy of apartheid.
"These are some of the obstacles that the education system has to contend with. We don't want this summit to be a talk-shop, but engage all our stakeholders in order to find solutions to the complex challenges facing education.
"We want to forge new partnerships and cement already existing partnerships to improve learner performance and come up with a programme of action to improve the prevailing conditions in education," said Mchunu.
KZN Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize will give a keynote address during the opening of the summit. The speakers will include renowned educationist, who is the current President of the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates, Professor Graham Donaldson.
In Limpopo, MEC for Education Namane Dickson Masemola will also hold a provincial summit on 09 February 2011 at the Ranch Hotel in Polokwane.
