ITWeb TV: Basic education minister talks tech overhaul in schools

Instead of a teacher or principal connecting to the internet via a dongle or hot-spotting with a mobile phone, South African schools must become hubs of ubiquitous connectivity, serving educational needs as well as surrounding communities.

However, achieving this is no small feat, as issues of infrastructure, unreliable electricity and vandalism persist, undermining some of the efforts.

This is according to basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube, in an interview with ITWeb TV, where she detailed her experience and observations in the South African education system.

Gwarube was appointed minister of basic education nearly a year ago, as part of the Government of National Unity. Her department, the Department of Basic Education (DBE), is charged with the country’s basic education, overseeing 24 000 schools.

What she’s observed so far, she said, is that the department is not where it should be or would like to be when it comes to providing connectivity in schools. Further challenges include access to devices, teaching aids as well as training of teachers.

“What I found is that where we’ve even had donations, for instance, companies love to say we’ll donate 35 iPads. It falls flat if, for instance, the teacher can’t utilise those tools to be able to show children how best to utilise them, so they gather dust.

“If you are talking about bridging the digital divide, it’s not just about taking your learners with you, it’s also about taking your teachers along with you, because once a teacher is left behind, I can guarantee you that no technology will be used, and the old ways and techniques of teaching will continue.”

The minister revealed there are concerted efforts between her department, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, and telecoms companies to up connectivity in schools. Ultimately, the idea is for connected schools to also be a community resource.

“You want there to be connectivity in and around the school. Members of the community can be able to connect while walking in and around the school, because ultimately schools are community assets,” she stated. “The idea…is it’s not a teacher just hot-spotting herself in the staff room and trying to send a report. We need to transform schools into spaces that are community assets.”

Such transformation efforts are already happening in places like the Northern Cape, she pointed out, saying a school in that province has opened up its science lab to members of the community, allowing them to come in and draft CVs, apply for jobs, etc.

“We need to stop thinking in a very myopic way about how the community must interface with government. As a member of the public, you need to be able to access government services as easily as possible. We have to be better, I think, as government, in terms of being a better service provider.

“I really want South Africans to start looking at schools differently, looking at them as assets and as theirs, a place that belongs to them and their children. Once we have that mindset shift, then we can protect our schools because of the community members themselves.”

South Africa’s maths and physical science matric pass rate hasn’t been inspiring over the last couple of years.

The National Senior Certificate examination results showed the class of 2024 achieved the highest matric pass rate in the history of South Africa, at 87.3%.

However, the two subjects considered to be the key building blocks for entry into the ICT sector − maths and science – delivered a mixed bag of results. In 2024, 69.1% of learners passed maths − an increase from 63.5% in 2023, while 75.6% of learners passed science − a decrease from 76.2% in 2023.

The minister expressed concerns over the decreasing student participation in maths and science, saying she believes things could be a lot better.

To fix the maths and science challenge, the minister is of the view that this requires getting the foundations of learning right, so that by the time learners get to grades 10, 11 and 12, they’re far more confident.

“We are finding that a lot of learners will take maths and science up until grade 10, and then they’ll start to drop off because of fear of failure.

“There isn’t a silver bullet fix to this. We must make sure we strengthen the foundations of learning. This means taking the education system as we know it and the importance of matric as we’ve always known it and basically turning the system upside down – and say the most important here is the foundation of learning.

“We have to, firstly, get the foundations of learning from zero to four right. Then we have to get the foundations of learning in grade R all the way to grade three correct. We have to make sure we’ve got teachers that are well trained, we’ve got the right learning and teaching material, and that we are prioritising funding in that space.

“Once children can read and write for meaning, then they are able to take up complicated subjects. So, they are far more confident by grade six, by grade seven, by grade 10, and a lot more confident because they are not cognitively behind.”

Turning to her department’s efforts to introduce coding and robotics across SA’s schools, the minister said many schools have rolled it out.

“The difficulty that we have at the moment is that it takes a massive financial investment, not only with the material, but also with the equipment and making sure teachers across the board are trained,” she explained.

“As things stand, the pilot was a success. There’s clearly a need for coding and robotics in South Africa, and there are some schools that have taken on the subject as part of the curriculum. My only worry about it is that we are not at a place where, as a country, we can roll it out universally.”

To address SA’s critical skills gap, government, including the DBE, has made concerted efforts to increase skills development and competencies to prepare learners for the fourth industrial revolution.

In March 2019, the DBE announced it is planning a pilot for a coding and robotics curriculum for grades R to nine. At the time, the department’s officials revealed it would be done over a few years, piloting it in some of the country’s provinces.

The DBE viewed the coding and robotics pilot as a means to develop learners’ ability to solve problems, think critically, work collaboratively and creatively, function in a digital and information-driven world, apply digital and ICT skills, and transfer these skills to solve everyday problems.