FUTURE SMART SCHOOLS, FUTURE SMART LEARNERS
The MEC for Education in the Northern Cape, Mr. Mac Jack officiated the handing over of Edukite hardware and software to 400 educators in the Province. In response to the Premier’s vision for the Northern Cape the Department has procured Edukite hard and software for Mathematics and Physical Sciences for Grade 12 and Natural Science for Grade 9 to enrich and vary the understanding and expression of subject content. The provision and utilisation of this Edukite ICT resource will provide an invaluable platform for educators to strengthen content knowledge and classroom pedagogy and, ultimately, stimulate and enhance learners’ grasp of especially abstract and problematic content.
Each of the identified educators received a laptop loaded with digital CAPS-aligned curriculum content in the form of Multimedia 2D and 3D animations, interactive simulations, virtual experiments, assessments, opportunities for prior learning and consolidation of the relevant subject.
MEC Mac Jack said:” I am pleased to officiate this auspicious occasion where we will equip educators with 21st century technology as we prepare learners for the 4th industrial revolution.
This revolution brings with it exciting possibilities, new solutions to global challenges, and employment opportunities for jobs that have yet to be invented. For decades many people imagined that teaching as delivery, in the form of instruction, would mean that human teachers could eventually be replaced by computers. But this has misunderstood the nature of teaching and learning which is a uniquely personal and social activity between people that caters to every learners changing needs, unique talents, passions, and interests. In fact the very things that set them aside from the machines that are now emerging as part of this next industrial revolution.
The reality is that the jobs of the future will be the ones that machines can’t do and it’s fair to say anything that can be measured or is based on rules will be automated. This is great news because it means we can automate the work and humanise the jobs”.
Therefore, the prioritization of quality education is to ensure that the province remains “at the cutting-edge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The department deemed the investment in an off-line resource prudent to negate the lack of connectivity. The investment in the off-line Edukite resources was first introduced in 2016 where approximately 750 educators received hard- and soft-ware packages. A number of teachers also received data projectors to enable the utilisation of the resource.
With the introduction of Edukite resources in Life Sciences in 2016, the National Senior Certificate (NSC) performance in this subject improved from position 9 to position 6 in the country. The subject pass rate also improved with a significant 11%. Performance in Geography also improved in 2017, taking the province to number 3 in the country with a pass rate of 85.9%.
We are excited as a Department about the new era which brought about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which involves technology to enhance the classroom experience for both learners and education.
As we approach the 4th industrial revolution, it is my plea that educators accept and embrace the change that we as a Department will be embarking on to prepare our learners and improve our learner outcomes across all Grades.
End.