'Education is the foundation for this country to move forward. Without education everyone is going to suffer, so I have no alternative, I have got to do this."
The tough-talking MEC for education and training in North West province, Louisa Mabe, is no stranger to controversy for ridding the provincial government of non-performing officials, and she's been applying this vigour to her role in education.
She is an experienced campaigner in the provincial government, having previously performed the role of MEC for finance and a number of brief stints as acting premier. Her track record in the former position should have given education officials in the province cause for caution as she has been relentless in pursuing "clean government".
Her political career was preceded by her years as a teacher and principal who was known for shaking things up to produce results.
"When I go to schools now I don't make appointments, and I don't start at the principal's office. I go to the classrooms to see for myself first before word goes around that the MEC is visiting," she said in an interview.
Since her appointment last year, Mabe has been the forefront of righting the education system. The province has shown steady improvement in grade 12 results since 2009, when a pass mark of 67.5% was achieved, climbing to 79.5% overall last year.
Special emphasis on technical schools
Various programmes which will be rolled out further in the coming financial year have been introduced to bolster schools's mathematics and science capabilities. Mabe says special emphasis will be given to technical schools and additional teaching material will be distributed to students in grades 4 to 12.
"The primary schools can also get exposure to science, because the money is there. Why not use it?" she said.
She ascribed the continuing success of grade 12 results to the action taken by the provincial education department to identify underperforming areas and implement corrective measures.
"One of the things we did was to look at the subjects in which learners performed badly. We prioritised them and gave specific training and support to educators to make sure we would see an improvement," she said. She also personally called the school governing boards and principals of all primary and high schools in the province to lay down the law.
Management at underperforming schools, she told them, were not secure in their positions and would be shifted to make would way for people who were able to do the job.
"We have no choice," said Mabe. "I say that 'the school can't suffer because of your leadership'."
Underperforming schools are those achieving a pass rate of less than 70%. That number has been cut from 115 underperforming schools at the end of 2011 to 45 currently.
Mabe said a specific programme of mentoring and support would be implemented at these 45 schools to address the failings. The schools would then be assessed to monitor performance and those that have received support would face demotion if they have not produced improved results. She said that one principal in Bojanala Disctrict had already been removed from his position after nearly a decade of underperformance.
"I think it sends a message."
Another area of school operations that has come under Mabe's scrutiny is textbook delivery, which she was proud to report had gone off smoothly this year, but only after a non-performing supplier was axed and a more reliable alternative appointed.
"I was impressed when I went to the schools at the beginning of the year because at most of the schools — on the first day — teachers were ready to hand out textbooks and stationery and to start teaching. And the report I got from the teams that went to the schools was that most of the schools were working on the first day."
These incremental improvements are to be lauded, but should also seen against the backdrop of the province's dismal performance in the 2012 annual national assessments, in which it recorded the lowest figures in the country for literacy and numeracy in grades 3, 6, and 9. Mabe grimaces as she acknowledges this fact.
Boosting reading skills
​"The reason I called principals of primary schools is because I know that they are usually relaxed because they know they don't have the pressure of external examinations. What ought to happen at the primary schools is that those teachers must give the foundation in reading, but usually that doesn't happen," she said.
The province has therefore engaged with certain private sector providers who will help boost reading skills in the schools. These programmes, and the general performance of the schools, will be monitored to ensure that the basic building blocks were in place.
Premier Thandi Modise highlighted the importance of early childhood development (ECD) programmes in her state of the province address, saying that research showed the positive lifelong effects of a good early education combined with health and nutrition programmes.
The province needed to step up efforts in this regard, she said, because only 29% of its estimated 404 347 children under four years of age attend ECD centres. The premier announced that the ECD subsidy had therefore been increased from R12 to R15 a child a day, and the support given to this sector would be increased.
Mabe's department has also been instructed to partner with the department of social development and NGO Ilifia La Bantwana to expand ECD services to rural areas.
Another area that is receiving attention is the building of school infrastructure. Projects and contractors for the 2013/14 financial year are already in place so that construction can start as soon as possible. Six schools were completed in the past year in Ngaka Modiri Molema, three more were built in Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Dr Ruth Segomotso Mompati regions, and one more is being completed in Bojanala.
Apart from new buildings, basic infrastructure has been improved at many schools. Mabe has committed specifically to improving the quality and state of machinery at technical schools across the province.
It is easy to be impressed with Mabe's tough talk and track record, but it is her past experience as a teacher and principal that should be valued above all. Once you've been in the trenches, it is far easier to understand the challenges, but also the opportunities.
This article was supplied and approved by the Mail & Guardian's advertisers. It forms part of a larger supplement.