Despite a well-managed start to the 2006 school year, problems remain in the primary-school sector, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said on Monday.
”The gross enrolment rate is excellent, but reading and writing skills are not,” she said at a ceremony to rename Ga-Rankuwa’s Agisanang Primary School the Tim Modise Primary School.
She said it is ”critically important” for children to learn in their mother language.
”Children who learn in their mother tongue in their early years of schooling become more competent in the basic skills of reading, writing and number work.”
In order to teach in children’s mother tongues, teachers need resources such as book collections or access to the internet.
She said schools need to cultivate a closer relationship with their past pupils, which had not been the case under apartheid.
”Enough time has elapsed for past pupils to seek to improve the schools that shaped their future prospects and values.”
The school was renamed after radio talk-show host Tim Modise, whose foundation had adopted it. — Sapa