The Chinese ambassador to South Africa, Tian Xuejun, yesterday applauded his country's embassy, the Gauteng Department of Education and other stakeholders involved in taking the Chinese education curriculum to the next level.
The embassy had just given smart boards and Chinese books to 10 city schools that participated in the Chinese language pilot programme offered by the Confucius Institute, which has been liaising with various schools on the implementation of the Mandarin learning programme.
Positive interactions between China and South Africa were also cited as a reason for the donation of the innovative equipment.
The Confucius Institute is a non-profit public educational organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. It promotes Chinese language and culture.
The handover ceremony was held at Willowridge High School and was attended by Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and the headmasters of all the schools.
“In March 2015, the minister, on behalf of the South African government, announced a decision to incorporate the Chinese language into the country's national teaching curriculum.
“Since then, Chinese language learning has become another important bridge of friendship and co-operation between China and South Africa,” said Xuejun.
He said they would work on strengthening relations with Mauritius, Tanzania, Cameroon and Zambia, who had all incorporated Chinese language teaching into their national education curriculum. That had resulted in Chinese language education increasingly being popularised across the African continent.
Xuejun said they had added to the efforts of the Department of Basic Education by inviting experts from China to help develop the quality of teaching the Chinese language.
“We brought from China, experienced teachers and volunteers and 2 000 sets of textbooks and education equipment to support the teaching programmes across the pilot schools.
“We can never underestimate the significance of our efforts in assisting the Department of Basic Education in the training of South Africa's own Chinese language teachers,” said Xuejun.
He said he hoped that the programme would expand into something bigger and better to benefit SA and China in an increasingly positive way.
“As these programmes expand, we would only strengthen our support of your efforts. We will send more teachers and volunteers to help train more local teachers, whilst they compile Chinese language text books tailored for South African students,” said Xuejun.
Motshekga acknowledged the efforts and said it was a job well done by the embassy.
“China is one of the most vibrant partnerships we have as a sector. South Africa and China are strategic partners in many aspects and education is a fundamental and integral part of the broader relations between us,” said Motshekga.
Motshekga said she also valued the fact that the education system in China was working closely with them in sharing ideas of how best they could improve the education system in South Africa.
“As a minister, I have had many opportunities to visit China and appreciate their education system. It’s been two years since we hosted the maths Olympiad where China was in number one place and, even then, the candidates in position two and three were also Chinese.
"That can only be a pointer to the fact that the Chinese people have blossomed everywhere on the continent,” said Motshekga.
She said the donation of equipment was not only about the exchanging of gifts, but also sharing experiences about how to do the best for the children as they were an asset to the country.
“The safest way we can prepare them for this revolution is to ensure that we strengthen them both intellectually and emotionally so that they can confront any new experience that comes their way,” said Motshekga.
The ceremony was attended by school choirs and South African pupils, who presented paintings in Mandarin and also gave speeches in the Chinese language.