Kwazi Mshengu is one of the country’s youngest MECs. He heads education, one of the most challenging portfolios.
He told Kuben Chetty about his plans to upgrade infrastructure at rural and township schools and matric results in KwaZulu-Natal:
1) You have been criticised for lacking the experience to head up such a crucial portfolio. What do you have to say to your critics?
I think it is neither here nor there. The opposition have been critical of me, especially the IFP, who are conservative and not open to change and the injection of new blood.
Society is changing and we have a younger population. I have 11 years of experience in government at different levels up to being the head of the department in KZN.
Video: Londiwe Gumede.
I have been an activist in the ANC for far longer than that. I want to thank the ANC for giving young people the opportunity to craft their own future.
2) What are your top three priorities and how will you approach them?
The first one would be to refocus the department and all stakeholders because one of the core mandates is to improve the quality of the performance of our matriculants. Our target this year is an 80% pass rate.
We also want to deal with the backlog in infrastructure improvements, especially at rural and township schools so that pupils can find quality schools where they live as opposed to travelling to the suburbs, which is what they are doing now.
When it comes to teachers, we want to ensure we employ capable teachers and make sure that we attend to their needs and that they have everything they need to deliver quality education. Safety in schools is also a priority as learners must be able to focus on their studies.
The school feeding scheme is meant to take care of the dietary needs of children who are not getting a meal before they get to school. However, it has been riddled with problems as a result of corruption or system failures. How will you tackle this?
I agree, this is a major issue. People are abusing the scheme to supplement their incomes. The scheme was set up to intervene in situations where pupils come from disadvantaged homes and struggle to focus at school because they are hungry.
The scheme has been abused by some of those running it but also by the suppliers. We will deal with the court action involving the contractors and fix the systems because we need to create a climate at schools where children can focus on their studies.
3) Teacher absenteeism continues to be a problem in the KZN education system. How will you approach this?
Unions are critical stakeholders and I will be engaging with them soon. I am going to invite them to be progressive stakeholders.
But they must not defend mediocrity; they must work with us to fight corruption, including the selling of teacher posts. I am open to their suggestions and to their criticism.
What needs to be done to the education system to encourage innovative thinkers, entrepreneurs and black industrialists, so that they in turn can create employment in the economy?
4) The system must produce matriculants who will have the skills to match the changing economy.
Future university graduates must not be job-searchers and instead must be job-creators. I will consult with the national department on how we can rework the curriculum to be in sync with not only the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also the demands of the economy.