Newspaper clipping – iol on line – 26 February 2009

Education system to be “fully” transformed

Bloemfontein – The African National Congress seeks to transform the education system “fully” within the next five years, ANC President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.
            “An urgent task remains in that we must ensure to transform the education system fully,” Zuma said.

The ANC president was addressing students from the University of the Free State and the Central University of Technology in the Boet Troskie Hall of CUT. Zuma was in Bloemfontein as part of a door-to-door election campaign in the city. He told students that the ANC had big plans for education, which was part of its 2009 election manifesto, which focused on “investment in education”.

Zuma said a new way must be found to address the “disturbing tendency” of students leaving higher learning institutions with huge debt and thus not finding work.
            “This is unfair,” he said to huge applause and cheers from the student crowd. “A different method must be found to address that problem.”

Referring to the Reitz incident at the UFS last year, Zuma said he was glad Free State students handled the racial issue in a mature manner.
            “Everybody was critical about it. You managed to move beyond the experience and learn from it.”
Zuma said the manner in which students dealt with the issue should give hope for the future.