Bid to partner with business for quality education

Formulating partnerships between education and the corporate sector is key to effecting and sustaining quality education for pupils, according to Eastern Cape Education MEC Mandla Makupula. He was addressing captains of industry yesterday at the Partners in Education Business Breakfast at Pine Lodge resort. The event was hosted by The Herald in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Eastern Cape Education Development Trust (ECEDT). The business breakfast aims to update and engage the corporate sector on education and show how the department plans to solve pressing issues. A special emphasis was placed on the budget and policy speech delivered by Makupula on Wednesday, where he accounted how the department intends to maximise its R34.7-billion budget to improve outcomes. The event was marred for a brief moment when about 10 contractors – working for the department’s implementing agent, Coega Development Corporation – stormed the venue demanding answers about late payments. The situation was handled by the department’s deputy director-general, Ray Tywakadi, who said payment had been made on Wednesday.

Makupula took the incident in his stride, saying: “These are some of the challenges we need to address as partners to ensure work in building a better future for our children continues uninterrupted.” Makupula said through partnering with business, the department was able to adopt best practices and means of implementation to streamline and ensure delivery of quality education. “The business representatives present didn’t come today to ask questions, but rather to make pledges. “And this type of attitude of understanding that education is a societal issue will go a long way in having more hands to lighten the load. As a department we don’t always know about every scenario facing the province’s 5 400 schools. “Hence we are here today to ensure that these relationships are fostered to the benefit of our children.” ECEDT chairwoman Theresa Moila said the trust had been reignited in 2015 to manage partnerships and ensure resources were allocated where needed most. “We have established a database to avoid a situation where three companies are assisting one school,” Moila said. “Now we are able to ensure that the resources are spread equally, benefiting more schools.” The Herald and Weekend Post deputy editor Nwabisa Makunga said: “We found it is important for us to try to drive a constructive conversation, to create a platform for dialogue and to hold people accountable.”