The DBE, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Vodacom and UNICEF is currently hosting provincial graduation ceremonies for graduates who have completed the blended university-accredited Short Course Learning Programme (SLP) in Managing and Leading Education with Digital Technologies. The first of these award ceremonies took place in Rustenburg, North West Province on 19 June 2017 and in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province on 20 June 2017.
The course was presented at the UJ Auckland Park Campus in Johannesburg from 11 to 14 July 2016 and then continued as an online, virtual course from 15 July to 30 November 2016.
“The e-learning specialists and Centre Managers who successfully completed the 30 credits post-graduate diploma are on the right track towards meeting the demands of the digital revolution of the 21st Century to create Information and Communication Technology (ICT) compliant teachers. This digital revolution is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres,” said Dr Aaron Nkosi, Director for Curriculum Research at the DBE.
Mr Enoch Rabotapi, Acting Chief Director for Education Human Resource Development at the DBE also presented the 2011 Integrated Strategic Framework for Teacher Education and Development, the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2063, which is a 50 year strategy during the graduation ceremonies. Rabotapi mentioned that “the ideals of CESA are to create quality citizens by 2063, and the success of the strategy depends largely on how we structure and implement our educational system. The quality of the educational system depends on the quality of its teachers; if we want to improve human capital, we need to continuously invest in our human resources. We are relying on yourselves, through the centres that you are managing, as well as the e-Learning Specialists to make sure that we address some of the challenges that we have in our educational system’’.
In conclusion Mr Rabotapi mentioned that the national graduation ceremony will be taking place at UJ in Gauteng on 26 July 2017.