Since taking office in July 2024, Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, has been a great proponent of mobilizing resources through public-private partnerships, especially with budgetary constraints impacting the sector’s ability to expand infrastructure, recruit and train teachers, and improve learning resources. Today in Cape Town, Minister Gwarube attended two events during which she spoke on how public-private partnerships can support government’s mandate of providing high-quality education to all learners.
In her keynote address delivered at the 4th Public-Private Partnerships in Education Conference that was held at the Kenilworth Racecourse, she reminded delegates that the future of South Africa’s children cannot wait, and that transforming education requires partnerships that are not cosmetic but catalytic. “That is why this conference matters. The theme Emerging Practices and Future Opportunities speaks directly to what we must do now to change the trajectory of the majority of 10 year olds in our country. We cannot rely on old models that no longer serve us. We need innovation. We need courage. We need partnerships that are not cosmetic but catalytic. The Department of Basic Education and our nine Provincial Education Departments carry a constitutional mandate to provide quality education to every child in South Africa. It is a mandate we cannot and must not carry alone. The scale of our challenges demands that government, business, civil society, communities and schools themselves act together as co-owners of the system,” she implored.
At the 3rd Annual Oceana CEO-CSI Engagement hosted at the Oceana Maritime Academy in Hout Bay, Minister Gwarube joined other government representatives, corporate leaders, and civil society partners in a collective effort to address one of South Africa’s most urgent challenges: child hunger. Under the theme Feeding Futures: Food Security for Children in South Africa and inspired by the principle that one cannot teach a hungry child, the event highlighted the importance of collaboration in creating meaningful and lasting impact. A showcase of the difference that can be made when resources, expertise, and commitment are combined was shared. “Public-private partnerships in education are not about outsourcing government’s responsibility. They are about aligning capacity, pooling resources, and combining expertise so that we deliver better results together than any one of us could deliver alone. They are about partnerships that respect and support the mandate of government, the innovation of civil society, and the resources of business. They are about accountability to the learner, because at the end of the day it is the learner who must benefit,” concluded the Minister.