Western Cape Education Department Presents ABET Awards | Western Cape Government

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Western Cape Education Department Presents ABET Awards

7 August 2005
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will present the first Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Awards on Monday, 8 August 2005, at the Cape Teaching Institute in Kuils River.

The awards will acknowledge the achievements of adult learners in the Western Cape's ABET Level 4 assessment programme, as well as those who wrote the Senior Certificate examinations in 2004. The awards will also honour adult learning centres where learners have been particularly successful.

ABET Level 4 assessment involves a process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about a learner's competence and then measuring this against nationally agreed standards.

Institutions participating in the assessment include community learning centres, the Departments of Correctional Services, several provincial government departments, and the Cape Town City Council. Several schools of skills and youth centres also participated in the assessment.

The ABET Level 4 programme provides an opportunity for adults to obtain a formal qualification and to gain access to further education in terms of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

The programme supports the concept of lifelong learning and acknowledges the importance given to adult education in the WCED's Human Capital Development Strategy. The WCED plans to increase enrolment in ABET programmes by 2,500 a year between 2005 and 2014.

The ABET programmes are provided in 326 public adult learning centres in the Western Cape Province, accommodating 32,500 adult learners. The programmes range from basic literacy and numeracy to business and entrepreneurship programmes.

Over 10,000 adult learners registered for the 2004 Senior Certificate examinations. The awards will acknowledge achievement by both candidates for the examinations and the centres where they studied.

The awards are designed to encourage these centres to continuously improve the standard of education they offer.

Criteria for the awards are strict - candidates must achieve a pass mark of more than 75%. The award winners provide excellent role models and we are hoping that their success will encourage others to excel as well.

Said MEC for Education Cameron Dugmore: "The awards ceremony will also celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter and its injunction that the 'Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Open'.

"The awards also support the WCED's vision of providing a Learning Home for All, in line with the provincial government's vision of a Home for All in the Western Cape.

"A significant portion of the South African adult population has not completed a general level of education and training, and this has dire social, political and economic consequences.

"The ABET programme ensures that millions of South Africans who were denied education by apartheid are given the opportunity to claim their right to education and to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for social, economic and political participation.

"Benefits of following an ABET programme include improving employment prospects, learning more about nutrition and health matters, enabling learners to assist their children with school work, enabling learners to participate more fully in public life, and to gain access to further learning."

For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.

Gert Witbooi
Media Secretary
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za

The Western Cape - A Home for All
INtshona Koloni - iKhaya loMntu wonke
Die Wes-Kaap - 'n Tuiste vir Almal

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