Pretoria – President Zuma says South Africa will this year prioritise mathematics and science subjects more than ever before, in memory of Oliver Reginald Tambo.
“President OR Tambo was a maths and science teacher,” said President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, of the African National Congress (ANC) President, while delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament, in Cape Town.
Government has declared the year 2017, the Year of Oliver Reginald Tambo, as he would have turned 100 years old this year had he lived. OR Tambo fought for the liberation of South Africa.
President Zuma said 2017 is the year of unity in action by all South Africans as they move South Africa forward together with government.
He commended South Africa for doing well in mathematics and science internationally. The President said government is encouraged by recent international test results released by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, which showed that the performance of South African learners is improving.
The results showed that South Africa has shown the largest improvement of 87 points in Mathematics and 90 points in Science.
“This is very encouraging as we don’t want our children to be left behind.”
Improved school infrastructure
He also said government continues to build modern schools replacing mud structures and other inappropriate buildings through the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure delivery Initiative (ASIDI).
“This gives our children dignity,” he said.
A total of 173 inappropriate structures have been eradicated since 2011. In total, 895 new schools now provide a conducive learning environment for children.
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