Free State MEC for Education, Mr Tate Makgoe recently visited the CUT to address 3^rd and 4^th year Teacher Education students (including PGCE) who in future will be absorbed into the teaching profession by the Department of Education (DoE). His visit to CUT provided a dialogue platform for the students to realise what is expected of them by the department upon completion of their studies and conversely for the department to be acquainted of their employment frustrations in relation to the profession.  In his address, the MEC challenged students to ensure that every school in the townships becomes as good as any other school in the country once they are deployed. He said so while announcing his confidence of knowing that they will take the teaching profession to greater heights. 

“We are equal to the change, hence you must go out there and change the culture of teaching and learning in those schools by significantly contributing towards improving their performance rate,” he said. A Curriculum presentation in line with the National Development Plan’s objectives in addressing Education challenges was also unloaded in view of exposing the students to key curriculum subjects such as Science, Maths, and Technology, which are in ominous need of development. According to a study conducted by TIMMS, an international body that measures the trends in Mathematics and Science, Maths performance in South Africa achieved a mean score of 352 based on the analyses of June results. This explains that the level of performance in Maths is not satisfactory. 

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MEC, Mr Tate Makgoe during his address at Welkom campus.