VZCZCXRO8846
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHTN #0236/01 3300734
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250734Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2887
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 6244
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 3197
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2060

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAPE TOWN 000236 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
SKUL, KPAO, OEXC 
SUBJECT:  OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA-WILL IT STAY OR 
WILL IT GO? 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary.  An article appearing in the November 14 edition of 
the Cape Times asserts that the end may be near for South Africa's 
12-year experiment with Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), a 
controversial pedagogical model adopted by the ANC Government in the 
mid-90s in the wake of the demise of apartheid.   The article's 
claim that the fate of OBE is soon to be on the agenda of the ANC's 
national leadership is bolstered by a recent discussion between the 
CG and the rector of the University of the Western Cape Brian 
O'Connell.  The rector is optimistic that ANC President Jacob Zuma 
understands that if education in South Africa is not reformed, the 
country's future is at risk.   In contrast to the November 14 
article, on November 21 the Mail and Guardian ran a piece entitled 
"OBE Here to Stay," which quoted Education Minister Naledi Pandor as 
saying the Ministry of Education has no intention of ditching OBE. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) The November 14 edition of the Cape Times carries an article 
entitled "Outcomes- 
Based Education May Be On the Way Out."  Based on a document 
purportedly leaked from "an education conference in Gauteng" last 
week, the article asserts that OBE must be reviewed and, if 
necessary, abolished.  Among the reasons for scrapping OBE, 
according to the document, are badly trained teachers, 
under-resourced schools, unacceptably high illiteracy and innumeracy 
levels among learners, and dismal test scores when compared with 
international averages. 
 
¶3. (U) While definitions of OBE vary, and indeed OBE is a 
notoriously slippery concept, one 
definition (Wikipedia's) of OBE  is "a model of education that 
rejects the traditional focus on what the school provides to 
students, in favor of making students demonstrate that they 'know 
and are able to do' whatever the required outcomes are."   In 
post-apartheid South Africa, OBE has meant (according to its 
detractors, who are legion) declining student performances, learners 
leaving schools without basic skills such as literacy and numeracy, 
and teachers who are confused and alienated by mystifying 
bureaucratic demands. 
 
¶4.  (U) On November 12, the CG met with Brian O'Connell, Rector of 
the University of the Western Cape.  A former Fulbright scholar 
(Columbia), Western Cape Member of the Executive Council for 
Education, participant in the struggle, and long-time activist in 
the Western Cape, Professor O'Connell has made education in South 
Africa his life-long commitment.   UWC was established circa 1960, 
specifically as the "coloured" university, and almost from its 
inception was involved in the anti-apartheid movement. 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Professor O'Connell spoke effusively and with great passion 
about his concern for the future of South Africa and the failure of 
the ANC government in the realm of education.  Specifically, he 
lamented that the adoption of OBE by the ANC government in the 
mid-90s was a catastrophe and had led to a generation of uneducated 
South Africans - people who cannot read adequately, who cannot do 
math, who are illiterate in the basics of science and everything 
else.   While he conceded that in theory, OBE was not necessarily a 
bad concept, in the South African context it had been warped by 
political correctitude, and become a mantra among former struggle 
leaders, e.g. Kader Asmal, Minister of Education at the time, and 
others who chose to see it as the key to overcoming the racist 
apartheid system of the previous regime.  Thus they had "thrown out 
the baby - mastery of the three Rs, solid grounding in the basics - 
Qthe baby - mastery of the three Rs, solid grounding in the basics - 
with the bathwater of apartheid discrimination."   Excellence in 
education has been forgotten.  O'Connell said that many proponents 
of OBE feel that if a student from a formerly disadvantaged group 
can not master the material, the problem is not the student, the 
problem is the material. The result is that everyone advances to the 
next grade, but nobody learns anything.  Thus, the greater goal of 
making Africans take charge of their own futures, through mastery of 
modern science and technology, and thereby taking control of a 
modern economy, has been hopelessly compromised. 
 
¶6.  (U) Tears fell from his eyes as O'Connell explained how, in 
meeting after meeting with the ANC leadership on education, he was 
branded a traitor for pleading the case of excellence in education. 
OBE, or at least the warped ANC version of it, was not to be 
questioned.  He did not, however, give up hope.  Recently he had 
gained access to the ear of Jacob Zuma, and he was optimistic that 
he was being heard now.   O'Connell stated, "Zuma has seen the light 
with regards to abolishing OBE."  O'Connell believes that the entire 
system can be turned around in 10 years.  For his part, he is 
pushing forward with his plans to make UWC a center for academic 
excellence for African students; he points to the construction of a 
new science center on campus as a symbol of the university's 
determination not to abandon the goal of teaching science to African 
students.  If the Cape Times article is to be trusted, O'Connell's 
optimism may be justified. 
 
¶7.  (U) In contrast to the Cape Times article, the November 21 issue 
 
CAPE TOWN 00000236  002 OF 002 
 
 
of the Mail and Guardian ran an article entitled "OBE Here to Stay." 
 In the article Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor said the 
education department has no intention of ditching OBE.  The Minister 
continued by saying the system has already been modified and would 
continue to be tweaked.  Pandor also revealed her plans to set up a 
special curriculum implementation committee to look at: expanding 
and improving teacher training, reducing the current eight learning 
areas in grades four through seven, and improving classroom 
materials.  In the article Pandor addressed the fact that over the 
past week, the media has reported that OBE would be scrapped. 
Furthermore, Pandor said she could not understand how the media had 
inferred that OBE would be terminated based on the document produced 
at a recent meeting which looked at the future of OBE.  She noted 
that OBE was a necessary change for South Africa and that South 
Africa needs to "make it work."  She continued by saying, "it would 
be an absolute disaster to change it, as we have got buy-in."  In 
order to make OBE work, South Africa must look at improved 
implementation rather than scrapping the program.  Minister Pandor 
emphasized that the SAG has already altered OBE from its original 
approach and that learning outcomes are used as the basis for OBE. 
 
 
¶8.  (U) Comment.  OBE is a controversial subject in SA.  When OBE 
was first introduced in SA, many viewed it as a way of overcoming 
the apartheid system of the previous regime by creating equal 
educational opportunities for blacks and coloureds.  Unfortunately, 
many feel that OBE has not done what it set out to do, namely to 
provide equal access and equal opportunities to all races. Today, 
under the OBE system many students are failing and SA is failing to 
produce graduates who are qualified to find good jobs in the 
workplace, further adding to SA's high unemployment rate.  The 
matric rates have steadily declined in the disadvantaged areas since 
the implementation of OBE in the mid 90s.  In the townships, ninety 
percent of the students fail math and science in their matrics, 
whereas wealthy schools have a hundred percent pass rate.  Many of 
the university rectors feel OBE should be disbanded and that a new 
system based on higher standards and critical thinking should be 
introduced.  End comment.