Thought leaders` tackle education

First Tuesday "thought leaders" have highlighted a range of issues they perceive to be major challenges in the way of a better education system in SA. These include issues such as HIV/AIDS and poverty, lack of resources and poor teacher remuneration, as well as corruption and incompetence on the part of those implementing the systems.

The views emerged at this month`s meeting of First Tuesday 2.0, a newly repositioned thought leadership network for business professionals. The event highlighted new developments in making education more accessible and effective.

The thought leaders defined their vision for education in SA as: "A country in which all our people have access to lifelong education and training opportunities, which will in turn contribute towards improving the quality of life and building a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society."

They identified a series of initiatives they believed could help achieve their education vision for SA. Among these were to improve teachers` status and work conditions, through improving their salaries and supplying them with PCs or laptops; removing as much "red tape" from the education system as possible; and encouraging stakeholder participation in schooling.

They also recommended free education, increased HIV/AIDS education in schools and the development of new benchmarks for quality.

Clinical psychologist, transformation consultant, personal coach and Wits lecturer Steve Banhegyi hosted an interactive workshop on leadership at the event.

He outlined his work in the field of management training, emphasising the importance of self-motivation and self-leadership.

Banhegyi recently ran a course at the Community and Individual Development Association (CIDA), where students researched leadership in Africa, interviewing more than 1 000 business, church, political and community leaders.

Their findings indicate that there is little difference between effective African leadership and the functions of traditional healers in terms of their visualisation and motivation skills.

There is a difference between management and leadership. Leaders literally change people`s lives.

Steve Banhegyi, clinical psychologist and independent transformation consultant

"A leader has power, charisma and authority," said Banhegyi. He illustrated how a person`s self-perception influences the way he or she is perceived by others. "Improving your own self-perception is a skill that can be learnt, so anyone can learn to become leadership material."

What is also important, he noted, is that people realise there is a difference between management and leadership. "Leaders literally change people`s lives."

Banhegyi highlighted the challenges of the environment people live and work in, which presents constant change and increased amounts of data.

In SA, companies are losing young executives to the international market. This, he said, meant an impending leadership shortage that will draw attention to succession management and cause many leaders to re-evaluate how they identify, select and train leaders.

"Identifying and developing leaders from within the organisation is a sensible alternative to costly and unreliable sourcing of talent from the outside."

However, training and education would not be effective unless education systems changed, he said. "What is taught are facts, information, rules and regulations, fear, the externalisation of authority and the importance of winning. What should be taught are principles, values, critical thinking skills, creativity, neurochemical engineering and resourcefulness." This, he added, applies to all learning scenarios.

He said SA schools are generally too authoritarian and children are not encouraged to guide themselves. Teaching self-motivation skills in schools would help children to develop self-leadership, motivation and a critical thinking approach.

Showing First Tuesday delegates how innovation could make education available to all, CIDA City Campus chief executive Taddy Blecher outlined the models in use by the campus.

Connexity Age of Innovation 2002 award winner CIDA City Campus is described as SA`s first virtually free higher education institution. Every student at the campus is on a scholarship and students do much of the campus management work. Companies involved in sponsoring scholarships also donate other resources, such as top executives to deliver lectures.

The institution, based in Johannesburg, was launched three years ago, and has 1 600 students on scholarships totalling around R64 million. Another 1 000 scholarships, funded by the private sector and valued at R40 million, are being offered for 2003. The students at the campus originate from throughout SA and are all from historically disadvantaged and economically deprived communities, and are selected on the basis of academic excellence and leadership ability, among other things.

SA has a tertiary education rate of only 6% of people over the age of 20.

Taddy Blecher, chief executive, CIDA City Campus

Blecher, an actuary and former management consultant, said: "CIDA realised something groundbreaking had to be done to open mass-scale access to higher education when we discovered that SA has a tertiary education rate of only 6% of people over the age of 20. We also found that there is a 90% correlation between the levels of tertiary education in a nation and its economic success."

He said costs of tertiary education are generally very high. The average cost to the country to educate a university student per year is about R35 000 to R40 000 per annum, and over R100 000 for a degree. However, only 15% of students graduate with a degree or diploma.

"Therefore the true cost of producing a graduate could be considered in many cases to be between R700 000 and R1.3 million. We believe that a low-cost, high quality, innovative solution is therefore of critical importance for the long-term social stability, progress and competitiveness of Africa in a global marketplace."

CIDA has pioneered almost 280 education innovations and uses a technology-based teaching method. The students assist in the managing of the campus, allowing them to learn and get work experience simultaneously while reducing CIDA operating expenses. Students are encouraged to do administration work, computer maintenance, admissions, marketing, research, computer training and assist in the running of the canteen.

Graduates are not guaranteed jobs and for this reason entrepreneurship is a compulsory subject. Students are expected to produce business plans and start businesses in teams for credits. A venture capital fund is being set up to provide students with the means to start their own business.