The PPEN is an important education reform initiative and we support it call for readers to get involved.
Dear
Colleagues and Friends,
Welcome
to 2009. May it mark a ‘turning point’ for public education…
Thank
you again for expressing your commitment to the public call to education, and
your support of the Public Participation in Education Network. As you know,
the network has been launched as an expression of concern of the current state
of education, and as a commitment to public action to create a more equitable
and quality system of education for all of our
children.
The
network was launched in December, with the support of several hundred
individuals and organisations. Already, the network has elicited important
media coverage and debate about the state of public education. We write this
letter to all of you who signed the initial call to lay out the next steps of
building this new network.
During
the next few months, our most important next step is to invite South Africans –
parents, teachers, students, and others – to join and support the campaign.
Our collective goal
is to secure minimally 10,000 signatories before the 15th of
April. Through this campaign we seek to ensure that public
participation in education is at the top of the agenda as we move into the
post-election period.
Please
use all of your contacts and ideas to mobilise support for this campaign. Note
that there are three ways individuals and organisations can demonstrate their
support for the campaign. For those who have access to the internet, they can
express their support though the website: www.ppen.org.za. For those who do not have
access to the internet, they can express their support by sending an SMS or
through the post. We will send you the SMS and postal address details as soon
as we confirm them.
We
will collectively raise funds to support ways of coming together as a network
after April, to finalise a plan of action forward. As a general principle, the
network works on a voluntary basis. We do not want the work of the network to
be reliant on funders. For those of you who are able, we invite you to join us
in making a modest contribution to the ongoing costs of the
network.
In
the ‘Action Brief’ below, we lay out a number of developments and ways in which
we are hoping you may become more actively involved in the network. We look
forward to meeting you as this network builds across the year. In the meantime,
let us know if you have any suggestions or
recommendations.
Interim
Steering Committee
Neville
Alexander
Nhlanganiso
Dladla
Andre
Keet
Enver
Motala
Kim
Porteus
Brian
Ramadiro
John
Samuel
Salim
Vally
Action
Briefs: February 2009.
Public
Participation in Education Network
1
of 1
This ‘PPEN
Activity Brief’ seeks to 1) update members of the network on activities
completed over the last period; 2) to update members of key activities taking
place; and 3) invite members to volunteer to participate in emerging activity
areas.
Expanding
the Call
We
currently have over 400 signatories for the Call to Action. The goal for the
next period is to minimally collect 10,000 signatories. Remember, these are
people who are saying that they are deeply concerned about public education, and
want public education to be one of the most important issues on the public
agenda. They may also be saying that they are interested in becoming more
involved in education in their own communities…
Please
commit yourself to helping us to expand the signatories of this
Call!
Post
Election Gatherings
There are
currently 8 members of the Interim Steering Committee. They are listed above.
In the next period we look to consolidate an extended Interim Steering
Committee.
The meeting
of the Interim Steering Committee will plan for a conference or series of large
meetings after the election. The series of wide meetings will seek to: a)
widen the reach of the network; 2) deepen debate on the key issues facing public
education; 3) create an action plan for public participation in education; 4)
produce a set of positions and ideas to be submitted to the post-elections
Minister of Education; and 5) enhance public participation, mobilization and
democratic engagement on educational issues in South Africa.
Getting
More Involved!
There are
at least three ways we are hoping that you will volunteer to support this phase
of work.
1.
Written
Contributions: We
invite those of you who have been working in education to write brief inputs to
begin to prepare for the year. We invite you to focus on an area of your
concern – for example, ECD, ABET, bilingual literacy etc. We ask you to
evaluate the state of the area, describe experiences you may have, and identify
ideas and programmes that should guide us in putting forward positions and plans
in this area. Please communicate any ideas or interests you may have to Enver
Motala (emotala@lantic.net).
2. Translations: We have committed that all
core documents of PPEN will be available across all South African languages.
You will see that the initial Call is currently available in isiXhosa, Afrikaans
and English. We are calling on you to volunteer to help us translate these
documents now and into the future. Please communicate with Brian Ramadiro
(bramadiro@ufh.ac.za).
3.
Media
Coverage: If you
are aware of any media that would be interested in covering the issues raised by
PPEN, we would encourage you to set up interviews and debates. Please
communicate with Salim Vally (salim.vally@wits.ac.za)
to coordinate any media activities.
4.
Book
Clubs: PPEN is
launched to raise debate and discussion, and also as a forum for public action
in education. One of our most important collective mandates is to create the
conditions in our nation in which education can do well. We call on all of us
to consider launching book clubs and other reading forums at all levels of our
communities. If you are setting up a book club, or have other ideas about
establishing a reading culture across our nation, please communicate with
Neville Alexander (neville.alexander@uct.ac.za)
Suggestions or
Comments
Should you
have any suggestions or comments, please communicate with the PPEN interim
Steering Committee at info@ppen.org.za. A sms
number and postal address will be sent to you
shortly.
February 17, 2009
Activism, Education