TRIPLE E TRAINING HOLDINGS

Big business in South Africa has committed itself to the principles of adult basic education and training. This commitment has had a concrete effect with many adults who had been denied a quality education under the Apartheid system now having at least a basic working knowledge of both the written word and mathematics. These basic skills are allowing them to improve their lives in ways that they might have only dreamed about only a few years ago. However, the commitment of both big business and government must continue, the problem of illiteracy is by no means solved and only by rolling out new, more comprehensive programs can we hope to deal with this problem.

If South Africa is to take its place in the family of nations and contribute on a global scale to the elimination of poverty, as well as address the social and economic needs of its own citizens then it quite simply must address the problem of illiteracy in this country. One of the most important outreaches that can be rolled out is adult basic education. By putting in place the correct infrastructure and allowing people access to funding so that they can take part in ABET programs the government and private business will be directly contributing to rectifying the wrongs of the past, where a large percentage of the South African population was denied a quality education.

It has become apparent that although government has vastly increased spending on education since South Africa’s first democratic election that the legacy of the Apartheid education system will not be easy to correct. Due to Bantu education South Africa has a generation which has an extremely high illiteracy rate, one of the highest in the world. However, big business is coming to the aid of government by forming a partnership to provide Adult basic Education and Training to those employees who have been worse affected by the apartheid educational system this partnership is changing lives in communities across the country.

Dedicated educators and a professional approach to education are changing the lives of young people across South Africa, however we still have a long way to go. Although new generations of learners will have more opportunities than their parents had we still need to deal with the problems of illiteracy amongst the older generation. Adult Basic education has made great strides in giving those marginalized by the Apartheid educational system the skills to cope with today’s fast changing world. ABET can make a difference to people’s lives, however the full cooperation of both business and government is required to make the programs a success.