Mr Godwin Khosa: Re-awakening Education

Mr Godwin Khosa (CEO, JET Education Services) and Mr Riaan Steenberg (Deputy CEO, Regenesys)

Re-awakening education

Thinking like a flock will not save leadership education in South Africa.

Mr Godwin Khoza was a speaker at the Regenesys Leadership Exchange on the 18^th of March 2010. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of JET Education Services in October 2009 and is looking at ways in which this long-standing NGO can continue to make a significant contribution to the South African educational landscape. The Regenesys Leadership Exchange creates a platform for exchanging views about leadership and leadership challenges in the country.

Mr Khoza noted that South Africa spends about R 165 billion on education annually, and yet learners only complete numeracy tasks with 40% accuracy. This places a burden on South African as the country is not getting the required level of quality outcomes from the educational system. Education needs to break out of a flock- thinking mode and explore new ways in which to take learning into the home and make it practical for everyone involved.

He stated that education in South Africa has been characterised by three phases

Phase 1 (1991-1998)

Reconstitution phase – a time in which we set goals and rediscovered the           education system.

Phase 2 (1998-2007)

Policy trial phase – a time in which we experimented with new curricula, identified challenges and responded reactively to them. This has been an iterative process in which we perpetuated a lot of our mistakes.

Phase 3 (2007-current)

Reawakening phase – a time in which we came to a deeper realisation that we need to mobilise communities over and above just pursuing technical abilities.

The challenge for NGOs since 1994 has been to diversify their offerings and remain locally relevant while not losing the battle for identity and mobilising civil society. The NGO sector has also shrunk in capacity as less people are co-opted into educating the youth and enabling people to respond to the challenges. These challenges are further amplified by what Mr Khoza described as a broad- based moral bankruptcy, driven by greed, kinship, race, gender and general elitism.

Mr Khoza also urged leaders to stand above this situation and define a leadership style that calls on a higher purpose. He contends that successful leadership is dependent on building on experiences, taking cognisance of history and agreeing on change management processes with key stakeholders. Principle- and values- based leadership enables leaders to have a grand plan and manage the process to achieve leadership outcomes. A leader also needs to rise above personal interest and not be taken in by corridor talk, which can lead to being disheartened. To create a fair process of change and transition can be very difficult and leaders must take hold of these challenges and persist in driving forward to achieve their vision.

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