Opening speech of the Premier of the Western Cape for the “goals4kids” initiative

It is a great honour to be made patron of the “goal4kids” initiative in South Africa, which uses football as a means to provide young people from disadvantaged communities with a quality education.

For each goal that the German national team scores during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, goals4kids will provide an education and training bursary to an underprivileged South African child. A new set of goal posts will also be installed on a football pitch in a disadvantaged area in the country.

This initiative is aligned with one of the Western Cape Government’s most important strategic objectives, namely: extending quality education to all the young people of the Western Cape and particularly those in disadvantaged communities.

In fact, education is the cornerstone of the Western Cape Government’s vision of an open, opportunity society for all in the province. We want to build a society in which all South Africans have the means to pursue their dreams and develop their talents so they can take responsibility for improving their lives.

As well as the key to self-fulfillment and personal success, a quality education system is crucial for the success of a nation. One of the fundamental indicators of a country’s future prosperity is the level of skills available in a society. The more skilled a society is, the more it will grow the economy and create jobs. We must produce young people who are properly educated and are highly skilled if our country is to win the war against poverty and unemployment.

Last year, the Western Cape Government released its strategic plan for education. The plan aims to improve literacy and numeracy levels, direct more resources to the first three years of schooling and to improve the quality of teaching at our schools. This plan will also ensure that human and financial resources are directed to schools in disadvantaged communities that have been historically underfunded.

goals4kids is a significant contribution to achieving better schooling for the children of our province. For the sake of our learners, I will be cheering every goal that Germany scores during the tournament – just as long as they are not scored against Bafana Bafana!

I wish everybody involved all the best in making a great success of this wonderful initiative,

Warm wishes
Helen Zille