Let me begin by saying that an education system does not exist simply to serve economic needs, important as that may be. It must also enrich the learner and broader society, more especially so within the context of our young developing democracy.

The imperative to transform South African society by making use of various transformative tools stems from a need to address the legacy of apartheid in all areas of human activity and in education in particular.

Social transformation in education is aimed at ensuring that the educational imbalances of the past are redressed, and that equal educational opportunities are provided for all sections of our population.

In other words, the kind of learner that is envisaged is one who will be imbued with the values espoused by the Constitution, and act in the interests of a society based on respect for democracy, equality, human dignity and social justice as promoted in the Constitution.

Our Constitution provides the context of our curriculum transformation and development goals in South Africa. The General and Further Education and Training Bands lay a good foundation for the achievement of these goals by stipulating Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards, and by spelling out the key principles and values that underpin the curriculum.

Through the curriculum, we hope to inculcate the kind of values and morality as envisaged in both the Freedom Charter and the Constitution. The Life Orientation Learning Area and Subject aims to guide and equip learners for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly changing and transforming society.

The focus therefore is on the development of self-in-society. Learners must find a place for themselves in a world increasingly different from that in which their parents lived. They should be able to develop a sense of confidence and competence in order to live well and contribute productively to shaping of a new society.

The curriculum aims to develops skills, knowledge, values and attitudes that empower learners to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions regarding health promotion; social development; personal development; physical development and movement and orientation to the world of work.

Our curriculum strives to enable all learners to reach their maximum learning potential by setting the Learning Outcomes to be achieved by the end of the education process. OBE encourages a learner-centred and activity-based approach to education.

The National Curriculum Statement builds its Learning Outcomes for Grades 10 - 12 on the critical and developmental outcomes that were inspired by the Constitution and developed through a democraticprocess.

The Developmental Outcomes require learners to be able to reflect on and explore a variety of strategies to learn more effectively; and participate as responsible citizens in the life of local, national and global communities.

Our curriculum acknowledges the multi-faceted nature of the human being, as well as issues like human rights, gender, the environment, all forms of violence, abuse, sexuality and HIV and AIDS.

In a transforming and democratic society, personal and individual needs have to be placed in a social context to encourage acceptance of diversity and to foster commitment to the values and principles espoused in the Constitution.

Discrimination on the basis of race, religion, culture, gender, age, ability and language, as well as issues such as xenophobia and other forms of discrimination, are addressed. This focus area also deals with social relationships and other human rights and responsibilities.

It is important for learners to be politically literate, that is, to know and understand democratic processes. The importance of volunteerism, social service and involvement in a democratic society are emphasised, and the causes, consequences and prevention of pervasive social ills, such as all forms of violence and abuse, are addressed.

Right from the start of commencing Office I have initiated and driven a process to unite all our RCLs in the province, because I have seen the leadership potential, the energy and the passion in our young people.

Learners can learn about democracy, organisation and public office through RCLs. These bodies develop their own policies and codes of conduct and elect its own leadership.

Our learners, through the RCLs, can play important roles in promoting a positive attitude to the school environment. This includes applying peer pressure on those who have no concern for the interests of others and persist in denying others the right to quality education.

In many instances when I visit schools, I find the input of young people invaluable, for eg some complained about teachers coming to school under the influence of alcohol, or being absent for long periods, or that the class does not have a qualified maths teacher. It shows they care about their education and their futures.

Through the pioneering work of our department, a proportion of learners have also been selected on the basis of their ability to be(come) opinion leaders, role models, facilitators of learning and community activists.

Over the past few years our department has recruited and trained over 15,000 grade 10, 11 and 12 learners since the inception of the programme and are guided through a rigorous 2-3 year programme.

They are called Peer Educators and are trained to:

• positively influence their peers through role-modelling
• assist Life Orientation teachers in teaching about sexuality education and HIV/AIDS in the classroom
• listen ('counsel') and refer their peers for support and
• initiate or support school-community based HIV/AIDS projects and related projects that develop the social capital in our school communities.

These are delivered both within the classroom, with educator supervision in support of the secondary and primary school curriculum, and within the community. Peer Educators are also running community advocacy and community upliftment projects including developing orphan care programmes.

The peer education curriculum is based upon an earlier South African peer education collaborative with the National Department of Health, and leadership and support from the Harvard School of Public Health.

The Western Cape Education Department has continued to play a leading role in the development, maintenance and expansion of this initiative.

Peer educators are regularly chosen to appear on television, radio, other school leadership roles, and even in Parliament. Peer educators, upon leaving school, literally overwhelm service providers with offers to volunteer for a fourth post-school year. The peer education programme has been purposefully located largely in the most impoverished school-communities of the Western Cape.

Although the main aim is to talk about HIV/AIDS and poverty, peer education is not solely about HIV. It is a futures-oriented programme designed to nurture strong leaders and good communicators who will influence their peers with a positive message about their health, lifestyles, academic potential and a future beyond poverty.

Through our Peer Educators programme we also encourage them to play a role in improving relations with surrounding communities by organizing projects designed to win community support. These can range from environmental projects to caring for the aged.

Last year our department teamed up with Project Citizen, a civic-based education NGO aimed at learners, to make them understand what public policy is and how they can influence this process by participating responsibly and competently.

This they did by working together as a class to identify a problem that is public policy issue and come up with and action plan on how to address the problem. In a culminating activity, the class then presented its portfolio before other classes or community groups. Through this process pupils also get to understand what participatory democracy is.

To come back to the central question, whether "? our schools are failing in educating young SA for democracy?" My immediate answer would be "no" I don't think we are failing, but I do think we can all do more, lots more.

It is common knowledge that of the about 80,000 learners that enter the system in grade1, half do not make it to matric. Perhaps what is not common knowledge, and what is a positive development, is the fact that the number of candidates who have registered for the Senior Certificate exams last year has shown a marked increase from 62,251 in 2006 to 71,227. This represents a record growth of more than 14%!

Part-time candidates increased from 12,532 to 16,779; and private candidates from 7,025 to 8,742. This demonstrates a growing commitment to education in the province, regardless of the difficulties that so many young people face. They recognise that education holds the key to the future, and they are taking ownership of their future.

I have no doubt that many young people want to obtain their matric or other qualifications, but they are also largely unaware of alternatives like FET colleges and other vocational programmes such as the National Youth Service, the Expanded Public Works Programme and learnership programmes in parastatal companies.

I am also very encouraged that, in spite of the socio-economic challenges, by-and-large the majority of young people are positively disposed towards the new South Africa.

In a comprehensive survey conducted by a company on behalf of the International Marketing Council of SA in 2005, more than 90% of respondents in the 20 to 24-year-old age category said they were "excited" to live in this time and change.

Among the interesting findings from the survey include the following:

• 80% are proudly South African
• 59% are confident about the future
• 85% agree all people are equal
• 70% argue with people who talk negatively about SA
• 89% try to uphold the values and traditions of their people.

For me this is significant, I believe that education has a very important role to play in giving hope to the future. Together with opportunities for youth entrepreneurship, bursaries, public works programmes, internships - I believe our government is giving hope for the youth.