Junita Carolina Kloppers-Lourens (born in

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. Vand ...

) is a South African politician and former educationist, a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

with the Democratic Alliance (DA). She served as the Shadow Minister of Science & Technology from 2012 to 2014. She studied history and law, and is a registered Insolvency Practitioner.

Introduction

Dr. Kloppers-Lourens joined the DA in 2005 and was elected to parliament in April 2009. She has served as Shadow Minister of both Basic Education and later Higher Education and Training before taking up the position as the DA Shadow Minister of Science & Technology.

Education

Kloppers-Lourens was born in

, Guateng,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She started her schooling career at Laerskool Totius and completed her matric at the Vanderbijlparkse Hoërskool. She obtained a BA, HOD and Honours degree in History at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

(UP), a MEd and DEd n curriculum scienceat

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It has since merged with the Technikon Witwatersrand ...

(Now

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

), an LL.B. at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

(UNISA), and the Association of Insolvency Practitioners of Southern Africa (AIPSA) at the UP.

Early career

Kloppers-Lourens held various positions during her wide ranging career as educationist. She started off as matric teacher (for which she received a merit award), became lecturer at two teacher training colleges, was appointed as scrutinizer/evaluator of manuscripts for text books, and occupied the post of a chief examiner for the Senior Certificate Examinations of the former Transvaal Education Department for many years. She was later promoted to chief curriculum researcher and developer to the Bureau for Curriculum Development and Evaluation where, inter alia, she acted as co-leader in a world first project for the evaluation of the broad curriculum presented in schools of the Department of Education and Culture: National Assembly. Kloppers-Lourens was also responsible for the compilation and presentation of radio programmes for the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

on the core syllabus for History for several years. After 1995 she was appointed by ABSA as Educational Project Leader of the AGN Power Matric initiative (an opportunity for previously disadvantaged persons to complete Grade 12) and also handled various ad hoc research projects on a contractual basis. In addition to her experience in education, she acted as Public Relations Officer for Perskor Publishers for a number of years and was later appointed as Academic Publisher for Lex Patria Publishers, mainly responsible for the publication of law books.

Current life/career

Kloppers-Lourens joined the DA in 2005 and was elected to parliament in April 2009. She is also in the process of being admitted as an advocate of the High Court and is also a registered insolvency practitioner. She was the DA Shadow Minister of Science and Technology. She left parliament in 2014, but was later elected as a DA ward councillor in Overstrand Municipality in September 2015.

Family life

She lives in Brooklyn,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

and acts as the political head of Constituency 3 of the Gauteng North region. She is married to Gerhard Lourens, an attorney of Pretoria.

Quote

Her quote: "Work is love made visible"

References

Democratic Alliance biography

External links

Parliament of South Africa biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kloppers-Lourens, Junita Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa People from Vanderbijlpark South African educators South African women educators South African jurists Women jurists University of Pretoria alumni Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa