As high school pupils forge ahead with their matric exams, Steven Lang heard that there are grave concerns about the poor state of education in the Eastern Cape.
As high school pupils forge ahead with their matric exams, Steven Lang heard that there are grave concerns about the poor state of education in the Eastern Cape.
Teachers commit a huge injustice when they leave their classrooms unattended to participate in union meetings, said Rhodes University deputy vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela. He said it is heartbreaking when teachers leave class at nine or 10 in the morning to attend a South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) meeting because the pupils are being condemned to a life of failure and hopelessness.
Mabizela was addressing educators and pupils at a ceremony to mark the handover of four e-learning machines to the Ntsika Secondary School on Friday.
He remarked that many parts of the country are in turmoil and that this unrest is having a negative effect on the quality of education. He said that our education system cannot continue this way and that if we don’t correct the situation “we are doomed as a country” because “education is the most potent weapon we have to eliminate poverty”.
South Africa was placed last in a survey on the quality of maths and science education in 62 countries in a report published by the World Economic Forum last week. The report placed South Africa far behind other African countries such as Tanzania, Nigeria and Morocco.
Mabizela’s words were reinforced by Mbuyiseli Sandi, senior education specialist at the Grahamstown District Education Office who issued dire warnings saying that “our education system is on the verge of collapse” and that “public education is dying slowly”.
Sandi pointed to the wide gap between the results produced at former model C and township schools and said that this discrepancy does not only occur in Grahamstown – it happens all over the country. He said he used to believe this was a result of the difference in resources available to the schools, but now he is not sure about this.
He recalled how he had once worked at a township school in Adelaide where the pupils consistently did poorly in geography while the former model C school pupils did well in this subject. He believed that this was due to the fact that the one school had an electronic globe and the other didn’t. Parents, pupils and teachers of the township school then rallied and devoted themselves to collecting money so that eventually they could purchase a similar electronic globe.
It was found however, that three years down the line, there was no significant improvement in that school’s geography results.
Sandi explained that he now believed the discrepancy was more due to a difference of culture between the two schools and that “We need to develop a culture of learning because now we are playing school”.
He argued that education must be at the top of the agenda of all stakeholders – from the highest echelons of government through all levels to local school governing bodies.
Mabizela offered a significant incentive for the Ntsika Secondary School pupils to do well in their studies. He said that he would personally see to it that if any one of the school’s pupils did exceptionally well in the matric exams, that pupil would not have to worry about the cost of studying at Rhodes University.
Mabizela assured the school that all expenses related to completing a degree at the university would be taken care of.
