Treating the Symptoms of an Unchecked Disease
The Minister of Education must be commended for recognizing that the truly disturbing 1999 matriculation results are a clear indication that the SA education system is bedevilled by serious problems. Thankfully, he has refused to adopt the convenient rationalization suggested by some politicians and even some academics that the senior certificate examination gives a distorted picture of the SA education system and should therefore be scrapped. But unfortunately the Minister's assessment of the problems that undermine the education process in South Africa has been quite superficial, focusing on poor school administration and educators' laziness and incompetence. Predictably the media have followed the Minister's cue and much emphasis has been placed on the claim that educators have failed their learners.
The education system cannot be viewed in isolation. The problems in the system mirror problems in the socio-economic environment. The high incidence of irresponsible, negligent and even violent anti-social behaviour to be found in some school communities is the symptom of a deep social trauma. This trauma results from the failure of education and socio-economic policies to meet the needs and aspirations of millions of South Africans who have a history of being denied a life of security, dignity and happiness by “racial” and economic oppression. The present government, when it took office in 1994, expressed a commitment to transforming SA into a non-“racial” democracy. This is a mammoth undertaking, for it means not only the repealing of the racist laws and regulations that underpinned the apartheid system but also the formulation and implementation of policies that would uplift and inspire millions of oppressed people who because of their skin colour were doomed to a life of grinding poverty and traumatic humiliation.
The present government has achieved remarkable success in replacing repressive apartheid legislation with progressive laws that guarantee the rights of citizens to all South Africans. However, it socio-economic and education policies are in effect undermining the rights of the very people impoverished on many levels by the vicious apartheid system. For the rural and urban poor, all the new, progressive laws notwithstanding, life is still a hard struggle for survival. The governments economic policies are designed essentially to meet the requirements of big business, for the privatisation process within a “free” market system means in practice that most of the wealth of a country blessed with rich resources gravitates towards the bank accounts of local and foreign investors. It means also that the government is severely restricted in its ability to concretize and give effect to such abstract rights as quality education and health services, shelter and security, so beautifully enunciated in the SA constitution and other government documents. Food prices, for example, are pushed up every week while the wages of workers who cannot afford to feed themselves and their children adequately remain the same. No prizes for guessing into whose pockets the extra millions are going! Price fixing of basic foodstuffs and government subsidies to assist the poor are of course anathema to the proponents and beneficiaries of the “free” market system, for such measures would prevent them from manipulating prices to ensure high profit margins. Thus the politicians have delivered the already battered poor to the profit-hungry wolves. A shocking example of politicians’ insensitivity to the lot of the poor is that the former leaders of the liberatory struggle, who dominate the present government, have reneged on the undertaking they gave when the National Party government introduced a sales tax of 5% that they would scrap VAT when they took office.
They have also reneged on the undertaking to move towards a system of free, compulsory education. This betrayal is in keeping with their economic policies, for the education policies also favour the moneyed classes, since education has to a large extent been reduced to a commodity that parents must buy. The rich can buy the very best since they can afford to pay the exorbitant fees charged by posh schools that have investment portfolios running into millions of rands. The children of lowly-paid or unemployed workers attend, if they are lucky, classes at the nearest township or farm school to which poor people and uneducated parents are unable to give meaningful support because through no fault of their own they lack the necessary funds and skills. Yet these impoverished school communities are expected to implement Curriculum 2005 and adopt the sophisticated Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) approach based on children’s discovering knowledge for themselves with the teacher as a facilitator. For most school communities in South Africa this is a pipe dream. Millions of children attend schools that do not have the facilities and equipment for learner discovery of knowledge (no library, no laboratory, no reference books). Equally frustrating is the fact that learners’ homes lack the physical and cultural means for them to do research projects (which is the life-blood of the OBE system, since it was originally designed for tertiary students). No wonder that even government supporters have to admit that Curriculum 2005 and OBE as strategies to transform the SA education system are hideous failures, despite the governments’ optimistic intentions. Less kind commentators see the introduction of Curriculum 2005 and OBE as a political ploy designed to make the oppressed feel that SA has in place a new progressive system of education. But all the ravages of apartheid “eie-soortige” education what the schools of the oppressed need is a structured system based on the firm foundation of teaching and extending knowledge of the 3Rs. This “traditional” approach does not preclude learner activities geared towards the discovery of information wherever possible, but the educator is required to focus on actual teaching, not vague facilitating.
We are convinced that the overwhelming majority of educators in SA would like to do the very best for their charges. One must also recognise that not all educators have the necessary teaching skills and resilience of character to rise above the hostile conditions that plagued thousands of schools: overcrowded classrooms, poor resources, shortage of desks and equipment, even in many cases a lack of electricity and running water. An aggravating factor is that the commitment to serve the cause of education tends to be undermined by the business ethic imposed on schools: fewer staff required to produce more work; the emphasis on production (the results of educators and learners); time and energy required to be devoted to raising large sums of money to keep schools running; a shift away from instilling value systems and cultivating an appreciation of mankind’s cultural heritage…
From the above it is clear that the minister of education and like-minded souls are targeting the symptoms of an ill education system. This may provide short-term relief, but the real challenge is to put into place new education and socio-economic policies that will eliminate the causes of the disease. What is needed is a holistic approach that recognises that the drastic policy changes needed to transform the education system must be linked to State intervention in the economy. This intervention must aim to transform the situation of the disadvantaged in respect of food prices, wages, housing, transport and cultural life. The government has to change direction very drastically to move towards the realisation of that vision of a prosperous citizenry enjoying a life of security, happiness and fulfillment after the nightmare of apartheid.
It is apparent that the government has entered into agreements with capitalist interests that make it extremely difficult to switch from policies that favour big business to those that would benefit the economically oppressed SA masses. The disadvantaged communities would have to exert sustained political pressure on an organized basis through structures such as school governing bodies, civic associations, consumer bodies and trade unions. They must organize to push the governing party into performing the role it promised to play once it replace the apartheid government namely, reconstructing the socio-economic and education systems of SA. Such reconstruction would have to ensure that the struggling poverty-stricken masses have access to the fruits of a country rich in human and material resources. In a South Africa that has in place socio-economic and education policies designed to benefit all it’s citizens the high quality of life would be reflected in the high quality of education and the feverish discussion of ghastly examination results would be a thing of the past.
[THE EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL, PUBLISHED BY NUPSAW EDUCATION SECTOR, NOVEMBER - JANUARY-MARCH 2000]
EDITOR: Mrs. HN Kies, 15 Upper Bloem Street, Cape Town, 8001
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