Let’s fix public school system

WE ARE at an important point in the discussion around education. There is a space we need to use cautiously and wisely.

The debate has become a noisy cacophony. After all, everybody has been to school and everybody has a solution. It is imperative that we make our way through the noise and agree on priorities to fix our schools and education system.

Transformation is a key issue. It is not enough to have created a single education system with nine provincial delivery agents, nor to have changed the focus of the school system.

Now more than ever foundations are emphasised and workbooks given out by the Department of Basic Education to concentrate the minds of teachers and do away with the negative effects of outcomes-based education.

Most teachers are white women, and qualified. Do they understand their students and where they come from? Do they understand the heavy pressure on pupils to get through schooling and achieve miracles?

There is much work to do. The influence of unions, much as teachers have legitimate grievances, certainly doesn’t help. There is surely also an imperative to help those excluded by disability or refugee status.

Calling for change in ex-model C or suburban schools is not going to do much. Yes, suburban schools could do more. Yes, inequalities are unacceptable. Most whites do nonetheless want change. Yet even if most model Cs were entirely black, 95 percent or more of kids would still be in public schools in the townships and rural areas. That’s where we have to fix things. Rushing into model Cs or independent schools may show the disillusion with public results but only marginally helps the majority.

This is not to be used as an excuse for doing nothing. Work in your backyard, fix what you have influence over, but never forget the priority is to fix the public school system.

Acknowledge the hard work of all in matric or the difficulties of getting to varsity. Don’t blame teachers alone, though they bear a heavy burden.

What are doing to ensure your kid is okay at school? Drugs and guns – and values – begin in the home, many of which may be child-headed, especially in rural areas.

Even if you do not understand it, ask how homework has been covered, give your children a space to work and study. Parents and communities have much to do, as recent statistics show, to ensure that kids have food and transport to get to school.

And all schools are, and must, remain sacred. How can one draw students into political conflicts or burn down schools? Such sacrifices take us nowhere forward.

More than that, teachers need to be acknowledged for their tremendous importance. Only well-organised teachers can make things happen, and excite their pupils about the magic of classroom learning.

We have to be the best. Our magic is in our science and maths, yes, but also in our humanity.

How do we see the world through southern skies, as we stress the importance of language and citizenship? How do we stress diversity as we show how one nation is forged that can compete with the world?

So parents and communities are important. The departments, officials, politicians and headmasters must all do their bit by leading and acting. Students especially need to discuss what education is for, how education leads the way for young people. Teachers at all levels need to rise to the occasion.

We are all involved. Teaching and learning have become a national priority, thanks to our struggles as active citizens.

Now is the time to realise for all the promise of education.