Cosas points finger at minister

MINISTER of Education Angie Motshekga, as well as Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer have been blamed by the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) for the poor state of education in SA.

The organisation said that feeding schemes at schools and discrimination at Model C schools are not being addressed.

Cosas said they’re in the process of organising a one-million pupil march to Parliament in August to remove Motshekga. According to them, the minister runs the Education Department like a business and this has caused the nutritional programme crises at schools.

“The issue of nutrition is everywhere, maybe that is why the matric results dropped. They feed children fish at school.

“There are many pupils allergic to fish, so they go without food. We went to Philippi High School and they opened up a rusted can of fish and it had worms inside. They gave it to pupils,” said Cosas provincial chairman Michael Mayalo.

Mayalo said that the nutritional crises started due to tenders being given to “crooks”.

He said that Schäfer also failed pupils by prioritising white schools and not addressing issues of racism at former Model-C schools.

Cosas deputy chair Buntu Joseph said: “You’ll never see her in township schools. We’re calling all Model-C schools to transform. Pupils from townships compete with those at Westerford High School for a position in university.”

Mayalo said that the organisation will mobilise members in all provinces and have a mass shut down if Motshekga doesn’t leave and issues of nutrition and racism in schools are not addressed. Mayalo said that the organisation is calling on the national Department of Education to organise a nutritional summit.

Schäfer’s spokesperson, Jessica Shelver, said that all schools follow a menu that is approved by the Department of Health. “A variety of meals are provided in the menu. An important aspect of this menu is to ensure that poor children are provided with sufficient nutrients. While this incident will be investigated it is highly unlikely that fish is served every day.”