SA’s shameful education report from Amnesty
Although Amnesty International (AI) did not have an active presence in South Africa until the early 1990s, since its inception in 1961 the organisation was among international agencies that played a critical role in the stand against the apartheid government’s litany of gross human rights violations.
In the post-apartheid era, the organisation has recorded the sad reality that, while our country’s entry into the democratic era was radical and unequivocal, with dramatic changes in political discourse and practice, we also continue to fail on many human rights fronts.
The most significant failure has been in respect of our young people, especially regarding their education. On Saturday, we reported on the latest Amnesty focus on South Africa, Broken and Unequal, a scathing study that lays bare the woeful state of education in our province and elsewhere in the country, highlighting the crumbling school infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms (when they exist at all) and poor exam results.
It will come as no surprise that the agency reports stark inequalities and chronic underperformance, with deep roots in apartheid’s legacy but which also firmly reflect the current government’s abject failures. Most schools have no libraries, laboratories, internet connectivity or sports facilities. Thousands of schools have only a pit toilet, while some lack any sanitation or electricity services at all. “A child’s experience of education in South Africa still very much depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are, and the colour of their skin,” Amnesty concludes, resulting in the country having “one of the most unequal school systems in the world”.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights underpins Amnesty’s work. Article 26 asserts that “education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality”. As South Africans, collectively, we should hang our heads in shame. But, most of all, opprobrium must be heaped on the many politicians and bureaucrats who, through corruption, mismanagement and apathy, kill off the aspirations that every child ought to enjoy. Those in successive governments, who have contributed to this horrendous state of affairs in education, must not be allowed to get away with killing off our children’s hope.
A child’s education still depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are and the colour of their skin