Dlamini Zuma must back up her comments
STATEMENTS by Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, that former Model C schools are feeding pupils antianc information, including the assertion that the party is corrupt, has opened a hornet’s nest.
The veracity of these utterances by the presidential hopeful needs authentication. Shooting from the hip or plain hearsay cannot justify enunciating such views. If there is credible evidence to prove this is really the case, the proper channels need to be followed to discipline the schools involved.
If such statements are based solely on cheap politicking or attacking a specific race group, they are misdirected.
Schools are meant to be repositories of expansive knowledge and critical thinking. Pupils must be free to express their feelings on any topic without fear of reprisals.
Picture a scenario in the classroom during a social sciences lesson where politics is discussed and learners criticise political parties including the ANC.
As an educator, do you now censor what they are saying for fear you may be singled out as advocating anti-anc sentiment?
Pupils must be allowed to have different views. This way the government cannot be seen as pushing its party line.
The festering debate about teaching European and US history at the expense of African heroes and heroines needs to be intellectually investigated.
Most school textbooks contain scant information about European history and its impact on Africa and South Africa.
The fundamental question that needs to be reflected on is whether curtailing or omitting European history from the South African syllabus is beneficial to pupils or a case of forgetting the European impact on our continent.
It is important to know the past, irrespective of how painful it was, so that calculated, well-informed decisions can be made in the present to secure a brighter future for all.
Ultimately the ethos of teaching and learning will be severely compromised if the government intervenes along party lines.
This would be a severe attack on our fledgling democracy. VIJAY SURUJPAL
Phoenix