Strike – but let our pupils go to school, please

Strikes violate pupils’ right to education, writes Thebe Kgwetiane.

The number of strikes we have in a year is too high and innocent pupils suffer consequences. I’m not asking to scratch members of society’s right to strike, but all people who go on strike should make sure that pupils are not affected.

We all know that young people have a right to education but what we see recently is the violation of that right by strikers.

Let’s look in these three strikes:

First, it was a strike in Malamulele, Limpopo, that prevented pupils from going to school for weeks. The pupils had nothing to do with the strike and their right to education was violated.

Second, the Black Monday strike. There were pupils who were delayed and prevented from writing their final exam. Who is to blame here? The strikers who blocked the roads.

Third, the taxi strike on Wednesday saw pupils affected because they rely on public transport to go to school.

Given the above instances, does that indicate no violation of the right to education?

Do we really care about the education of our pupils?

Who’s to blame when our pupils don’t pass their final year exams and who’s to blame when the matric pass rate takes a downturn when the education minister announces results in January?

You are within your rights to strike, but I appeal to all members of society to respect the education of pupils.

They are our future leaders. We need them in the future to guide us to greener pastures.