Schooled in the old ways

MY LATE father was a respected primary school principal in Soweto. His sister, my late aunt, was also a primary school educator in Leslie, Mpumalanga, where the family’s from. My sister is a retired primary school educator. My sister-in-law is still teaching.

In a nutshell, I am from a teaching family.

This I have been reminded of by the recent violent events at township schools where learners assault and even kill educators, weapons and drugs are found at schools, there are educator-learner sexual relationships, and so on.

My father was supposed to retire at the mandatory age of 65 in 1993, but he opted for early retirement in 1990. Why? Before I tell you why, some background information is important.

Mr Mbatha snr was from the old school of thought, having been taught Christian education by the British missionaries – famous for their Royal Readers series of education – in the early 1930s and 1940s.

At the famous Kilnerton Training Institution, the mecca of black teaching, where he did his primary teaching certificate, he was taught the noble tenets of the profession. He said they were taught that first and foremost education should start at home, and continue at school. They were taught that an educator assumes the role of a parent during school hours – between 8am and 2pm – on weekdays.

They were taught that an educator’s role was to feed a child with knowledge, and a child was expected to consume that knowledge. That was the primary and only role of teaching. Because of the Christian education background, schoolchildren – in full school uniform and polished black shoes – started their day with a morning prayer at an assembly point, followed by a military-style march to the classrooms to be taught.

Teaching was taken seriously, so was learning. Competition among children was high, and the bar set higher. Discipline and respect was of utmost importance. When a child was out of line, there were consequences. You spare the rod, you spoil the child, my father used to say.

When my father was relating this, you could see he enjoyed what he was doing. He said there were sporting activities and music competitions among neighbouring schools. There were school trips to other schools around the then Transvaal or Natal or Orange Free State or Cape province. It was a merry-go-round. No violence. No fights. No killings…

Back to why my father took early retirement, as explained by him.

My father said things changed in the 1980s after the formation of student bodies like Cosas and later the teacher organisation, Sadtu. They got worse when corporal punishment was banned, morning assembly done away with, and school uniforms no longer enforced, he said.

He recalled a day when Cosas stormed his school at 9am and demanded to address the learners. He said his explanation that there were exams in progress fell on deaf ears. Cosas just took over his school, he said.

The student body called for the learners to join them in a march. When he tried to explain that these were his children, and they can leave school only at 2pm, he was threatened with violence and told to shut up.

He lived in a time when children were seen, not heard. But the tables are turning now. The question is: did they turn for better or worse? Nhlanhla Mbatha is a sub-editor at Independent Media