Don’t spoil occasion
2.9 percent from last year, the province is now ranked fourth.
There is nothing to blurt about having the highest percentage of university passes in the country.
The Western Cape Education Department has embarked on a programme to close the schools of the poor so that it can use the extra resources to fund the schools in the leafy suburbs.
It will make the effort to ensure the schools in the leafy suburbs are guaranteed to get all the resources and, in doing so, guarantee the future of the children of the rich.
The officials want to privatise education. Once the children of the poor have no access to schools, they will be exposed to the cheap labour market and get exploited.
Thousands of matriculants in historically disadvantaged schools have defied the odds and have come through with top marks. Two years ago, Peak View High School in Athlone faced closure. We commend the principal and staff for making sure the school got a 77.4 percent pass rate last year.
We commend people like Brian Isaacs, principal of South Peninsula High School, who ensure that the pupils at his school perform well.
The department makes every effort to make the school ungovernable. The school refuses to be a lapdog of the WCED. We commend Livingstone High School for producing excellent pupils.
Tahir Ebrahim, the top achiever in Grade12, passed with an aggregate of 94.7 percent. This was not with assistance of the WCED or MEC for education in the Western Cape, but by the dedicated educators of the school.
Despite the lack of resources at our disadvantaged schools, dedicated and creative educators find ways to provide meaningful educational opportunities.
MEC for Education in the Western Cape Debbie Schäfer must stop meddling. Her department is in a mess. It won’t be long before we hear about pupils who cannot be placed at schools. She better get her act right. Her department is inept, incompetent and ignorant. Forward to a people’s participatory democracy. One solution – free education! Abduraghman Khan ignored his many critics and focused on his mission of monotheism.
So, when Musaylimah, a renowned poet claimed to have also received revelations from the archangel Gabriel and wanted to co-rule the new community of Muslims, the Prophet did not instruct his overzealous followers to liquidate this impertinent bard, except to say that he was a fraudulent liar.
Today’s sermon at the Open Mosque will furnish irrefutable theological proofs that nothing in Islam’s transcendent text or from the corroborated sirah (life of the Prophet) condones the slaying of those who pillory or denigrate Islam and its messenger.
When Muslims finally move away from the clergy-indoctrinated version of Islam and return to the uncorrupted divine word of their religion, they will not only denounce the brutal killings in France, but also promote the beauty of the Qur’an’s original epistle to humanity. Dr T Hargey THE upcoming ANC rally has been much in the news lately – and perhaps for many of the wrong reasons.
First, to the editorial staff of the Cape Times:
This morning’s lead strap headline, “DA and ruling party trade blows”, etc is misleading. The councillors and officials quoted were not speaking on behalf of the DA, but on behalf of the city that they are mandated to administer – regardless of political or any other affiliation.
Statements such as “DA-led or ANC-led” city council might sell newspapers, but do nothing toward fostering harmony in our land.
Secondly, a suggestion to the people organising the event: Please remember that the final conditions – financial and otherwise – agreed for the use of the stadium were through private meetings between the City of Cape Town as service provider and your organisation as user of the facilities. The negotiations were not conducted between two political parties.
So, best wishes as the various stakeholders go ahead with the preparations for a glorious celebration, and may all go well on the day. But please – try not to spoil the occasion by making party political capital from the event. Gordon Hodgetts