Rock girl: Key to true freedom is education
A LITTLE over a week ago, Parliament turned into a wrestling ring and we are still thinking about it.
We think about what was said and what was not said.
All in all, it wasn’t a good speech, so we thought we would rewrite parts of it to say what we believe should have been said.
President Jacob Zuma said the improvement in school facilities over the past five years gives the youth dignity. This is a step in the right direction, but unless the teachers’ training and safety are also prioritised, the standard of education is going to remain low.
We were told that maths and science would continue to be a priority, but at my school pure maths is not offered and because of this, science cannot be offered either.
Zuma said the implementation of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, which has prioritised creating schools conducive to learning, “gives our children dignity”.
However, there cannot be dignity when our freedom to make choices is limited by factors beyond our control: mine is by my school’s limited subject choice. I cannot do maths so I cannot be a scientist, that choice was made for me, and for many other young South Africans.
The standard of education in South Africa is improving, if those international maths and science test results are to be believed. In my experience of my everyday life, this has not been the case.
Zuma told our nation that “political freedom alone is incomplete without economic emancipation.”
I could not agree with him more. This year, I will be turning 18, and will have the right to vote, like every other citizen of our country.
I am equal to every other South African, regardless of sex and gender, but women still occupy less than a third of management positions at a senior level, as Zuma told us.
As a girl from Manenberg, the key to true freedom, as Zuma has defined it, is in education. The only way for me, and many others like me, to achieve “economic emancipation” is to be given the choices that only a good education can provide us with.
When pass marks are lowered, doors close and expectations are lowered. The only way of not just opening doors but also building new ones is through improvements in education.
If State of the Nation address of 2017 was anything to go by, our nation’s in dire need of change. The change-makers will be the youth but it seems, that when our time comes, we will be unequipped.
At the next Sona, I would like to see the members of Parliament fight for us, and not one another.
‘I’d like to see the members of Parliament fight for us, and not one another’